20 Attractions to Explore Near Lissadell House

This beautiful south-facing beach is very popular with locals and tourists alike. The area is well known for walking, swimming, surfing and other watersports and in winter Bird Watching. There is also a little river which runs along the beach and makes a fantastic playground for kids.

Ballygilgan is a national nature reserve of approximately 73 acres the Maugherow Peninsula in County Sligo, Ireland. It is home to Ireland’s biggest mainland flock of barnacle geese. The Reserve is west of the village of Carney on the shore of Drumcliff Bay, Special Area of Conservation, between the road and Lissadell Strand.

Yellow strand is at the Raghly peninsula. It is a long sandy beach which is always, even on a hot summer's day, very quiet. This beach doesn't have any lifeguards and it is dangerous for swimming. A popular location for a small picnic and also there are so many things to see and do here.

The Gartarowey Forest Recreation Area is located to the north of Sligo Town in Ireland. It is under the management of Coiltte Outdoors, and covers a forested area of 120 hectares. Containing unique species of conifers and broadleaves, amongst other exotic flora and fauna, the area is under conservation. The park lies adjacent to the Benbulben, Gleniff and Glenade Special Area of Conservation and is known as the only area in Ireland where chickweed willowherb and alpine saxifrage can be found.

Coney Island is the largest and the most famous of the three islands off the northern coast of the Coolera peninsula. It is an island of approximately 400 acres and is named after the vast quantity of rabbits which can be spotted on the island at any time. The island which is 1½ miles long by ¾ mile across is accessible by boat from the pier at Rosses Point, but the most popular route is by way of Cummeen Strand when the tide is out.

This is a vast sandy beach with dunes and a lagoon behind with fantastic views over the sea to the mountains of Donegal.This is an exposed beach with reef breaks which create ideal surfing conditions all year round. Located close to the village of Grange with restaurants and pubs and an outdoor play area.

Benbulben is Ireland’s most distinctive mountain and known in some parts as Ireland’s version of Table Mountain. It is the western point of the Dartry Mountains, a large and bulky collection of heads and glaciated valleys. The mountain is formed from Dartry limestone. It was shaped during the ice age, when Ireland was under glaciers. Originally it was a large plateau. Glaciers moving from the northeast to southwest shaped it into its present distinct formation.

A two hundred year old, traditional, thatched cottage, which was located in Strandhill, County Sligo. It is the only one of its kind in the area. IT is a stone built cottage with two rooms and a loft with original walls, roof, roof beams, fireplace and pouch bed. The cottage is named after Dolly Higgins, the last person to live here. It is open to the public at weekends during the summer months.

Woodville Farm is a family run working farm just outside Sligo Town. It takes you through mature woodland, green fields, and historic farm buildings where a variety of farm animals, live in natural surroundings. They have over 200 sheep, 35 suckler cows as well as 600 commercial free range hens and so more.

Knocknarea is a large hill west of Sligo town in County Sligo, Ireland. A good trekking destination with 327-metre high limestone hill is visually striking, as it is monolithic in appearance and stands in a prominent position on the Cúil Irra peninsula between the bays of Sligo and Ballysadare. There are also remains of several smaller tombs on the summit.

This is the largest and most visible neolithic monument in the west of Ireland. The huge monument, which was probably built between 3,500 and 3,200 BC, is part of the Irish passage-grave culture. The oldest dated monument in Sligo is the very early causewayed enclosure at Magheraboy, between Carns Hill and the Carrowmore megalithic complex.

The beautiful island of Dernish is located at Carns, off the coast of Moneygold, close to the old church at Ahamlish, in Carbury, the ancient kingdom of North Sligo. It is a tidal island, cut off from the mainland except at times of spring tides, when it is possible to walk out across the beach from O'Connor's Island.

The Famine Monument, which is located opposite The Harp Tavern in Quay Street, and was erected here in July 1997 in memory of all those who died and suffered during the famine. The monument depicts a family in the depths of despair, starving and with no hope for the future, yet the child, a young girl can be seen pointing towards the ships, one of which would carry them to a new life in America or Canada.

This is a building of outstanding historical and architectural interest in Sligo town. Designed in the Arts & Crafts style, and built in 1899, as a branch of the Belfast Banking Company. This building is now the Headquarters of the international Yeats Society, from which the Society keeps in contact with members all over the world, and from where the Yeats International Summer School and Winter School are administered, as well as the day-to-day running of the Society.

This is a museum dedicated to the history of County Sligo. It was housed in a former manse on Stephen Street, Sligo town. The Yeats Room here is full of manuscripts, photographs, letters and newspaper cuttings associated with the local poet William Butler Yeats including a copy of his 1923 Nobel Prize winning medal and a complete collection of his poems from 1889 to 1936.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Temple Street in Sligo, Ireland, is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Elphin. The cathedral was built in a Norman style, and it is the only Norman styled cathedral in Ireland. It can seat 1400 people. It has an impressive spire at the front and large apse in the Sanctuary.

This is one of Ireland's most important contemporary arts centres with an extensive and vibrant programme of visual and performing arts. The gallery houses several exhibition spaces focusing on contemporary art and education activities, a cinema/venue for concerts, an artist-in-residence programme, and a collection of 20th-century Irish art called the Niland Collection. This collection is named for the former Sligo County librarian, Nora Niland.

The Gleniff horseshoe is a nice 10km loop along quiet roads with spectacular views and dramatic and wild Dartry Mountains. The walk also provides dramatic views of the Donegal Bay and the Ulster County beyond. The drive takes around 30 minutes and it’s a fine way to spend a rainy afternoon, while the walk stretches for around 2.5 hours and treats you to some glorious Sligo scenery.

This Dominican Friary was founded in the mid-13th century and served as both a religious centre and community gathering space, especially as a refuge for displaced landowners. It was built in the Romanesque style with some later additions and alterations. Extensive ruins remain, mainly of the church and the cloister.

Inishmurray Island has been uninhabited since the 1940's wth the last occupants vacating in 1948. Located in Donegal Bay 7km off the coast of Sligo. There are remains of an early Irish monastic settlement. Laisrén Mac Decláin reputedly founded a monastery here in the 6th century. The island's ecclesiastical settlement was attacked in 795 and again in 807 by the Vikings, and eventually the monks abandoned the island.