Things to do in Leixlip
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Leixlip
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, with long evenings, Castletown in season, the canal and parklands at their best and golf in condition.
Leixlip Festival on the June bank holiday weekend closes Main Street for concerts, carnival and Sunday fireworks.
National Heritage Week in mid to late August brings praised castle tours and special Castletown programming.
Castletown House reopens in mid March and the parklands come into blossom, with changeable weather.
Autumn colour on the Liffey and quieter golf, until Castletown House closes in early November.
Worst months for the headline sights, with the house shut and limited castle tours, but the cheapest hotel rates.
What's on
- Leixlip Festival June bank holiday weekend
Open air concerts, pub music, street carnival and Sunday night fireworks over the Liffey, running since 1990.
- National Heritage Week mid to late August
Heritage Week tours at Leixlip Castle draw particular praise, with special events at Castletown House.
Best things to do in Leixlip
Leixlip Castle
A Norman castle begun in 1172 that is still a lived in home, toured in small guided groups above the Liffey and Rye.
Castletown House and Parklands
Irelands largest Palladian house, with a print room and Long Gallery, set in free Liffey parklands near Leixlip.
The Wonderful Barn
A corkscrew famine relief granary from 1743 with steps spiralling outside the tower, free to view in a small park.
Leixlip Heritage Trail
A free self guided walk linking St Marys, the Toll House, the old bridge and the Guinness brewery streets.
St. Catherine's Park
Two hundred acres of woodland, river walks, playgrounds and a Sunday market shared by Leixlip and Lucan.
Leixlip Spa
The overgrown remains of a Georgian warm spring spa by the Royal Canal, an atmospheric footnote on a canal walk.
The Court Yard Hotel
The hotel stands on Arthur Guinnesss first brewery site and displays the 1756 lease from before St Jamess Gate.
Leixlip Bridge
The bridge over the Liffey falls that gave Leixlip its salmon leap name, best seen after rain when the water is up.
Where to stay in Leixlip
Main Street and Captain's Hill
car free first stay
The castle, heritage trail, pubs and restaurants on foot, with Louisa Bridge station a ten minute walk.
St Catherine's Park and Leixlip Road
families, drivers and park trips
Quieter and greener beside the park, still walkable to the village, with the Springfield and the Manor here.
Maynooth and Straffan
luxury, golf and resort stays
Carton House and The K Club are the areas luxury hotels, fifteen to twenty minutes from Leixlip.
Think twice about
- M4 corridor and Intel business park edge
Not unsafe, but dead at night and car dependent, with no pubs or restaurants around you. Base in the village instead.
- St Catherine's Park car park, Lucan Demesne side
Car break ins have been reported and the car park lacks CCTV. Park on the Leixlip side and leave nothing visible.
Best restaurants in Leixlip
The Morrison Room
A starred tasting menu in Carton Houses most ornate room, serving dinner Thursday to Saturday only.
Salmon Leap Inn Gastropub
Leixlips top rated gastropub, known for featherblade beef, pork belly, Sunday roast and a well poured Guinness.
Da Vinci's Italian Restaurant & Bar
The towns Italian institution, family run with house made pasta and room for a hundred at family occasions.
Town Leixlip
A gastropub by day that turns into a cocktail and music venue by night, the towns best one stop group evening.
Court Yard Dining @ the Court Yard Hotel
Irish dining on the Guinness brewery site, the most occasion feeling restaurant actually in the village.
Koshiba Japanese Bistro & Sushi
Classic and fusion Japanese cooking and sushi at Riverforest, the towns change of pace dinner and best takeaway.
Deniz Turkish Restaurant
Generous Turkish and Mediterranean cooking with standout service, including careful help for coeliac diners.
Rustic Pizza
True Neapolitan pizza from a wood fired oven over 450 degrees, slow proved dough and San Marzano tomatoes.
Outdoor things to do in Leixlip
Leixlip Loop
A 4.7 mile loop from Louisa Bridge station through St Catherines Park and back along the Royal Canal Way.
Royal Canal Greenway
A flat, traffic free canal towpath west from Leixlip to Maynooth and Kilcock, crossing the Rye on an aqueduct.
Lucan Golf Club
A historic parkland club near Leixlip praised for its greens and value, with rentals and Tuesday open competitions.
Hermitage Golf Club
An award winning parkland course over 115 years old in the Liffey Valley, a members club that welcomes visitors.
Carton House Golf Club
Two championship courses at Carton, the parkland OMeara and the Montgomerie, a three time Irish Open host course.
The K Club
The Ryder Cup splurge round at Straffan, famous Palmer golf on the Liffey about twenty minutes from Leixlip.
Carton House Falconry
A two hour estate falconry session with hawks, owls, falcons and a golden eagle, including a hawk walk.
Maynooth Castle
The great Geraldine stronghold at the entrance to Maynooth, nine minutes by train from Leixlip Louisa Bridge.
Best hotels in Leixlip
Carton House, A Fairmont Managed Hotel
The areas luxury stay, a Palladian mansion hotel on 1100 acres with spa, golf and the Morrison Room.
The K Club
A formal five star country house hotel on the Liffey built around Ryder Cup golf, spa and occasion dining.
The Court Yard Hotel
The best located hotel in Leixlip, on the original Guinness brewery site in the middle of the village.
Springfield Hotel
A long established Leixlip hotel with 52 rooms, a rated restaurant and free parking on the Lucan side of town.
Leixlip Manor Hotel
A manor hotel in parkland by St Catherines Park, the greenest base in town and often its best value main hotel.
Leixlip House Hotel
The cheapest hotel bed in the village, in an 18th century house, with sharply mixed service reviews to check first.
Is Leixlip expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €70 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €130 a person |
| Splurge | €320 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Leixlip Castle: a few days ahead
- Castletown House and Parklands: a few days ahead
- Lucan Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Hermitage Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Carton House Golf Club: weeks ahead
- The K Club: weeks ahead
- Carton House Falconry: a few days ahead
- Carton House, A Fairmont Managed Hotel: weeks ahead
- The Morrison Room serves dinner Thursday to Saturday plus Sunday lunch and books weeks ahead.
- Leixlip Castle tours run in limited morning windows, so confirm the current pattern before building a day on it.
- Castletown House opens mid March to early November with online tour booking, while its parklands stay free year round.
- Weekend tee times at Carton, The K Club and Hermitage, and Sunday lunch at the Salmon Leap, go early.
Is Leixlip safe?
- No area of Leixlip was found that visitors should avoid basing in on safety grounds, per long term resident consensus.
- The Liffey at the Salmon Leap is fast water with weirs, so admire it from the bridge and banks and swim nowhere in it.
- Emergency number in Ireland is 112.
Leixlip travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Intel is a working plant with no tours or visitor centre, so anyone selling an Intel experience is selling a fence.
- The Wonderful Barn is exterior only and about twenty minutes, and its allotment gate can lock parked cars in.
- Leixlip Spa is a derelict Georgian ruin by a waterfall, not a spa day with treatments.
- Do not base in Leixlip for a nightlife first trip, because the last train is a hard deadline.
Getting around Leixlip: public transport and more
- Trains from Louisa Bridge and Confey reach Dublin Connolly in about 35 minutes, roughly every 20 minutes at peak.
- Maynooth is nine minutes by train in the other direction for Carton, the castle and St Patricks College.
- The last train back from Dublin leaves around 23:20, after which a taxi to Leixlip costs roughly 35 to 50 euro.
- A car earns its keep for golf, Carton, the K Club and Castletown, not for the village itself.
Who Leixlip suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Leixlip your trip
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