Travel Guide: Kilkenny, Ireland

The next stop on our Ireland road trip was Kilkenny. We arrived at the Horban Hotel tired from our flight and adventure in Dublin, but excited for the journey ahead of us. We enjoyed dinner in the hotel restaurant, followed by a drink on the outdoor patio. It was lovely and the patio was situated on a quiet meadow. At that point we had been traveling non-stop for well over 24 hours, so it was an early evening for us.

The next morning we woke ready to visit the gem of Kilkenny, Kilkenny Castle. It was exciting because it would be my sister’s first ever visit to a European Castle, and my first visit to one in over a decade. We drove into the center of town and past the castle. We realized that it wouldn’t be possible to park near the castle, so we headed back out of the village proper and into the suburban streets just outside. There we found on-street parking and took a quick walk back into the village.

The castle is surrounded by streets lined with shops, restaurants and cafes. If you are visiting Kilkenny, give yourself time to explore the streets around the castle and all of these little shops. There are also artisans situated on the sidewalk just in front of the castle. We found so many unique and charming gifts in Kilkenny.

Next, we headed to Kilkenny Castle. We considered taking a tour of the castle interior, but we did not schedule much time to explore there, so we opted to enjoy the outside of the castle and the castle gardens which were lovely. If you wish to explore the castle interior you can book a tour. If we had had more time, we would have done so.

After exploring the castle grounds, we made our way back into the village to stop for lunch before we for the road and headed to our next destination. There were several options for lunch around, but we decided to dine at Left Bank because it looked so beautiful from the exterior. We were thrilled with our decision. The interior of Left Bank is absolutely stunning and the food and drinks were excellent.

On our way into the village I noticed a gorgeous bunch of hydrangea bushes along one of the side-streets that we passed. I was determined to find it on our way out to snap some photographs of the gorgeous blooms. Gratefully my sister humored me and let me lead the expedition and we found those beautiful bushes. These are some of my favorite photographs from the day.

All and all, Kilkenny was a beautiful stop on our trip. We very much enjoyed our time there, although we were not there very long, it holds a special place in our trip memories. From Kilkenny, we set out to our next destination, Blarney, but not before we made a little detour into Cork. I will share all about those adventures in the next couple of posts in this series.

In the meantime, if you haven’t yet, you can check out our first stop–Dublin–and have a look at my Dublin Travel Guide.