There are no mountains in Meath. The high points here are low hills standing out of flat farmland, which is why the views from them run so far, and most of what you look at from the top is the Boyne Valley and its monuments.
The Hill of Tara at Skryne is where most people start: free, open, a grassy spread of mounds and double-ditched earthworks. The monuments are subtle, so the visitor-centre film or a guide earns its place. The Hill of Slane stands 16 km north, with the ruins of a Fleming friary and college of 1512 on top and Tara visible back down the valley; the parish priest still lights a fire there every Holy Saturday. Slane village below it is a Georgian octagon of four matching houses, and Rathkenny, further into the estate country, is a private Georgian house you see only from the road, with the Boyne Ramparts walk and the Lakelands Greenway around it.
Athboy and the Hill of Ward are a separate drive, and they work as a pair. The four concentric banks of Tlachtga sit on private farmland; the day the summit is genuinely walked is 31 October, when a torch-lit procession climbs from the town. Athboy has the Pale wall remnants behind St James Church of Ireland and a heritage trail of about half an hour. Pick a clear day for any of it.
Ceremonial seat of the High Kings for over a thousand years, now a free, open hilltop of grassy mounds and double-ditched earthworks above Skryne.
Still lit with a fire every Holy Saturday, its 1512 friary ruins look out over the Boyne Valley, with Tara visible 16 km to the south.
A Pale town sitting below the Hill of Ward, with medieval wall remnants behind St James and a heritage trail of about half an hour.
Four concentric earthen banks ring this summit on private farmland, traditional birthplace of the Samhain fires and goal of a torch-lit procession each 31 October.
Estate country seen from the road rather than the gate, with the Boyne Ramparts walk and the Lakelands Greenway running through the surrounding fields.
7 of 7 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Skryne, meath
The Hill of Tara was the ceremonial seat of Ireland’s High Kings for over a thousand years, and today it is a free, open hilltop of grassy mounds and double-ditched earthworks. The monuments are subtle – a guide or the visitor-centre film brings them to life. On Samhain, sunrise lines up with the Mound of the Hostages passage tomb.
Slane, meath
The parish priest of Slane still lights a fire on this hilltop every Holy Saturday, keeping alive the legend that St Patrick did the same in AD 433. The ruins on top are a Fleming friary and college of 1512; the Boyne Valley view runs for miles and the Hill of Tara is visible 16 km to the south.
Athboy, meath
Athboy sits below the Hill of Ward (Tlachtga), the prehistoric ceremonial site where the Samhain fires that became Halloween were lit, now revived by the Púca and Flame of Samhain festivals. Behind St James Church of Ireland stand remnants of the medieval Pale town walls, built into a 14th-century Carmelite tower, and a self-guided heritage trail links the lot in about half an hour.
Wardstown, meath
Four concentric earthen banks ring the summit of the Hill of Ward, or Tlachtga, on private farmland in County Meath. Medieval tradition makes it the birthplace of the Samhain fire festival, ancestor of Halloween, and every 31 October a torch-lit procession still climbs from Athboy to the top.
Rathkenny, meath
Rathkenny House, a Georgian mansion raised by the Hussey family around 1750, hides some of Ireland's largest yew trees behind its walled garden. The house is a private home you can only see from the road, but the surrounding country gives onto the Boyne Ramparts walk, the Lakelands Greenway and the passage tombs of Brú na Bóinne.
Slane, meath
Slane is a small Georgian village on the Boyne, built around an octagonal crossroads of four matching houses. Above it, the Hill of Slane carries a ruined friary and the spot where St Patrick is said to have lit his Paschal fire in 433. The castle draws summer concert crowds and runs a whiskey distillery in its old stables.
Meath, meath
The Boyne Valley packs Ireland's densest run of history into an hour north of Dublin: the Neolithic tombs of Brú na Bóinne, older than the pyramids, the royal Hill of Tara, the country's largest Anglo-Norman castle at Trim, and the battlefield that settled the 1690 war. It works as a long day trip, but two days does it justice.
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