The Wicklow Mountains National Park is situated just south of Dublin. The Park covers 20,000 hectares of mountain scenery, and many roads cross through it. The most popular location for visitors to the National park is the scenic and historic valley of Glendalough.
Much of the rest of the Park is remote with few facilities, but the scenery is worth driving to find. There are a number of bus routes that will bring you close to the trailheads, see the journey planner from Transport for Ireland. Most areas are also accessible to properly equipped hillwalkers. Here is a selection of walks that are interesting and guarantee stunning scenery.
Sally Gap
On the road to Sally Gap, there are spectacular views of the surrounding blanket bog and the Wicklow Mountains. Sally Gap is one of two east-to-west passes across the Wicklow Mountains. Sally Gaps is a cross-road that leads you north to Dublin, west to Blessington, south to Glendalough or east to Roundwood.
Highlights of this winding, twisting feat of engineering include the Glencree valley, the dark waters of Lough Tay, Kippure Mountain and Glenmacnass Waterfall.
Lough Tay or the Guinness Lake
Lough Tay is, along with Glendalough, one of the most photographed locations in Wicklow. The stunning scenery of the lake surrounded by the mountains makes it one of the most scenic locations in Ireland.
Lough Tay is fed by the Cloghoge River and then drains into Lough Dan, located to the south. The on the northern side is bright white sand. It was imported by the Guinness family whose estate runs through part of the Lough Tay area. The shape of the lake with the white sand at the top makes it look like a Pint of Guinness.
The Wicklow Way
The Wicklow Way is a 131-kilometre long-distance trail that crosses the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. It runs from Marlay Park in the southern suburbs of Dublin through County Wicklow and ends in the village of Clonegal in County Carlow.
A combination of suburban parkland, forest trails, wild and scenic mountain landscape and finally rolling countryside offers a wonderfully varied, eight to 10 day experience for a hill-walker of average fitness.
For more details about getting to and walking in Wicklow see here.
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