Things to do in Wexford
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Wexford
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Saltee puffins at their best, long evenings, and beaches before the school holiday peak.
Wexford strawberry season, with roadside stalls selling just picked fruit along the main roads.
Peak beach season at Curracloe and Rosslare, with the highest prices and the fullest hotels of the year.
The local sweet spot: crowds gone, the sea at its warmest by Irish standards, and harvest produce in restaurants.
Wexford Festival Opera transforms the town; book months ahead or expect crowds and surge pricing.
Quiet locals' season: winter geese on the North Slob, storm watching at Hook Head, lower hotel rates and reduced hours.
Spring shoulder season: gardens waking up at Johnstown and the JFK Arboretum, and the first puffins arriving in April.
What's on
- Wexford Festival Opera 15-31 October
The 75th anniversary edition in 2026: rare and neglected operas at the National Opera House, with the whole town booked out.
- Wexford strawberry season June to early July
Ireland's strawberry capital in season, with roadside stalls and menus across the county built around just picked fruit.
- Winter wildfowl at the North Slob October to April
Greenland white-fronted geese winter at Wexford Wildfowl Reserve in world important numbers, watched from hides.
- Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann Early August in host years
The world's largest Irish traditional music festival, hosted by Wexford in 2024 and 2025; it moves towns, so check the host before planning around it.
Best things to do in Wexford
Hook Lighthouse
The oldest operational lighthouse in the world, climbed by guided tour for Celtic Sea views from an 800 year old Norman tower.
Irish National Heritage Park
Nine thousand years of Irish settlement rebuilt at full scale in Slaney woodland, brought to life by costumed guides.
National Opera House
Home of Wexford Festival Opera each October, when rare operas and a dressed up town take over this modern harbour venue.
Johnstown Castle Estate, Museum & Gardens
A Gothic Revival castle by its own lake, with ornamental grounds, a walled garden and the Irish Agricultural Museum.
Dunbrody Famine Ship Experience
A full scale replica Famine emigrant ship in New Ross, toured with costumed interpreters and a real passenger story to follow.
Tintern Abbey
A romantic Cistercian ruin in Hook Peninsula woodland, with walks to a restored walled garden and almost no crowds.
National 1798 Rebellion Centre
The vivid, unsparing story of the 1798 Rebellion in Enniscorthy, and the context that makes nearby Vinegar Hill land.
Wells House & Gardens
A Victorian house and gardens built for family days, with woodland trails, an animal farm, falconry and a playground.
Where to stay in Wexford
Wexford Town quayfront and town centre
default base, festival, car free trips
The Opera House, Main Street pubs and restaurants, and the train and bus stations are all walkable from the quayfront hotels.
Ferrycarrig and the River Slaney
families, drivers, scenic calm
River views, pools and parking five minutes from town, with the Irish National Heritage Park on the doorstep.
Rosslare Strand
beach resort stays and golf
A Blue Flag beach, the links course and family resort hotels in a village built for holidays, 20 minutes from town.
Kilmore Quay
Saltee Islands, seafood, quiet
A working fishing village of guesthouses and B&Bs by the harbour and the Saltee ferry, with no full service hotel.
Enniscorthy
spa breaks and country touring
A handsome Slaney market town with 1798 history, based around one exceptional destination spa in woodland outside it.
Think twice about
- Rosslare Harbour (Europort)
A functional ferry terminal settlement, not the resort village. Rosslare Strand, with the beach, golf and hotels, is 10 minutes away. Check the map, not the name.
- Crown Quarter, Monck Street
The town's liveliest late bar and live music quarter, so rooms directly above it can be noisy at weekends. Fine for party nights, poor for light sleepers.
Best restaurants in Wexford
La Côte Seafood Restaurant
Wexford Town's best restaurant, cooking the Kilmore Quay catch with French technique in a small room off the quays.
Wild and Native Seafood Restaurant
A small Rosslare seafood restaurant treating the local catch simply, in a warm room with the owners front of house.
Mary Barry's Seafood Bar & Restaurant
The Kilmore Quay classic serving the port's own catch in generous portions, a short walk from where the boats land it.
The Lobster Pot
A lively pub restaurant in Carne whose name is its menu, from lobster and crab to fish and chips for a group feast.
Green Acres
A town institution combining a modern European restaurant with a wine cellar, deli and Irish art gallery in one building.
Cistin Eile
A small, serious town restaurant championed by local guides for local farm beef slow cooked for twelve hours.
Simon Lambert & Sons
A gastropub and working microbrewery on South Main Street, home of Yellowbelly beer and the town's best pub food.
Karoo Farm Shop & Cafe
A farm shop cafe near town serving breakfasts and lunches from local produce, and the insider's brunch and picnic stop.
