IMAGES: GETTY; STRAWBERRY TREE RESTAURANT
TOP THREE
Animal attractions
WICKLOW EQUI TOURS With hour-long tours tailored to each rider’s experience and bespoke, cross-country horse-riding trips also on offer, this working stables on the edge of the Wicklow Mountains is the place to saddle up and explore the landscape. Riders are matched to one of 35 horses — all Irish cobs, Irish sport horses or thoroughbreds — and taken through forests or onto the sands of Brittas Bay.
wicklowequitours.com
K2ALPACAS This farm hosts a variety of interactive experiences with its herd of 80 fluffy, Andean camelids. They offer a Prosecco Trek, where guests walk the friendly alpacas up to a viewpoint to enjoy a drink, learning about the animals and the area along the way. The farm also opened seven elegant self-catering cottages on the property in 2022.
k2alpacas.ie
DAY ONE SEA TO SUMMIT
Morning Kissing the county’s northern border with Dublin is the lively beach town of Bray, its promenade stretching a mile between the mouth of the River Dargle and a rocky headland once notorious for smugglers’ caves. Strap on a life jacket for a sea kayak lesson with Bray Adventures. Paddling out from the harbour, the instructor paints a picture of Bray’s 19th- century heyday as Ireland’s most glamorous seaside resort, pointing out landmarks such as Oscar Wilde’s birthplace. The final destination is a set of rugged sea stacks home to nesting guillemots, cormorants and kittiwakes. Lunch awaits in the town of Greystones — The Happy Pear serves hearty plant-based curries and soups, plus vegan desserts.
brayadventures.ie thehappypear.ie
Afternoon Drive to Powerscourt House & Gardens, one of eastern Ireland’s most impressive and storied estates, in Enniskerry. The 18th- century Palladian manor is merely set dressing for the main event: 47 acres of landscaped gardens. Beautifully arranged beneath grand terraces and framed on the horizon by Wicklow’s Great Sugar Loaf peak, the grounds offer up ornamental lakes and follies to rival the grander palaces of continental Europe. Self-guided audio tours tell the history of Ireland through the triumphs and tragedies of this great house. Later, drop in at the on-site whiskey distillery, or follow the road four miles south to visit the spectacular 398ft-high Powerscourt Waterfall, Ireland’s highest cascade.
powerscourt.com
Evening A groundswell of interest in the great outdoors since the pandemic has made Wild Summits’ night hike and history tour of Glendalough the company’s most popular offering. The most sensational pocket of Wicklow Mountains National Park, Glendalough is home to the ruins of a grand monastic city. Founded in the sixth century, it grew in size and ecclesiastical might to become one of the major centres of learning in the West, before falling into disrepair and being burnt down by the English in 1398. Setting off before dusk, Wild Summits’ guides take hikers though the ruined abbey, around the twin lakes and up into mountains populated by sika deer — a nearly nine-mile walk that ends with a headlamp-lit scramble back to the car park.
wildsummits.ie
FALCONRY IRELAND Travellers can learn about the ancient field sport of falconry at this centre in Woodenbridge, with experiences that include seeing Harris’s hawks, lanner falcons, turkey vultures, black kites and owls in their element. Walk out into the surrounding woodland with seasoned falconers whose birds demonstrate flying and hunting. Finally, end up in the Woodenbridge Hotel & Lodge, Ireland’s oldest inn dating back to 1608, for a meal.
falconryofireland.ie
From left: A traveller admires the valley views in Glendalough from a mountaintop; Strawberry Tree Restaurant is certified by the Organic Trust
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