Things to do in County Limerick
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University Concert Hall
Permanent home of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, with regular concerts from visiting acts, plus opera, drama, comedy and dance.
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Celtic Bookshop
A fine addition to the local scene with books on local and Irish topics.
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Hunt Museum
Although named for its benefactors, this museum might well be named for a treasure hunt. Visitors are encouraged to open drawers and otherwise poke around the finest collection of Bronze Age, Iron Age and medieval treasures outside Dublin. The 2000-plus items are from the private collection of the late John and Gertrude Hunt, antique dealers and consultants, who championed historic preservation throughout the region. Look out for a tiny but exquisite bronze horse by da Vinci, and a Syracusan coin thought to have been one of the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas for his betrayal of Christ. Cycladic sculptures, a Giacometti drawing and paintings by Renoir, Picasso and Jack …
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Georgian House
There is an engaging eeriness about the lofty, echoing rooms of the restored Georgian House, a recreation showing how Limerick’s swells once lived. Lavish marble, stucco and wall decorations adorn the main rooms, while things are decidedly downscale when you reach the bare boards and dusty furnishings of the servants’ quarters. You’ll say ‘Brace yourself, Bridget!’ reading the hackneyed but entertaining limericks on various wall plaques. The restored back garden is an antidote – and beautiful contrast – to the plain fronts on the street. It leads to a coach house that contains a photographic memoir of Limerick. A small Ashes Exhibition linked to novelist Fra…
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Ashes Exhibition
There is an engaging eeriness about the lofty, echoing rooms of the restored Georgian House, a re-creation showing how Limerick's swells once lived. Lavish marble, stucco and wall decorations adorn the main rooms, while things are decidedly downscale when you reach the bare boards and dusty furnishings of the servants' quarters.
You'll say 'Brace yourself Bridget!' reading the hackneyed but entertaining limericks on various wall plaques. The restored back garden leads to a coach house that contains a photographic memoir of Limerick. Things get truly downscale in the small but evocative Ashes Exhibition , which features a reconstruction of the childhood home of novelist Fr…
reviewed
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Limerick City Gallery of Art
Limerick's excellent gallery was undergoing refurbishments at the time of writing, but should have reopened in all its glory by the time you're reading this. Among its permanent collection of traditional paintings from the last 300 years are works by Sean Keating and Jack B Yeats. Check out Keating's atmos pheric Kelp Burners and Sir John Lavery's Stars in Sunlight; both infuse their subjects with inner light and a certain joy. The gallery also stages changing exhibitions of often pseudo-scandalous works and is the home of ev+a, a long-running city-wide contemporary annual art exhibition. Check the website for dates.
The gallery is beside the peaceful People's Park, at the…
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Adare Castle
Dating back to around 1200, this picturesque feudal ruin saw rough usage until it was finally wrecked for good by Cromwell's troops in 1657. By then it had already lost its strategic importance. Restoration work is ongoing; look for the ruined great hall with its early 13th-century windows.
Book tours through the Heritage Centre. When tours aren't on, you can view the castle from the busy main road, or more peacefully from the riverside footpath or the grounds of the Augustinian priory.
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St Mary's Cathedral
Limerick's ancient cathedral was founded in 1168 by Donal Mór O'Brien, king of Munster. Parts of the 12th-century Romanesque western doorway, nave and aisles survive, and there are splendid 15th-century black-oak misericords (support ledges for choristers), unique examples of their kind in Ireland. Call ahead to confirm opening hours and to check if there are any musical events scheduled.
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Trinity Rooms
Vast club in a 300-year-old waterside building, with hot DJs and a courtyard bar.
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Green Onion
Located in what was Limerick's 19th-century town hall. The menu is as eclectic as the interior design and often just as striking. Food is served all day and includes a creative range of sandwiches and salads. Think modern Irish with global influences. At night, there's a changing line-up of finely crafted choices and you can enjoy three courses for under around €30.
