Donegal

Donegal Town sits at the head of Donegal Bay in the north-west of Ireland, where the River Eske flows into the Atlantic. Compact and walkable, it is built around the Diamond, a triangular market square overlooked by an obelisk commemorating the Four Masters who compiled the famous Annals of Ireland here in the seventeenth century.

The town is dominated by Donegal Castle, a fifteenth-century tower house built by the O'Donnell chieftains and later extended with a Jacobean wing. Restored by the Office of Public Works, it is open to visitors and offers a vivid sense of Gaelic and plantation history. Nearby stand the ruins of Donegal Friary, a Franciscan house founded in 1474 on a peaceful spot beside the bay.

Donegal makes an excellent base for exploring the wider county, with the Bluestack Mountains rising inland and the Slieve League cliffs and Glencolmcille within easy reach. The town itself offers traditional pubs with live music, tweed shops, the Donegal Bay Waterbus harbour cruise and a thriving craft scene rooted in the region's textile heritage.