The eleven places here fall into three rough groups, and it helps to know which one you are heading for. Wexford town sits in the middle, on the harbour the Norse called Veisafjǫrðr, with the 13th-century Westgate Tower to climb and the National Opera House booked out for the festival every October. Castlebridge is 5 km north of it, built around a canal Nicholas Dixon hand-dug in 1810 to dodge the toll on his own bridge. Both sit beside the Slobs, where around 10,000 Greenland white-fronted geese winter.
The second group runs up the north coast and just inland. Courtown grew around a harbour built as Famine relief and now keeps Seal Rescue Ireland, a working RNLI station on the pier and free way-marked woodland trails; the beach itself has lost ground to erosion. Ballygarrett is a few minutes away, and Gorey, larger and busier, works as a base with direct trains to Dublin in about two hours. Ferns lies inland from Gorey, castle and cathedral both free.
The far southwest is a separate day. Kilmore Quay is a working trawler harbour with a ferry to the Saltee Islands, while Ballyhack and Fethard-on-Sea sit either side of the Hook, and New Ross stands inland on the Barrow.
The county town on a Norse-founded harbour, with the Westgate Tower to climb, opera in October and thousands of wintering geese on the mudflats.
A working trawler harbour with thatched cottages, a marina and a 20-minute ferry out to the Saltee Islands, Ireland's largest bird sanctuary.
A small village whose church pews were cut from the wreck of the clipper Pomona, and an easy base for Cahore and Morriscastle beaches.
A five-storey Knights Hospitallers tower house whose full battlements you can walk for free, above a fishing village with the car ferry to Waterford.
A Famine-relief harbour village that now holds the country's only seal rescue centre, with free way-marked trails through the woods behind it.
11 of 11 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Wexford town, wexford
Norse settlers founded Veisafjǫrðr – ‘inlet of the mudflats’ – around 800 AD, and those mudflats now winter around 10,000 Greenland white-fronted geese, roughly a third of the world’s population. In town, climb the 13th-century Westgate Tower for the view over the quays, and book early for October’s Wexford Festival Opera in the 771-seat National Opera House. Curracloe’s film-famous strand is 10 km up the coast.
Kilmore Quay, wexford
Kilmore Quay is a working fishing village where trawlers share the harbour with a marina and a row of early-19th-century thatched cottages. From here a 20-minute ferry crosses to the Saltee Islands, Ireland's largest bird sanctuary, and miles of dune-backed strand run west along Ballyteige Bay.
Ballygarrett, wexford
Step inside St Mary's Star of the Sea and you're sitting on pews cut from the wreck of the clipper Pomona, lost off the Blackwater Bank in 1859. The village is also twinned with Refugio, Texas, birthplace of Wexford man James Power, and makes an easy base for Cahore and Morriscastle beaches.
Ballyhack, wexford
Ballyhack Castle is a five-storey tower house built by the Knights Hospitallers around 1450, and one of the few Irish castles where you can still walk the full battlements for free. Below it sits a quiet fishing village with a shop, a pub and the car ferry across to Passage East in Waterford.
wexford
Courtown is a north Wexford seaside village that grew up around a harbour Lord Courtown built as Famine relief in the 1840s. It's best known now for Seal Rescue Ireland – the only seal rescue centre in the country – and for the free, way-marked trails of Courtown Woods. The beach has lost ground to erosion in recent years, so come for the village, the woods and the seals as much as the sand.
Ferns, wexford
Ferns was the power base of Diarmait Mac Murchada, the Leinster king who brought the Normans to Ireland. What remains is a compact heritage town: a Norman castle holding the finest vaulted ceiling in the country, a community-stitched medieval tapestry, and a cathedral on a 6th-century monastic site. Castle and cathedral are both free.
Gorey, wexford
Gorey grew from a village of under 4,000 in the 1990s to a town of 11,517, and it works best as a base rather than a destination. The 1709 Market House and a busy Main Street sit at its centre, but the real draws – Courtown's Blue Flag beach, Wells House and Gardens, the Tara Hill walk – are a short drive out. Direct trains reach Dublin in about two hours.
New Ross, wexford
New Ross grew around a 13th-century bridge over the River Barrow and became a major famine-era emigration port. Its headline attraction, the full-scale Dunbrody emigrant ship, sits on the quay; the Kennedy homestead and arboretum lie a short drive south.
Castlebridge, wexford
Courtown, wexford
Fethard-on-Sea, wexford
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