Things to do in Sligo
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Sligo
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months with long light, boats and surf schools running, and none of the peak crowding.
Warmest and busiest, with the full festival stack and the highest golf and Strandhill prices.
Quieter shoulder months with moodier light, shorter days and some seasonal closures.
Worst for sightseeing with storms and early dark, but best for storm watching, empty trails and cheap rooms.
What's on
- Cairde Sligo Arts Festival early July
Music, theatre, dance and circus taking over venues and streets around Sligo.
- Sligo Jazz Project late July
A jazz festival and summer school whose impromptu pub sessions are the highlight.
- Yeats International Summer School late July
Ten days of poetry and lectures in the town that inspired Yeats.
- Warriors Run late August
A gruelling road and mountain race in Strandhill born of a 1979 pub bet.
- Sligo Festival of Baroque Music late September
A long running baroque festival centred on The Model in Sligo.
- Sligo Live late October to early November
The autumn festival of traditional, roots and acoustic music.
Best things to do in Sligo
Benbulben Forest Walk
Walk beneath Benbulben's limestone plateau on clear forest tracks for the classic Sligo view without a summit scramble.
Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery
Ireland's densest cluster of Neolithic tombs in open fields under Knocknarea, best understood on the guided tour.
Sligo Abbey
A 13th century Dominican friary in the town centre with a carved high altar, cloisters and sculpted tombs.
Drumcliffe Church
Yeats's grave under Benbulben, with an early high cross and a round tower stump in a working churchyard.
Lissadell House and Gardens
The Gore-Booth great house Yeats elegised, with house tours and restored gardens when its seasonal opening allows.
The Model
Free galleries holding the Niland Collection of Jack B. Yeats paintings, plus contemporary shows and a cinema.
Yeats Society Sligo
The Yeats exhibition and events hub at Hyde Bridge that makes Drumcliffe, Lough Gill and Lissadell make sense.
Lough Gill
Yeats's island dotted lake, best combined as the Hazelwood and Dooney Rock stops on the scenic shore loop.
Where to stay in Sligo
Sligo Town centre
first trips, no car, nights out
Walk to the Abbey, The Model, restaurants and pubs, with buses and taxis to both beaches.
Rosses Point
golf, swimming, quiet sea air
A village peninsula with the beach, County Sligo Golf Club and calm evenings eight kilometres from town.
Strandhill
surfing, seaweed baths, sunsets
A surf village under Knocknarea with schools, baths and cafes, taking the full Atlantic weather.
Think twice about
- Enniscrone as a Sligo Town base
A fine resort in its own right but forty minutes west, so a Sligo Town trip becomes a daily commute.
- Rural Lough Gill and Ballygawley roads without a car
Lovely lodges market as Sligo while sitting kilometres from any bus route, stranding non drivers.
- Southern approach road leisure hotels for a walking trip
Built for drivers and weddings, with the least pleasant walk into town in the county.
Best restaurants in Sligo
Eala Bhan
Sligo's best table on the Garavogue River, local seafood and aged steaks with a strong value early bird menu.
Montmartre
Sligo's classic French room for special occasions, doing lobster, halibut and the canon with formal polish.
Hooked
A bright riverside grill and seafood all rounder on Rockwood Parade for families, groups and solo suppers.
Coach Lane Restaurant
Aged beef and serious grills above Donaghy's Bar, the group dinner and carnivore pick in Sligo Town.
Hargadon Bros
A Victorian grocery pub on O'Connell Street where the bar and the kitchen are equally worth the visit.
Lyons Cafe And Bakeshop
The bakery cafe Sligo itself queues for, upstairs in Lyons on Quay Street, for breakfasts, lunches and cakes.
Flipside Sligo
Burgers and American Irish comfort food in the town centre, cheap, fast and rated like a far grander room.
Shells Seaside Cafe & Bakery
Strandhill's destination seafront cafe for breakfasts, fish and chips and baking, facing the Atlantic surf.
Outdoor things to do in Sligo
County Sligo Golf Club
Harry Colt championship links from 1894 between three beaches, host of the West of Ireland Amateur Championship.
Enniscrone Golf Club
The Dunes Course threads through enormous dunes on Killala Bay, the wilder rival to Rosses Point for links drama.
Strandhill Golf Club
A friendly local links under Knocknarea, ten minutes from the surf beach, cafes and seaweed baths of Strandhill.
Sligo Surf Experience
Beginner surf lessons on Strandhill's reliable beach break, with board and thick wetsuit included in the session.
VOYA Seaweed Baths
A private bath of hot seawater and steamed local seaweed by Strandhill beach, the classic post surf reset.
Kilcullen Seaweed Baths
Ireland's oldest seaweed bath house, family run since 1912 in an Edwardian seafront building at Enniscrone.
Knocknarea
Climb the Queen Maeve Trail on boardwalk and steps to a huge Neolithic cairn and a panorama over Sligo Bay.
Rose of Innisfree Tour Boat
Sail Lough Gill past the Lake Isle of Innisfree to a guided tour of the restored 17th century Parke's Castle.
Best hotels in Sligo
The Glasshouse
A glass ship hotel on the Garavogue River in the town centre, with river view rooms and a destination bar.
Riverside Hotel
A reliable riverside mid range hotel minutes from O'Connell Street, with free parking for touring drivers.
Clayton Hotel Sligo
A large family leisure hotel with a pool south of the centre, built for families and groups with cars.
Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Sligo
Full service spa hotel between town and Rosses Point, the easiest luxury base for golfers with a car.
Yeats Country Hotel, Spa & Leisure Club
A traditional family resort hotel with pool and spa, an eleven minute walk from Rosses Point Beach.
The Driftwood
A small restaurant with rooms in Rosses Point village, famous for terrace lunches looking across to Knocknarea.
Strandhill Lodge and Suites
Strandhill's flagship small hotel, with large rooms and suites viewing Knocknarea and the bay above the beach.
Ocean Wave Lodge
A sociable hostel and self catering lodge in Strandhill, the budget base for surf weeks and group trips.
Is Sligo expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €75 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €140 a person |
| Splurge | €320 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Lissadell House and Gardens: a few days ahead
- County Sligo Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Enniscrone Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Strandhill Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Sligo Surf Experience: a few days ahead
- VOYA Seaweed Baths: a few days ahead
- Kilcullen Seaweed Baths: a few days ahead
- Rose of Innisfree Tour Boat: a few days ahead
- Book VOYA baths at weekends and Eala Bhan and Montmartre for Friday and Saturday.
- Book County Sligo and Enniscrone tee times in season and Strandhill Lodge and Suites in July.
- Confirm the seasonal Rose of Innisfree timetable and check Lissadell opening directly for your dates.
Is Sligo safe?
- Emergency number is 112 and normal city awareness around the station late at night is sufficient.
- Watch tides on the Coney Island strand crossing and swell at Mullaghmore.
- Weather changes fast on Knocknarea, Benbulben and Carrowkeel, so carry real footwear and layers.
Sligo travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Classiebawn Castle cannot be visited inside, so any paid tour implying otherwise is a trap.
- Strandhill's main beach is not a swimming beach because of rip currents.
- Photographing Benbulben from a lay-by is no substitute for the free forest walk beneath it.
Getting around Sligo: public transport and more
- Walk Sligo Town and use local buses or taxis for Strandhill and Rosses Point, each about 8 km away.
- The Dublin Connolly train takes about 3 hours 13 minutes and the Bus Eireann bus about 3 hours 50 minutes.
- A car unlocks Lough Gill, Carrowkeel, Enniscrone and the Gleniff Horseshoe loop.
Who Sligo suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Sligo your trip
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