Newgrange and Bru na Boinne

Neolithic Passage Tomb Of About 3200 BC Aligned On The Winter Solstice Sunrise, With Knowth And Dowth; UNESCO World Heritage Site: Bru Na Boinne Archaeological Ensemble Of The Bend Of The Boyne (1993) · Donore, Meath

Newgrange is a great round passage tomb built around 3200 BC by farming communities in a bend of the River Boyne in County Meath - widely said to be older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza. A stone-lined passage of about 19 m runs into the mound to a cross-shaped chamber under a corbelled roof that has kept the rain out for some five thousand years. Above the entrance a slot called the roof-box lets the sunrise shine down the passage and light the chamber floor for a few minutes around the winter solstice. With the even larger mound of Knowth and the unexcavated mound of Dowth, it forms Bru na Boinne, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993 and one of the richest collections of prehistoric carved stone in Europe. People come for the spiral-carved kerbstones, the moment inside the dark chamber, and the strangeness of standing where people stood before writing. The honest caveat: you cannot simply turn up at the tomb - all access is by guided tour and shuttle bus from the visitor centre, places are few, and in summer they are gone by late morning.

Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre, Donore, County Meath (all access to Newgrange and Knowth is by shuttle from here), about 50 km north of Dublin, Donore, Meath, Ireland

Open all year except a few days around Christmas (confirm), roughly 09:00 to 17:00 in winter and later, towards 18:30 or 19:00, in summer; the last tour leaves well before closing - confirm for your date. All access to Newgrange and Knowth is by guided tour from the Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre at Donore, on the south bank of the Boyne: you cross a footbridge and a shuttle bus takes you to the tombs. Going to the monuments directly gets you nothing. Online booking opens about 30 days ahead and every person, infants included, needs a ticket. From November to February only the Newgrange tour and exhibition run and Knowth is closed; the tour including Knowth runs from March (confirm). About 50 km north of Dublin: M1 and brown signs, or train to Drogheda and a taxi of roughly 15 minutes.

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