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Walking Tours
A local development group runs two-hour Walking Tours. One, a popular tour of Limerick locations mentioned in Angela's Ashes, starts and ends at the tourist office on Arthur's Quay (tour starts at 14:30). The second historical walking tour, beginning at 11:00 and 14:30 Monday to Friday, has a start point by arrangement. Confirm both with the tourist office.
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Sage Cafe
The decor at this licensed cafe says it all: superb taste that doesn't call attention to itself. Breakfast treats and baked goods give way to a line-up of lunch sandwiches, salads such as tiger prawn and cashew nut, and hot plates like lambs liver with apricot stuffing and black pudding potato cake.
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King John's Castle
The massive curtain walls and towers of Limerick's showpiece castle are best viewed from the west bank of the River Shannon. The castle was built by King John of England between 1200 and 1212 on the site of an earlier fortification. It served as the military and administrative centre of the rich Shannon region.
Inside there are recreations of brutal medi- eval weapons like the trebuchet, as well as excavated Viking sites, reconstructed Norman features and other artefacts. Walk the walls and imagine you're carrying a bucket of boiling oil.
Across medieval Thomond Bridge, on the other side of the river, the Treaty Stone marks the spot on the riverbank where the Treaty of Lime…
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Adare Heritage Centre
In the middle of the village, exhibits at Adare's heritage centre explain the history and the medieval context of the village's buildings in an entertaining way. Try picking up the longbow (have you had your spinach today?). Quality Irish crafts are on sale, there's also a busy cafe.
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Wild Geese
In a town where upmarket competition is downright fierce, this inviting cottage restaurant keeps the standard consistently high. The ever-changing menu celebrates the best of southwest Ireland's produce, from scallops to sumptuous racks of lamb. The service is genial, preparations are imaginative and the bread basket divine.
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Dolan's
Limerick's best spot for live music promises authentic trad sessions and an unbeatable gig list, as well as cutting-edge stand-ups in two adjoining venues.
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Belltable Arts Centre
The Belltable covers everything in theatre, visual arts, music, film and comedy - you're as likely to catch a classic work as something cutting edge. There's an art gallery too, and the Belltable's annual festival of fringe theatre, Unfringed (January and February), gets better every year.
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Brûlée's
From outside, you get a glimpse of white tablecloths and candles inside this elegant old house. The food lives up to the setting and is best described as modern Irish with plenty of European accents. Mediterranean flavours abound and there's a good and varying selection of local seafood.
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Market Square Brasserie
Tucked away in the basement of an attractive Georgian house, the food here is creatively prepared and artfully presented. Local purveyors supply the best produce, meats and seafood for an ever-changing menu. Service is smooth, the wine list long and the setting intimate. Book in advance.
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Limerick City Museum
This small museum is beside King John's Castle. Exhibits include Stone Age and Bronze Age artefacts, the civic sword, Limerick silverwork, and examples of Limerick's lace and kid-glove manufacturing. Tough times in the late 19th century are also covered.
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Moll Darby’s
Exposed brick, dark wood and bundles of nautical schlock make Moll’s an attractive and atmospheric choice on George’s Quay. The red-checked tablecloths add a jaunty air, which will only intensify as you slurp down the superb oysters and other seasonal seafood delights.
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South's
Frank McCourt's father knocked 'em back here and the Angela's Ashes connection is played up, including the toilets named Frank and Angela.
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White House Pub
A classic right in the centre, this corner pub has good seating outside (under a rare tree) and a good beer list. On some nights it has live acoustic, on others it helps lead a rebirth of local poetry through readings (www.whitehousepoets.blogspot.com).
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Locke Bar
When the Atlantic gusts abate, enjoy the tables waterside at this sprawling cafe-cum-bar or get lost in the maze of rooms and bars. Enjoy the pub menu of pasta, fish and chips, burgers and more amid the scrum, or in more refined quarters upstairs.
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Wild Onion
This blue-fronted cafe and bakery is famed for its full-bore American breakfasts (that means no black pudding, but plenty of hash browns, American pork sausages and three-egg omelettes). Hot open sandwiches are the order of the day come lunchtime. No credit cards.
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