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County Sligo - Yeats country

Ben Bulben
This unusual mountain dominates the sky for miles and is one of the places where Queen Maeve is buried although Knocknarea appears to have a stronger claim (see below). Looks good from the car or the hotel, but why not walk it? In good weather this is a significantly challenging hike but the reward is a breath-taking view over Donegal and Mayo coastline.

Drumcliff
It is not just famous as Yeats’ resting place - it is also a Christian site of major significance, founded by St Columcille.

Knocknarea
Cnoc na Ri - the hill of the king - dominates west Sligo and is popular with walkers. At its peak lies a series of cairns including Queen Maeve’s tomb, which is the biggest Neolithic grave outside the Boyne Valley. The mountain was a major place of ritual and the mountain is rimmed on the one-side by a 1km long embankment two metres wide.

Yeats Country drive
This itinerary should take in Benbulben, Truskmore, Ox Mountains and Knocknarea which overshadows the largest megalithic cemetery in Ireland, Carrowmore where Queen Maeve is buried. Yeats’ The Stolen Child, was also inspired by Glencar waterfall, a modest stream forms an impressive waterfall.

Cairn villages
Sligo is rich in pre-historic remains, particularly the Sligo Bay area. Ancient graves - many of them stone cairns with passage tombs can be found throughout the north of the county and include the stone-age Creevykeel Court near Mullaghmore and the less visited but spectacular hill-top Carrowkeel south of Sligo and consisting of 14 passage graves.

Streedagh
One of Sligo’s many hidden secrets include Streedagh beach. This hard-to-find duned beach offers a spectacular view of the Donegal mountains and where three of the ships of the Spanish Armada sunk. It is also a surfers’ paradise.

More recent history is marked in Mullaghamore where Lord Mountbatten was blown up in an IRA bomb that shocked the world.

Seaweed baths in Enniscrone
Seaside town, close to Mayo, famous for its seaweed baths. Relaxing and curing baths full of fresh, locally grown, seaweed containing a high concentration of therapeutic iodine.

Coney Island
Accessible at low tide, this island is known locally as the inspiration for its name sake in New York. The mud flats provide a feeding ground for Brent geese, wild duck and waders.