#Waterford winter wonders collection full

#Waterford winter wonders collection full

You will need a full day to do both.Īt Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery, feast your eyes on Ireland’s foremost collection of contemporary art, including stunning stained glass by Harry Clarke and the studio of the brilliant Irish-born painter Francis Bacon. The Folk museum captures Northern Ireland’s heritage and history through old houses, shops, churches, and live actors. The Transport museum showcases how people traveled to, from and within Northern Ireland throughout the past 100 years. The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Holywood, Co. This six-floor building holds nine brilliant galleries that tell the story of the ship from beginning to end, offering great insight into the history of the Titanic. The Titanic Museum in Belfast, where the famous ship was built, first opened in 2012. It features two chambers, one of which lights up at solstice sunrise, the other at sunset. Kilkenny, lovingly referred to as the Newgrange of Ireland’s southeast, might be small but it is mightily impressive. Tyrone date back to the Bronze Age, and some of the stones are thought to be aligned with the solstice sunrise. The Beaghmore Stone Circles in Cookstown. If you want to feel connected to the ancients on this special day, there are many other historic sites to celebrate the winter solstice. So popular is Newgrange that tickets for the winter solstice are offered via a lottery system, with the winners announced each September. For 5,000 years, the winter solstice sun has illuminated Newgrange’s passage tomb - provided it isn’t a cloudy day, of course. Meath, in Ireland’s historic Boyne Valley.

The most famous of these is Newgrange, in Co. The shortest day and longest night of the year, it was of such importance to Ireland’s ancient ancestors that they designed massive structures to align with the sun exclusively on the winter solstice, flooding with light one time each year.

The winter solstice, which falls each December around the 21 or the 22, is a special day in Ireland.

Compare that to the 23% (2 million) who visited between October and December, or the 18% (1.6 million) who visited between January and March, and you have clear evidence that the winter months allow for a less competitive, more peaceful and personal Ireland travel experience. Of the over 9 million people who visited Ireland in 2017, according to Fáilte Ireland, 31% of them, or 2.8 million, visited between June and September. For savvy travelers, this means you’ll want to plan and time your trip wisely. Ireland's popularity with visitors around the world ever growing. Need more convincing? Here are seven compelling reasons why it’s smart to visit Ireland in the wintertime. Even - or especially - if you’ve been to Ireland before in the summer months, we highly recommend going back in the winter for a whole new experience. Some might interpret the 4 pm or 5 pm sunsets as the days being shorter, but you can also look at it as the nights being longer and more luxurious, offering you more time to savor that dinner, bond with locals at the pub, and soak in the sounds of a traditional Irish music session. Stunning scenes that show Ireland in winter is a magical place!