Carrowkeel leads this list: fourteen Neolithic passage tombs on the Bricklieve terraces above Lough Arrow, reached by a 20-minute uphill walk from the road, with no facilities at the top. It is the southern outlier here. Most of what follows sits closer to Sligo town, and it divides fairly neatly between lakeshore and coast.
On Lough Gill, Dooney Rock is a 1.2 km woodland loop climbing to a rocky top over the lake, done comfortably in under an hour. Slish Wood runs about 4 km along the same southern shore, onto a timber boardwalk facing Innisfree, with free parking. On the coast, the Aughris Head loop covers 4 km past a promontory fort, St Patrick’s Well, a wartime lookout post and a deserted village, finishing at the thatched Beach Bar. The Benbulben Forest Walk near Drumcliffe is the flat option, 5.5 km of Coillte gravel track at about an hour and a half, with the mountain’s north face saved for late in the circuit.
Tides govern two of these. Coney Island is crossed at low water on a sand causeway marked by 14 stone pillars, and the walk out to the Lower Rosses beacon at Rosses Point only opens as the sand dries. Read the tide times first for both. The Yeats Trail and the Miners Way are drives or multi-day routes rather than an afternoon out.
Fourteen Neolithic passage tombs on the Bricklieve terraces above Lough Arrow, reached by a 20-minute uphill walk, with a midsummer roof-box at Cairn G.
A 4 km coastal loop taking in a promontory fort, a wartime lookout post and a deserted village, finishing at the thatched Beach Bar.
The easiest way to stand under Benbulben's north face, a flat 5.5 km gravel loop through Coillte forest that takes about an hour and a half.
Reached at low tide by a sand causeway marked with 14 stone pillars, a 40-minute crossing to fairy forts, empty strands and views to Knocknarea.
A 1.2 km woodland loop on the south-west shore of Lough Gill, climbing to a rocky top with a wide view over the lake and its islands.
11 of 12 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Near Castlebaldwin, sligo
Fourteen Neolithic passage tombs on the Bricklieve terraces above Lough Arrow, one of them – Cairn G – built with a rare roof-box that lets the midsummer sunset reach the back of the chamber. It's a 20-minute uphill walk from the road, with no facilities and no crowds.
Aughris Head, sligo
A 4 km coastal loop on Sligo's Aughris Head, taking in an Iron Age promontory fort, St Patrick's Well, a wartime lookout post and a deserted village, with the thatched Beach Bar at the end. Aughris beach itself is stony; for sand and a gentler swim, head round to Dunmoran Strand.
Drumcliffe, sligo
The easiest way to stand under Benbulben’s fluted north face without climbing it – a flat 5.5 km gravel loop through Coillte forest, roughly an hour and a half at an easy pace. The mountain views come near the end, and on a clear day reach out to Inishmurray, Classiebawn Castle and the Slieve League cliffs in Donegal.
sligo
At low tide a sand causeway marked by 14 stone pillars opens across Cummeen Strand to Coney Island, named for its rabbits. Fairy forts, empty strands and views to Knocknarea reward the 40-minute walk – but read the tide times first, as people have been stranded here.
Sligo, sligo
Dooney Rock is a 1.2 km woodland loop on the south-west shore of Lough Gill, climbing to a rocky top with a wide view over the lake and its islands. It's the Dooney of Yeats's 1892 poem, free to walk, and done comfortably in under an hour.
Coolera Peninsula, sligo
Perched on the Coolera peninsula, the weather-worn stones of Killaspugbrone Church overlook Sligo Bay and the silhouettes of Ben Bulben and Knocknarea. A 7 km moderate loop weaves through dunes, salt-marsh and the edge of a working airfield, pairing early-Christian history with wildlife and dramatic seaside scenery in one half-day walk.
Roscommon, roscommon
The Miners Way and Historical Trail is a 118 km figure-of-eight that loops out of Arigna, where coal was mined until 1990. It threads three loughs, the low Curlew and Bricklieve ranges, and one of Ireland's densest clusters of Neolithic passage tombs at Carrowkeel. About half of it is on tarmac.
Ballintogher, sligo
Slish Wood runs along the southern shore of Lough Gill, the forest W.B. Yeats called Sleuth Wood in 'The Stolen Child'. A waymarked loop of about 4km follows the lakeshore onto a timber boardwalk with the view towards Innisfree, and links into the Sligo Way for anyone walking on to Dromahair. The car park is free.
North-west Ireland, sligo
The Sligo, Leitrim & Northern Counties Railway ran from Enniskillen to Sligo from 1882 until it closed in 1957, the last private railway of its kind in Ireland. Its trackbed is reopening as the 70 km SLNCR Greenway, a low-gradient, cross-border trail from Collooney through Leitrim to Enniskillen, with two of three phases already open.
sligo
Opened in 2023, the Yeats Trail marks 14 places across County Sligo that turn up in W.B. Yeats's poems, from the Lake Isle of Innisfree to his grave at Drumcliffe. It is a driving route more than a walk, with a sculpture and verse at each stop. Artist Martha Quinn made the installations at Knocknarea and Union Wood.
Rosses Point, sligo
Sligo, sligo
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