Best bars in Wexford
The Sky & the Ground
Wexford Town's best pub, with craft beer taps, a serious whiskey shelf, a heated beer garden and live music.
Outdoor things to do in Wexford
Saltee Islands
A boat trip from Kilmore Quay to a seabird sanctuary where puffins and gannets nest in season and seals haul out on the rocks.
Curracloe Beach
Seven miles of soft Blue Flag sand where the Saving Private Ryan beach scenes were filmed, with space minutes from any entrance.
The Raven Nature Reserve
A flat pine forest loop behind Curracloe where red squirrels hold out, emerging onto the beach at Raven Point.
The Irish Experience
Guided sea cave kayaking and coasteering under the Hook cliffs with a top rated local adventure operator in Fethard-on-Sea.
Rosslare Golf Links
The only championship links in Ireland's south east, a classic out and back course between Wexford Harbour and the sea.
Vinegar Hill
A short steep climb above Enniscorthy to the decisive 1798 battlefield, with a full panorama over the Slaney valley.
John F. Kennedy Arboretum
A vast parkland collection of thousands of tree types on Slieve Coillte, dedicated to President Kennedy near his ancestral home.
Baginbun Beach
A small sheltered swimming cove on the Hook Peninsula where the Normans first landed in Ireland in 1169.
Best hotels in Wexford
Whites of Wexford
The town's grande dame hotel on Abbey Street, with a pool, leisure club and spa a short walk from the Opera House.
Talbot Hotel Wexford
A quayfront four star with harbour view rooms, free parking and a rated cocktail bar, walkable to everything in town.
Talbot Suites at Stonebridge
Self catering apartments on Paul Quay with kitchens, balconies and water views, ideal for groups and longer festival stays.
Abbey House Bed & Breakfast
A spotless, welcoming town centre B&B opposite Whites, the budget tier done properly and minutes from the Opera House.
Kelly's Resort Hotel & Spa
A famous family run resort on Rosslare Strand, generous with food, art, a sea spa and entertainment day and night.
Ferrycarrig Hotel
A four star across the Slaney from town, with river view rooms, a pool and the Heritage Park on its doorstep.
Libgate House
A village guesthouse in Kilmore Quay, a short walk from the harbour, the seafood restaurants and the Saltee ferry.
Monart Destination Spa
Ireland's only destination spa, adults only in Enniscorthy woodland, and the county's one true luxury stay.
Is Wexford expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €75 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €145 a person |
| Splurge | €320 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- National Opera House: months ahead
- Saltee Islands: weeks ahead
- The Irish Experience: a few days ahead
- Rosslare Golf Links: a few days ahead
- Whites of Wexford: months ahead
- Kelly's Resort Hotel & Spa: weeks ahead
- Monart Destination Spa: weeks ahead
- La Côte Seafood Restaurant: weeks ahead
- Wexford Festival Opera tickets and town accommodation need booking months ahead for October.
- Book the small Saltee ferry days ahead, and weeks ahead for May to July weekends in puffin season.
- Monart weekends and Kelly's summer weeks are committed far ahead by repeat guests.
- Book La Côte first in festival weeks, and Rosslare Golf Links tee times ahead, asking about open competition days.
Is Wexford safe?
- Ireland's emergency number is 112.
- Hook Head's rocks are slippery and wave swept; keep to paths and the lighthouse grounds and respect rough seas.
- The Saltee landing is wet and uneven with cliff edge paths and no facilities, and is unsuitable for limited mobility.
- Swim at lifeguarded beaches such as Curracloe and Rosslare Strand in season, and respect the cold of the Irish Sea.
Wexford travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Rosslare Harbour is not Rosslare Strand: booking by the Europort expecting the resort beach is the classic Wexford mistake.
- Loftus Hall's visitor status changes often, so treat it as a photo stop and check current status close to your dates.
- At Curracloe, walk 15 minutes from the main entrance before judging the crowds; the beach runs for seven miles.
- Do not day trip Wexford from Dublin expecting the county; the train alone is nearly three hours to the port.
Getting around Wexford: public transport and more
- Hire a car for the whole stay if you can: Hook Head, Kilmore Quay, Curracloe and Tintern Abbey are all far easier with one.
- The Dublin to Wexford and Rosslare Europort train calls at Enniscorthy and takes just under three hours to the port.
- Wexford Bus runs frequent Dublin to Wexford services in about two and a half hours.
- Rosslare Europort is 25 minutes from Wexford Town by train or taxi, with ferries to Wales and France.
- Walk the town centre; quay parking is paid and fills during the Opera Festival and summer events.
Who Wexford suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Wexford your trip
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