Guide by Category
CastlesFortresses, tower houses and stately homes, from Blarney to Malahide
Ireland's castles aren't just grand stone structures dotting the landscape. Each one tells a different story — invasions, great battles between families for control of a territory, what daily life was like for the people who lived there, what dangers they guarded against, and what they believed. Some still stand watch over old and fascinating legends. Many survive today as ivy-covered ruins — like Dunluce — while others remain inhabited and still carry the marks of their history, like Malahide.
Click a province ↑The first Anglo-Norman castles are thought to have become part of the Irish landscape around the time the invaders arrived in 1169. At first these structures were built from earth and timber, used to defend the territories being conquered. But over time the material was replaced by stone. Thousands were built across the island for different purposes — some were watchtowers, fortified houses, churches, abbeys, bridges, walls, and more.
This guide brings together castles from different eras of Irish history, ranging from imposing medieval fortresses and clan or family residences to elegant 19th-century Victorian castles. On our interactive map, you can find each castle's location, learn its history and legends, and get everything you need to know if you decide to visit.
Each destination's full page is currently only available in Spanish — clicking a card takes you to the Spanish-language write-up. To browse in English instead, try the interactive map.
Explore the Castles
Leinster
7 places · Offaly, Dublin, Kilkenny, Meath, Laois
Spanish onlyBirr Castle
Offaly · Home of the Great Telescope, the world's largest for over seventy years.
Spanish onlyDublin Castle
Dublin · Built on the site of an old Viking fortress.
Spanish onlyKilkenny Castle
Kilkenny · Norman castle beside the River Nore.
Spanish onlyLeap Castle
Offaly · Ireland's most haunted castle.
Spanish onlyMalahide Castle
Dublin · Castle and gardens near Dublin.
Spanish onlyTrim Castle
Meath · Ireland's largest castle.
Spanish onlyRock of Dunamase
Laois · A limestone-crag fortress that was part of Aoife's dowry when she married Strongbow in 1170 — guarded, local legend says, by a fire-breathing fairy hound.
Ulster
4 places · Antrim, Donegal
Spanish onlyCarrickfergus Castle
Antrim · One of Ireland's best-preserved medieval castles, built in 1177.
Spanish onlyDonegal Castle
Donegal · Gaelic-Norman stronghold of the O'Donnell clan, lords of Tyrconnell.
Spanish onlyDunluce Castle
Antrim · Dramatic ruin on the cliffs.
Spanish onlyGlenveagh Castle
Donegal · Victorian castle surrounded by lakes and mountains in Glenveagh National Park.
Connacht
4 places · Mayo, Galway, Sligo
Spanish onlyAshford Castle
Mayo · On the shores of Lough Corrib.
Spanish onlyDunguaire Castle
Galway · 16th-century tower on Galway Bay, centre of the Irish literary revival.
Spanish onlyKylemore Abbey
Galway · Victorian castle turned Benedictine abbey beside a lake in Connemara.
Spanish onlyCastillo de Markree
Sligo · 352 years in the Cooper family; home to the world's largest telescope in 1830.
Munster
10 places · Cork, Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, Kerry, Waterford
Spanish onlyBlarney Castle
Cork · The most visited castle, famous for its Stone of Eloquence.
Spanish onlyBunratty Castle
Clare · Built on the site of an old Viking camp.
Spanish onlyCahir Castle
Tipperary · One of Ireland's best-preserved castles.
Spanish onlyKing John's Castle
Limerick · Built on Limerick's original Viking settlement.
Spanish onlyRock of Cashel
Tipperary · A dramatic cluster of medieval buildings on a limestone outcrop, seat of the Kings of Munster.
Spanish onlyRoss Castle
Kerry · 15th-century tower on the shores of Lough Leane, in Killarney National Park.
Spanish onlyOrmond Castle
Tipperary · Elizabethan manor Thomas Butler built to tempt his cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, into visiting Ireland.
Spanish onlyDungarvan Castle
Waterford · 13th-century Norman keep still bearing the scars of the Irish Civil War.
Spanish onlyLismore Castle
Waterford · Irish home of the Dukes of Devonshire, where a medieval manuscript lay hidden inside a wall.
Spanish onlyStrancally Castle
Waterford · A Gothic-revival mansion built in 1830 over a Geraldine Norman stronghold on the River Blackwater — and, Irish media reported in 2026, Mark Zuckerberg's new Irish home.
