Most of this list sits along a few kilometres of the Boyne. Brú na Bóinne is the anchor, a group of passage tombs built around 3200 BC that holds Europe’s largest collection of megalithic art; Newgrange and Knowth are reached only by shuttle bus from the visitor centre, on a booked guided tour. Dowth is the exception. You can walk up to the 85-metre cairn for free, though its chambers are gated, and the Georgian Dowth Hall beside it sits over a second tomb found only in recent years.
Trim and its surroundings carry the medieval half. Bective Abbey stands on the north bank between Navan and Trim, free, open in daylight and worth about half an hour for its 15th-century cloister. St Peter and St Paul’s at Newtown is a roofless ruin beside a working cemetery, once the largest medieval church outside Dublin. North of Trim, the Blackfriary dig runs free Wednesday tours of a Dominican friary founded in 1263.
Two of the better stops sit away from the river. Kells, to the north-west, keeps a round tower and four high crosses in St Columba’s churchyard, free at any daylight hour, with a Book of Kells facsimile in the Courthouse. Four Knocks, near Ardcath in the south-east, is kept locked; you collect the key from a house nearby and usually have the chamber to yourself.
Europe's largest collection of megalithic art, three passage tombs from around 3200 BC, reached by shuttle bus from the visitor centre rather than by car.
The Boyne Valley passage tomb you can walk up to for free, carved kerbstones on an 85-metre cairn, chambers gated shut.
A 10th-century round tower and four weathered high crosses in St Columba's churchyard, with a Book of Kells facsimile in the free Courthouse.
One of Ireland's best-surviving Cistercian cloisters, free and open in daylight, about half an hour on the Boyne between Navan and Trim.
A limestone Georgian house sitting over a 5,500-year-old passage tomb and Ireland's largest recorded henge, now State-owned and bound for a national park.
24 of 24 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, meath
Brú na Bóinne holds Europe's largest collection of megalithic art, centred on the passage tombs of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. Built around 3200 BC, the mounds are aligned to the sun – Newgrange to the winter solstice sunrise, when a beam reaches its inner chamber. Every visit starts at the visitor centre and reaches the tombs by shuttle bus; you cannot drive to the monuments.
Near the River Boyne, meath
Dowth is the Boyne Valley passage tomb you can walk up to for free, no ticket and usually no crowd – the trade-off being that its chambers are gated shut. The 85-metre cairn carries carved kerbstones and a sealed winter-solstice alignment, and the Georgian Dowth Hall next door sits over a second, recently rediscovered tomb.
Kells, meath
A 10th-century round tower and four weathered high crosses stand in St Columba's churchyard, the surviving core of the monastery that gave its name to the Book of Kells. The Courthouse cultural hub, free to enter, holds a facsimile of the manuscript and a replica of the Kells Crozier.
Ballina, meath
On the northern bank of the Boyne between Navan and Trim, Bective Abbey pairs one of Ireland's best-surviving Cistercian cloisters with the fortified tower and hall it became after the Dissolution. It is free, open in daylight, and takes about half an hour – best combined with Trim Castle a few minutes down the road.
Dowth, meath
Beneath the elegant limestone façade of Dowth Hall lies a remarkable archaeological secret: a previously unknown 5,500-year-old passage tomb and Ireland’s largest recorded henge. Recently acquired by the State, this 552-acre demesne is being transformed into the core of Ireland’s seventh national park.
meath
Carved spirals and concentric circles dominate the stone kerbs of Knowth, a massive Neolithic mound overlooking the River Boyne. As Europe’s largest passage-tomb complex, it features twin 40 m and 34 m corridors and is interpreted through a modern exhibition at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre.
Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, meath
Newgrange was built around 3200 BC, older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. A slot above the entrance is aligned so that for about seventeen minutes at dawn on the winter solstice the sun runs down the 19-metre passage and lights the chamber floor. You cannot drive up to it - every visit is a pre-booked, guided tour from the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre.
Trim, meath
Only 112 km long, the Boyne still passes more history than any river in Ireland: Neolithic passage tombs older than the pyramids, the battlefield of 1690 and the largest Norman castle in the country. If you have one day, give it to Brú na Bóinne and book the Newgrange tour well ahead.
Kells, meath
The 1778 church stands on the site of the monastery St Columba founded at Kells in the 6th century – the community linked to the Book of Kells. In the churchyard are a roofless 10th-century round tower and four 9th-century high crosses, free to walk among at any daylight hour.
Newtown, meath
Once the largest medieval church outside Dublin, St Peter and St Paul's near Trim was built to plant Anglo-Norman power in the Boyne Valley. Today it's a free, roofless ruin beside a working cemetery – and the reason most people walk out is a tomb, where a sword lies between a stone knight and his wife and locals still leave pins to cure warts.
Ardbraccan, meath
Ardcath, meath
Bective, meath
Trim, meath
Oldcastle, meath
Kells, meath
Donaghmore, meath
Donaghpatrick, meath
Tullamore, meath
Fourknocks, meath
Mornington, meath
Laracor, meath
Oldcastle, meath
Skryne, meath
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