County Wicklow

Introducing County Wicklow

Wild and often wonderful Wicklow (Cill Mhantáin) is Dublin’s favourite playground – its rich and varied landscapes the preferred getaway for many a busy urbanite, many of whom are so taken by the county’s beauty that they now reside within its postal districts.

Yet the ‘Garden of Ireland’ – as the county is known – has been successful in fending off the worst ravages of the urban expansion, mostly because so much of the county remains defiantly opposed to the planners’ bulldozers. Strict planning regulations aside, there’s little to be done about the county’s most imposing natural feature, a gorse-and-bracken mountain spine that is as wildly beautiful as it is impenetrable to the planners who want to lay out yet another housing estate.

Here, history and geology work together to great effect and preserve one of Ireland’s most stunning landscapes, replete with dramatic glacial valleys, soaring mountain passes and some of the country’s most important archaeological treasures – from breathtaking early-Christian sites to the elegant country homes of the wealthiest of Ireland’s 18th-century nobility.

Linking much of Wicklow’s attractions is the 132km-long Wicklow Way, the country’s foremost walking trail and – if you’ve got the legs for it – still the best and most satisfying way to explore the county. From the suburbs of southern Dublin to the rolling fields of County Carlow, the Way leads walkers along disused military supply lines, old bog roads and nature trails over the eastern flanks of the mountains.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009