Listowel

Listowel is a market town in north County Kerry, set on the banks of the River Feale at the edge of the rolling Kerry farmland. Its handsome square is dominated by the restored Listowel Castle, a 15th-century tower house associated with the Fitzmaurice lords of Kerry, which now operates as a free seasonal visitor attraction with guided tours of the surviving twin towers.

The town has an outsized reputation for literature. Writers John B. Keane, Bryan MacMahon and Brendan Kennelly all came from Listowel, and the Kerry Writers' Museum in the square tells their story alongside the wider tradition of Irish storytelling. Every spring the town hosts Listowel Writers' Week, one of Ireland's longest-running literary festivals, drawing authors and readers from across the world.

Listowel is equally well known for the Listowel Races, a week-long harvest meeting held each September at the racecourse on the edge of town, which has been running in some form since the 1850s. Beyond the festivals, visitors can stroll the riverside walks along the Feale, admire the elaborate plasterwork on the town's traditional shopfronts, and follow the Lartigue Monorail Museum, which preserves a unique 19th-century railway line that once ran from Listowel to Ballybunion.