20 Attractions to Explore Near Fintown Railway

Bluestack Mountains, also called the Croaghgorms, are the major mountain range in the south of County Donegal, Ireland. They provide a barrier between the south of the county, such as Donegal Town and Ballyshannon, and the towns to the north and west such as Dungloe and Letterkenny. The road between the two parts of the county goes through the Barnesmore Gap. It is one of the iconic attraction in this area and also offers beautiful views too.

A hidden gem of a beach that is easy to miss travelling from Glenties to Dungloe in Co Donegal. Long sandy beach with sand dunes. There is a surf school here called Wild Atlantic Surf School.A blue flag beach at the heart of Donegal. Nearly 2km of golden sand, sand dunes of special significance, safe for swimming, surfing and bathing.

This is a small rural community in the Donegal Gaeltacht which lies in unique scenery at the foot of Mount Errigal, the highest mountain in the County. Ionad Cois Locha is situated on the shores of Dunlewey Lough in the shadow of the haunting and mysterious Poison Glen. Attractions include a restaurant & tea room; craft shop; adventure play area and so more.

Errigal is a 751-metre mountain near Gweedore in County Donegal, Ireland. It is the tallest peak of the Derryveagh Mountains and the tallest peak in County Donegal. Errigal is also the most southern and the highest of the mountain chain called the "Seven Sisters" by locals. Errigal is known for the pinkish glow of its quartzite in the setting sun. It is a good trekking destination and also there are so many things to explore here.

Lough Eske is a small lake in County Donegal in the west of Ulster in Ireland. The lake lies to the northeast of Donegal Town, to which it is connected by the River Eske. The lake is about 900 acres in size and is surrounded to the north, east and west by the Bluestack Mountains, which occupy much of southern County Donegal.

Barnesmore Gap is that big opening between Croaghconnelagh and Croaghonagh mountains . Here in this very fine mountain pass the traveller is absolutely shut in between these two great hills as he wends his way along a really excellent road that traverses the gap. It is an area of complex geology, but its main feature is granite formed in the Devonian period, 400million ears ago. The gap held glaciers in the Last Glacial Period flowing to the Atlantic through what is now Donegal Bay.

The Colmcille Heritage Centre is situated on a very scenic lakeside site with walks along the lakeside. It endeavours to give an appreciation of a period in Irish and European history at the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Medieval period.

Leo’s Tavern is one of Donegal’s most famous pubs. It is named after Leo Brennan, an extremely popular and accomplished musician in his own right but also the father of Enya and 3 members of the renowned Clannad band – Moya, Ciaran and Paul Brennan. The proprietor Bartley Brennan is Leo Brennan’s youngest son and Leo himself continues to entertain the locals and tourists regularly.

The beautiful Glebe House and Gallery is located near Churchill, which is about 15 kilometres from Dunfanaghy. This 1828 Regency style house has the most wonderful setting on the shore of Lough Gartan. The English portrait and landscape painter Derek Hill lived and worked there from 1954 until he presented the house and his art collection to the Irish state in 1981.

The Kilclooney Dolmen is a portal-tome or dolmen, prominent on the skyline north-north-west of Ardara. It well displays the classic features from which this type of monument derives its name. The monument comprises a huge capstone approximately four by six meters, supported by two 1.8 meter uprights, known as portals and a back stone on which the capstone rests. A notable feature of the back stone is the chocking stone.

Newmills Corn and Flax Mills is a grain mill located in County Donegal, Ireland.It features one of the largest operating waterwheels in the country. The mill is situated on the R250The oldest surviving building at Newmills is 400 years old and there have been mills at Newmills since the early nineteenth century. It steadily expanded to include a public house, a scutcher’s cottage and a forge.

The Glenveagh Castle Gardens are part of Glenveagh National Park in the north west of County Donegal. The site occupied by the castle and gardens was formerly wild mountain moorland, with construction of the castle beginning in 1869 and the gardens in the mid 1880s. Tree rhododendrons and magnolias grace the woods with under-plantings of azaleas, hostas, astilbes and rodgersias.

Glenveagh Castle is a 19th century castellated mansion and was built between 1867 and 1873. Its construction in a remote mountain setting was inspired by the Victorian idyll of a romantic highland retreat. It is built in the Scottish baronial architectural style and consists of a four-story rectangular keep, surrounded by a garden, and a backdrop of some 165.4 km2 of mountains, lakes, glens and woods complete with a herd of red deer.

Lough Beagh is located in the heart of Glenveagh National Park in the northwest of County Donegal. It holds a good stock of small brown trout, occasional salmon and can hold a moderate stock of sea trout in August. It is fed mainly by the Owenbeagh River entering at its southern end. The lake drains northwards into the Owencarrow River. The Owencarrow connects the lake with its similar northern neighbour, Glen Lough.

Inishkeel is a small tidal island and a townland off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland. The closest village on the mainland is Narin. The island is located in Gweebarra Bay around 250 m from the coast. A sandy tidal bank connects, with low tide, the island with the mainland.

Donegal Railway Heritage Centre is considered one of the county’s hidden gems andToday, it operates as a visitor attraction comprising a museum, information centre and shop. This fascinating museum which has just been refurbished, celebrating Donegal’s railway heritage, is based in one of the few remaining original station houses, which opened in 1889.

Donegal Castle was once one of the most important strongholds for one of Ireland’s most powerful clans. The castle consists of a 15th-century rectangular keep with a later Jacobean style wing. The complex is sited on a bend in the River Eske, near the mouth of Donegal Bay, and is surrounded by a 17th-century boundary wall. There is a small gatehouse at its entrance mirroring the design of the keep.

This old graveyard known as the Famine Graveyard and also the Paupers Graveyard is the site of the burials of victims of the Great Irish Famine 1845-1849 and of the poor generally. There are no marked graves. There are probably hundreds of people buried here, possibly a thousand or more. It lay nearby the old Donegal Town Workhouse. A lone cross and a few plaques commemorate the burials.

Glenveagh National Park is a remote and hauntingly beautiful wilderness of rugged mountains, pristine lakes, tumbling waterfalls and enchanted native oak woodland in the heart of the Derryveagh Mountains in the north west of County Donegal. The Park, over 16,000 hectares in extent consists of three areas. The largest of these is the former Glenveagh Estate, including most of the Derryveagh Mountains.

Bád Eddie or Eddie’s boat are the names given to the old wreck at Magherclogher beach, Bunbeg Donegal. Cara Na Mara is the official title of the abandoned fishing vessel ran into trouble during stormy seas in the early 1970s. The boat featured in the 1985 Clanad and Bono video. Eddie’s boat was the reason for the one hour journey from where we were staying and it was certainly worth the effort.