Castles in Ireland: The Ones Worth Your Time

Entry Prices Side by Side

The table lists the adult admission only where an official page confirms it. Several well-known castles, including Blarney, Bunratty and King John's, had no confirmed adult price at the check, so we print Not listed rather than guess. Castle hotel rows show the year the hotel opened, since room rates change constantly.

Blarney Castle, County Cork

The current keep dates from 1446 and was built by the MacCarthy of Muskerry family. Visitors climb the tower and lean backward over a drop to kiss the Blarney Stone, said to grant the gift of eloquence. The estate holds a Poison Garden with wolfsbane, mandrake and opium poppies, plus a Druid's Circle and a Witch's Cave.

Check the castle's official page for the adult ticket price before you go. Blarney is not an OPW site, so the Heritage Card does not cover it. It is a stop on the three-castle day tour from Dublin and on most south-west routes.

Bunratty Castle, County Clare

This 15th century tower house sits between Limerick and Ennis, close to Shannon Airport. Building began around 1450, the 7th Viscount Gort restored it from 1956 with state help, and it opened to the public in 1960. It is a National Monument and hosts medieval banquets.

Management passed from Shannon Heritage to Clare County Council in 2023. Check current tickets before booking. Its location close to Shannon Airport suits a Shannon arrival, and it pairs well with a Clare leg of your 7 day Ireland itinerary.

Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny

The castle dates from 1260 and the Butler family took it in 1391, holding it for over five centuries. In 1967 the Marquess of Ormonde sold it to a restoration committee for 50 pounds, an odd little footnote in Irish history. Adult admission for the self-guided visit is €8, open 9:15 to 17:30 from April to September and 9:30 to 17:00 from October to March.

Note the castle closes to visitors on filming dates in early November, though the parklands stay open. The Glendalough and Kilkenny day tour includes a walking tour of the medieval city with free time at the castle grounds.

Cahir Castle, County Tipperary

Cahir stands on an island in the River Suir. It surrendered to Cromwell in 1650 without a shot fired and is an OPW National Monument. Film crews like it: Excalibur, The Tudors, The Green Knight and The Last Duel all used it.

Adult entry is €5, open 9:30 to 16:30 in winter and 9:00 to 18:30 from late May through August. Both Cahir and the Rock of Cashel are in Tipperary, and the Blarney, Cashel and Cahir tour includes admission in its $95 price.

Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary

Not a single castle but a fortified hilltop ensemble, the traditional seat of the kings of Munster. Brian Boru was crowned there in 977, and legend says St Patrick converted the King of Munster on the rock. The round tower stands about 28 m and Cormac's Chapel, begun in 1127, holds the only surviving Romanesque frescoes in Ireland.

Entry is €8 for adults, €6 for seniors, €4 for students and children, and €20 for a family. Cormac's Chapel is guided tour only, and a visit lasts 1 to 1.5 hours. The site is exposed and can close at short notice in bad weather.

Dublin Castle, County Dublin

Founded on the orders of King John in 1204, Dublin Castle was the seat of British administration in Ireland until 1922. The Record Tower, from about 1228, is the sole surviving medieval tower, and the Chester Beatty Library sits in the grounds. Here is the practical catch: the OPW page states the castle is closed to the public until January while it prepares for Ireland's EU Council presidency.

Plan castle time in Dublin around Malahide instead for now, and check reopening before you build a visit into your day trips from Dublin.

Trim Castle, County Meath

Trim is the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, covering 30,000 m2, built over about 30 years under Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter. The keep has 20 sides in a cruciform shape, and the castle doubled as York in Braveheart. The grounds are free to walk and the keep tour costs €5 for adults, open 10:00 to 17:00 from mid March to the end of September.

Mind the works closure: the site shuts from 1 November to 1 April.

King John's Castle, Limerick

Built around 1210 on King's Island beside the River Shannon, on a spot Vikings had settled as early as 922. A redevelopment costing 5.7 million euros ran from 2011 to 2014 and added a visitor centre with interactive exhibits. The castle opens seven days, 9:30 to 17:00 from October to March and 9:30 to 18:00 from April to September, with last entry an hour before closing.

No admission price is shown on the official site, so confirm at the door or by phone. Limerick had over 102,000 urban residents in 2022, and Shannon Airport sits about 20 km west.

