Water in Sligo splits fairly neatly in two. Around Sligo town, Lough Gill lies behind oak woods and some twenty islands, and the short climb to Dooney Rock gives the view most people come for; Ballintogher, a one-street village on its southern side, puts you near Slish Wood and the Cashelore stone fort. East over the Leitrim border, the Glencar valley holds the easy 15 m Glencar Waterfall and the 150 m Devil’s Chimney, which only runs after heavy rain.
The Garavogue runs 3.2 km from Lough Gill through the centre of town to the Atlantic, with a 7 km riverside walk on it, and it is the one entry here you can start on foot from the town. Everything else needs a drive. Ballysadare, seven kilometres south, is where the Owenmore drops over falls into a tidal bay; kayakers run the grade 3–5 drop and there is a platform to watch from. Further south again, Lough Arrow sits under the Bricklieve Mountains as a brown-trout fishery, Lough Gara on the Roscommon border carries around 300 crannógs, Templehouse Lake near Ballymote fishes for pike, and Lough Talt in the Ox Mountains has a flat 8 km lakeshore loop.
Weather decides a good deal of it. The Devil’s Chimney is dry in settled spells and worth the walk after days of rain; Lough Gara’s whooper swans and Greenland white-fronted geese are a winter draw.
The lake behind Yeats's Lake Isle of Innisfree, ringed with oak woods and islands, with the classic view from a short climb up Dooney Rock.
A glacial trough on the Leitrim border with two falls, the easy 15 m Glencar Waterfall and the 150 m Devil's Chimney, Ireland's tallest.
A one-street village whose draws lie in the countryside around it, the Cashelore stone fort, the lakeside woods at Slish Wood and an autumn music festival.
Seven kilometres south of Sligo town, where the Owenmore drops over falls into a tidal bay used by paddlers, salmon anglers and a resident seal colony.
Holds the greatest concentration of crannógs in Ireland, around 300, in a shallow Ramsar wetland that winters whooper swans and fishes well for pike.
11 of 11 shown — tap a pin for the place.
sligo
Lough Gill is the lake behind Yeats's 'Lake Isle of Innisfree', ringed with oak woods and dotted with some twenty islands. A short climb up Dooney Rock gives the classic view over the water; the Hazelwood sculpture trail and the Rose of Innisfree boat are two more ways to see it.
Glencar Valley, leitrim
Glencar Valley straddles the Leitrim-Sligo border, a glacial trough with two waterfalls at its heart. One is the easy 15 m Glencar Waterfall that inspired W.B. Yeats; the other is the 150 m Devil's Chimney, Ireland's tallest, which only runs after heavy rain and can blow its spray back uphill in a southerly.
Ballintogher, sligo
Near the shores of Lough Gill in Yeats country, Ballintogher is a one-street village whose real draws are scattered in the countryside around it: the hilltop Cashelore stone fort, the lakeside woods at Slish Wood, and a traditional-music festival each autumn.
Ballysadare, sligo
Ballysadare sits where the Owenmore River drops over falls into a tidal bay, seven kilometres south of Sligo town. It draws white-water paddlers, salmon anglers and walkers, with a resident seal colony in the estuary and St Féichín's early church standing above the falls.
Sligo, sligo
The Ballysadare River runs barely 6 km, but it packs a grade 3–5 kayak drop over the falls in the middle of the village before sliding into a tidal lagoon. A viewing platform gives walkers a safe look at the water, and the salmon fishery reopened in 2024 as catch-and-release only.
Boyle, sligo
Lough Gara holds the greatest concentration of crannógs in Ireland – around 300 man-made islands, most revealed when the lake was partly drained in the 1950s. It straddles the Sligo–Roscommon border as a shallow, reed-fringed Ramsar wetland, winters rare Greenland white-fronted geese and whooper swans, and fishes well for pike.
South County Sligo, sligo
Lough Talt is a glacial lake in the bare Ox Mountains and the start of the 80km Sligo Way. Most visitors walk its flat 8km lakeshore loop in a couple of hours. The lake holds rare Arctic char, hides two Iron Age crannógs, and supplies drinking water to much of south Sligo; graves from General Humbert's 1798 French campaign lie in the valley above.
sligo
The Garavogue runs just 3.2 km from Lough Gill through the centre of Sligo town to the Atlantic, arguably the shortest significant river in Ireland. Once the Sligeach, 'abounding in shells', it gave its name to both the town and the county, and it carries a 7 km riverside walk, five bridges and a salmon and sea-trout fishery.
Northwest Ireland, sligo
Gorteen, sligo
South County Sligo, sligo
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