Bunratty Castle and Folk Park

Restored Fifteenth Century Tower House (About 1425) With A Nineteenth Century Folk Park Of Farmhouses And A Village Street, Known For Its Medieval Banquets · Bunratty, Clare

Bunratty Castle is a big, square fifteenth-century tower house on the River Ratty near the Shannon estuary, built around 1425 and later held by the O'Briens, Earls of Thomond. It fell into ruin, then was bought and restored in the 1950s and filled with furniture, tapestries and art of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, so it is one of the most complete medieval castle interiors you can walk through in Ireland: the Great Hall, the Earl's rooms, the chapel and the roof, reached by narrow spiral stairs. Around it the Folk Park rebuilds rural Ireland of roughly a century and more ago - farmhouses from different regions, a village street with a pub, shops and a school, a Georgian house and walled garden. It is about 15 minutes from Shannon Airport, so many visitors come on their first or last day. The evening medieval banquet is the famous extra. The honest caveat: it is a busy, family-oriented heritage park rather than an untouched ruin, the banquet is unashamedly touristy, and the castle stairs rule it out for anyone who cannot climb.

Bunratty, County Clare, on the N18 between Limerick and Ennis, about 15 minutes from Shannon Airport, Bunratty, Clare, Ireland

Open all year except a few days around Christmas; roughly 09:00-09:30 to 17:00-17:30, with last castle entry about an hour before closing and shorter winter hours (confirm). Tickets cover the castle and the Folk Park and are usually cheaper online. By car it is on the N18 about 15 minutes from Shannon Airport, 15-20 minutes from Limerick and 25 minutes from Ennis; Bus Eireann routes between Limerick and Shannon stop at Bunratty (confirm times). The evening medieval banquet must be booked ahead, often weeks ahead in summer.

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