Ross Castle, County Kerry

A late 15th century tower house on Lough Leane in Killarney National Park, built by the O'Donoghue Mór and among the last castles to fall to Cromwell. The interior is open by guided tour only, first come first served, with 15 people per tour. Adult admission is €5, open 9:30 to 17:00 from early March to early November.

Muckross House and Abbey are in the same park. Killarney draws about 1.1 million tourists a year, so arrive early. The 10-day Overland tour includes Ross Castle entry in its long list of admissions.

Dunluce Castle on the Antrim Coast

Dunluce Castle in County Antrim stands on a basalt outcrop between Portballintrae and Portrush, with the sea on every side. It appeared as the exterior of Pyke in Game of Thrones. Cannons recovered from the wrecked Spanish Armada ship Girona, which sank in 1588, were later mounted in the gatehouses.

Check admission and hours before you go, and carry pounds for sites in Northern Ireland. The easiest way to reach it without a car is a coach day from Dublin. The Giant's Causeway Tour from Dublin stops at Dunluce along with the Causeway and the Dark Hedges, costs $89 and runs 12 hours with at least 2 hours at the Causeway.

Dunguaire, Doe and Carrickfergus

Dunguaire Castle near Kinvara in County Galway is a 16th century tower house with a 23 m tower. Wikipedia reports it has been closed to visitors since 2023, so treat it as a photo stop rather than a destination. Farther north, Doe Castle in County Donegal was built around 1420, passed to the MacSweeney gallowglass family and sits on a small peninsula in Sheephaven Bay near Creeslough. The Irish government bought it in 1934 and the tower house was restored in the 1990s, so check opening times and fees before you go. In the north-east, Carrickfergus Castle was built by John de Courcy in 1177 on Belfast Lough, about 18 km from Belfast, and was garrisoned for roughly 750 years until 1928. It is run by the Department for Communities.

Many ruins sit on routes you can join from a city base. The guide to the Wild Atlantic Way covers the west coast route, and the Dingle Peninsula guide covers the prehistoric forts and the oratory of the far west.

Castle Hotels: Ashford, Dromoland and Lough Eske

Three castle hotels are covered here. Ashford Castle near Cong in County Mayo dates from 1228, the Guinness family bought it in 1852 and it became a hotel in 1939. It now has 83 bedrooms, is owned by Red Carnation Hotels and reopened in April 2015 after a restoration of about 47 million euros. Dromoland Castle in County Clare was the home of the O'Brien Barons of Inchiquin, the current building dates to 1835 and it opened as a hotel in 1963. Lough Eske Castle in County Donegal was rebuilt in Elizabethan style in 1868, nearly burned in 1939 and reopened as a hotel in December 2007.

Room rates change often, so check each hotel directly. You can also sleep in a castle without booking the hotel yourself. The 10-Day Ireland Tour by Overland Ireland includes one night in an Irish castle among its 9 nights of boutique hotels and guesthouses, and its entry list covers Ross Castle, the Rock of Cashel and Blarney Castle. It costs $3,917.02, runs 10 days with breakfast and takes groups of up to 15.

Castle Stops on Bookable Tours

The prices below are the starting prices on each tour card, in US dollars as listed on the booking platforms. Some tours include castle admission in that price, others do not, and the difference matters. The Blarney Castle Tour from Dublin includes all three admissions on its route, while several longer tours do not list castle admission and leave tickets to you.

For a full side-by-side of every route and what each price covers, see the comparison of Ireland vacation tours on the homepage.

The OPW Heritage Card

If you travel independently, the OPW Heritage Card is the cheapest way into the state-run castles. It costs €40 for an adult and is valid for 12 months from first use. It covers Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin Castle, the Rock of Cashel, Kilkenny Castle, Cahir Castle, Ross Castle and Trim Castle, among other sites. A visit to Rock of Cashel normally costs €8 for adults and Kilkenny Castle €8, while Cahir, Ross and Trim are €5 each, so those five castles together come to €31 before you add other OPW sites.

Two limits are worth knowing. The card gives no fast-track entry and does not guarantee admission when a site is full. And it does not cover Blarney, Bunratty, King John's Castle in Limerick, Malahide, Dunluce, Ashford, Dromoland or Dunguaire, because none of those are OPW sites. Note also that Dublin Castle is closed to the public until January while it prepares for Ireland's EU Council presidency, and Trim Castle is closed for works from 1 November to 1 April. Plan around those two if the card is the reason you are visiting. For seasonal timing of the sites themselves, see the guide to the best time to visit Ireland.