Things to do in Howth
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Howth
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best window, rhododendrons, puffins, festivals starting and crowds still manageable.
Peak summer, boats and festivals in full swing, cliff path and restaurants at their busiest.
Locals' favourite month, quieter path, warmer sea and harvest season menus.
Worst months, short stormy days, boats cancelled, cliff path muddy and some restaurants on reduced hours.
Shoulder season, green headland and dramatic seas but changeable weather and shrinking daylight in autumn.
Quiet village month of pub fires, Christmas swims for the hardy and off season room rates.
What's on
- Howth Maritime and Seafood Festival Usually May; dates move by year
Harbour seafood, sailing, a Viking parade and a night music programme across nine venues.
- Howth Roots and Blues Festival 7-9 August in the edition reported
Around 40 free gigs across seven harbour venues plus headline concerts at the Abbey Tavern and Summit Inn.
Best things to do in Howth
Howth Harbour
Walk both piers past working trawlers to the lighthouse, watching the harbour seals follow the fishing boats in.
Ireland's Eye
A wild uninhabited island of seabirds, seals, ruins and a Martello tower, reached by a short ferry from the West Pier.
Howth Castle
An 800 year family estate with layered castle buildings, woodland walks and famous rhododendron gardens in late spring.
St Mary's Abbey
A roofless medieval abbey ruin in a hilltop graveyard above the harbour, quiet and free with one of the best village views.
Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio
A tiny volunteer run radio museum inside a Martello tower, packed with working gramophones, radios and telegraph gear.
Howth Market
The weekend market opposite the station for organic produce, baked goods, street food, crafts and Irish made gifts.
Hidden Howth Experiences
A small local guided walk linking harbour, cliffs, abbey and castle through a thousand years of Howth stories.
Howth Summit
The top of the headland with the great Dublin Bay panorama, best reached by bus then walked down from on the cliff path.
Where to stay in Howth
Harbour and East Pier
first trip, couples, seafood
The piers, best restaurants, market and cliff path start are a stroll away, with the DART five to ten minutes on foot.
Village and Main Street
local feel, pubs, abbey
Quieter streets a few minutes back from the water, closest to the abbey, pubs and village shops.
Thormanby and the lower headland
quiet, walkers, drivers
Leafy residential lanes climbing toward the summit, peaceful but an uphill walk home from the harbour.
Sutton
families, golfers, late bookers
Howth's neighbour on the same DART line, with the area's larger traditional hotel and Burrow Beach.
Think twice about
- Howth Summit and upper headland roads
Fine to visit but isolated to sleep in without a car, with dark narrow lanes, few footpaths and no evening life.
- Immediate harbour car park strip
Not a safety issue, but it is the village party floor on festival weekends and a light sleeper will hear it.
Best restaurants in Howth
Mamo Restaurant
Howth's acclaimed splurge, contemporary Irish cooking built on harbour fish in a bright room between the piers.
Aqua Restaurant
The pier end institution serving harbour lobster and crab in a glass room looking straight at Ireland's Eye.
The Pier House
The highest rated kitchen on the pier, small and seafood led with oysters and precise plates reviewers love.
Octopussy's Seafood Tapas Bar
Walk in only seafood tapas on the West Pier, whiskey scallops, squid and a chowder with a cult following.
30 Church Street Restaurant
The village all rounder for steak, pizza and seafood, with views over the harbour to the abbey ruins.
O'Connell's Howth
A proper harbour pub with a serious kitchen, known for seafood chowder, fish specials and a good pint.
The Abbey Tavern
A Howth institution for pub food and traditional music, hosting headline concerts on festival weekends.
Beshoff Bros
The locals' fish and chips pick, never frozen cod in crisp batter with famously generous portions.
Outdoor things to do in Howth
Howth Cliff Walk
Dublin's best free coastal walk, cliffs and heather from the harbour around the headland to the Baily Lighthouse.
Shearwater Sea Kayaking
Guided sea kayaking from the harbour around Ireland's Eye in settled summer weather, with seals shadowing the boats.
Ireland's Eye Ferries
A 50 minute small boat cruise around Ireland's Eye and the cliffs for puffins, gannets, seals and sea caves.
Howth Adventures
A guided panoramic e-bike tour covering the whole peninsula, with the motor taking the hills and locals telling the story.
Howth Golf Club
James Braid's hilly 1916 heathland course in the Howth heather, with a famous view from the 16th tee.
Deer Park Golf
Bay view golf for everyone in the castle demesne, with 18 holes plus pitch and putt and FootGolf for mixed groups.
Portmarnock Golf Club
One of the world's great championship links courses since 1894, an easy splurge day trip up the coast from Howth.
Balscadden Bay Beach
A sheltered pebbly cove below the cliffs loved for clear cold water sea swimming, reached by steep steps.
Best hotels in Howth
King Sitric
Howth's boutique ceiling, sea view rooms above a fine seafood restaurant on the East Pier itself.
Marine Hotel
The full service fallback in Sutton, with sea views, gardens, a pool and a short hop to Howth by DART.
Hazelwood Bed and Breakfast
A family run B&B beside woodland on Thormanby Road, run for over two decades with parking and cooked breakfasts.
Gleann na Smol
A small simple B&B on Kilrock Road, the cheapest respectable base in Howth itself.
Is Howth expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €115 a person |
| Splurge | €300 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Ireland's Eye: a few days ahead
- Hidden Howth Experiences: a few days ahead
- Shearwater Sea Kayaking: weeks ahead
- Ireland's Eye Ferries: a few days ahead
- Howth Adventures: a few days ahead
- Howth Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Deer Park Golf: a few days ahead
- Portmarnock Golf Club: months ahead
- Book Mamo and The Pier House days to weeks ahead for weekends.
- Book Ireland's Eye landing ferries for the morning in season, as landing slots are capped.
- Book e-bike tours, walking tours and golf tee times ahead, and Portmarnock visitor times months ahead.
Is Howth safe?
- Cliff path edges are unfenced in places, so keep children close and stay off the path in high winds.
- Balscadden Bay has no lifeguards and cold water year round, so check tides and swim with others.
- Emergency number in Ireland is 112 or 999.
Howth travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Do not feed the harbour seals, and guard fish and chips from the professional seagulls on the pier wall.
- Baily Lighthouse has no visitor access or car park, so treat it only as a cliff walk reward.
- Howth Castle interiors are by scheduled tour only, so check before building a morning on them.
Getting around Howth: public transport and more
- Take the DART to Howth terminus, about 25 to 30 minutes from central Dublin, and walk everything in the village.
- Use the bus to Howth Summit to walk the cliff path mostly downhill to the village and the train home.
- Change at Howth Junction for Malahide and Portmarnock, and expect harbour parking to fill before 11am on sunny weekends.
Who Howth suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Howth your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store