6 Experience the winter solstice like nowhere else
The daddy of the winter solstice spectacle has to be Newgrange in County Meath’s Brú Na Bóinne, where a lucky few are selected by yearly lottery to enter the burial mound during its phenomenal 5,000-year-old light show. There are other places that will make you go wow, too. At Slieve Gullion in County Armagh, the southern passage tomb has a winter solstice alignment at sunset; while at Beaghmore in County Tyrone, watch the sunrise align with the stone rows. Magical.
7 Stay in the cosiest places!
Staying in a lightkeeper’s house tops our list of wonderfully unique winter hideaways: check out Blackhead Lightkeeper’s House in County Antrim, where stunning seascapes are guaranteed. Out west at Temple House, County Sligo, expect a welcome as warm as the fireside from the Percevels. Their family home since 1655, this historic pile overlooks Temple House Lake and the 13th century Knights Templar castle. Bliss.