Glenveagh National Park

We spent 2 weeks visiting gardens in Ireland and this ace is, shared with Mount Usher Gardens, the top Nr 1. Well designed and beautifully kept. A big, big compliment to the gardeners.

Beautiful location, a Victorian castle set by a Lough with mountains and remote moorland all around. Around the castle are beautiful gardens and walks and the history of the castle is fascinating

We had another great day out at Glenveagh National Park. We always try to visit if we are staying in Donegal. On previous visits, we travelled from Letterkenny, but this time, we travelled from Gortahork. We walked to the waterfall this time. Had seen the castle and gardens on previous visits. Lovely day out, and we had some nice food in the tea rooms.

Spectacular location, quite compact castle with fabulous gardens and walks. The visitor centre gives an overview view of the location. If you are feeling fit it would be a nice walk to the castle from the visitors centre, fortunately there is a bus to take the strain. Great location, the poor weather when we visited made it feel quite bleak and remote. I'm sure the location would look stunning on a warm sunny day

Well worth a visit and the whole experience is excellent. Amazing place and gardens and the staff are very friendly and helpful. I highly recommend a visit

One of the most beautiful places I have ever visited in my entire life. This is a must see if visiting ireland. There was a bus that took us to the castle and the bus driver was very friendly and chatty as most Irish are. Tons of history and hiking trails. We will definitely be back to hike the entire park.

The hike from the car park to the castle offers stunning scenery, but the strong smell of dog urine all through the walk can be unpleasant. It’s better to take the bus to the castle and walk from there.

Breathtaking views, a beautiful castle and an amazing garden area! I would highly recommend stopping here for a visit!

Beautiful grounds, gardens and surrounding landscapes. The castle was interesting, but the outside was really with spending time in and around. There are shuttles that run to the castle or it's a 4km walk each way. There are food options onsite as well. Views are spectacular!

Visit for similar reasons that we visit great American National Parks Natural beauty and serenity Yes, I would like to have a Castle in this wilderness We worth the time Ireland is amazing is so many dimensions

What a beautiful park this was. There is about a two mile walk from the entrance to the castle. It is an easy walk along a well paved path leading through gardens and walking by a lake. There was a gorgeous rainbow in the distance as we walked by. The castle was closed to visitors but we were able to walk the grounds and enjoy the scenery. We also had a nice lunch in their "tea room." Like many places, the tea room was very understaffed and service took a long time. The food was very good, though, and made up for the wait.

We stopped here for a few hours and enjoyed our time. It was a nice park, but it didn't have a ton to other in terms of hiking like I would expect. We did the viewpoint trail. This starts from the castle and you have to take a shuttle (3 euros) to get there or walk 4 km. The trail was very short, but steep. It was a loop and took about half an hour with our stop for pictures at the top. The views at the top were pretty. We explored the gardens which you could do without a ticket. They were pretty and a decent size. There were some other trails you could do that were longer, but none of them seemed to offer much in terms of views. It was a nice park, but I wasn't overly impressed. We saw better views elsewhere in Ireland. If you're in the area, it's worth a quick stop, but I don't think it's worth going out of your way for.

Driving from Letterkenny toward Ghaothdobhair (maybe spelled Gweedore on the map) and ultimately our final destination, Dungloe, a friend of mine not from Ireland once commented "Jesus...I feel like we are driving to the end of the earth". Nothing to see here folk, move along. Ah but there you see, you are greatly mistaken and don't turn back for you are driving through some of the most beautiful undisturbed landscape in the whole of Europe. Quite possibly there has never been a homestead on these lands. "Situated in northwest Donegal, the core area of Glenveagh National Park was formerly an enormous private estate of over 9,500 hectares in extent. The present day National Park now includes elements of another large estate and has a total area of over 16,500 hectares, making it Ireland's largest. It boasts, like Killarney, beautiful lakes set in impressive mountain scenery (the Park includes the two highest peaks in Donegal - Errigal and Slieve Snacht). The underlying granite gives to the landscape a quite different character to the sandstone and limestone strata of Killarney however. At the south-west end of the Park are the ice-carved cliffs of the Poisoned Glen and Bingorm, while the north-east end has a gentler array of hills, deep peat bogs and the swampy valley of the Owencarrow river. Natural woodlands of Oak and Birch clothe the slopes of the deep valley that bisects the Park. These woods are inhabited by Badgers, Foxes and Stoats, whilst woodland bird life includes Siskins, Treecreepers, Redstarts and Wood Warblers. On the uplands of the Park, birds more likely to be encountered include Ravens, Peregrines, Stonechat and Grouse, and the upland slopes are dotted with the yellow flowers of Tormentil and Bog Asphodel. The Park contains a large herd of Red Deer but, unlike Killarney, these are not of native Irish stock. A twenty eight mile fence was erected in the 1890's to contain the herd, which spend most of the summer on high ground, returning to more sheltered areas during the winter or in prolonged poor weather. Perhaps the outstanding feature of Glenveagh is its wilderness character with the sense of remoteness and solitude that it conveys to the visitor. The Park was opened formally in 1986 and, from the purpose-built Visitor Centre, visitors travel by Park transport along the shores of Lough Veagh to Glenveagh Castle (built in 1870 by George Adair) and its outstanding gardens, which are both open to the public. " [from http://homepage.tinet.ie/~knp/glenveagh] Ah yes Sir George Adair....forever memorialized in the song by the popular Donegal band Goat's Don't Shave in their song "Evictions at Derryveagh". In April 1861 Sir Adair evicted 250 families from their homes. Some died on the side of the road, some had no option but to go to the workhouse and some more were shipped to Australia and all so that Sir Adair could install sheep on his valued property and afterward build his castle for his American bride. The Poisoned Glen, with its spired church where my daddy used to take us on a Sunday to Errigal for a spin in the car, and would tell us girls that it was where Sleeping Beauty got married to the Handsome Prince. And even to this day, that's what I tell my kids when we drive by..."look...that's where Sleeping Beauty got married".

Beautiful and strange all in one, this is one of 5 National Parks in Ireland. Why would someone want to build a castellated mansion in the middle of nowhere? Anyways, take the tour...it is slightly expensive and they only take cash. However, it is very cool to be able to walk through the building and learn the back stories to the building and its history. You can also wander around the grounds, but they strongly suggest that you tell the staff where you are going and take extra food/drink and clothing. The museum at the visitor center is also nice, the staff is very helpful and polite. It leads you through the history of the property from the original homesteaders to the attempts to put Golden Eagles back into this area of Ireland.

Well, I don't mind being second when the review I follow is the one that Gina wrote. I'd suggest you walk from the visitor center (4km or less) and take the van back to the car park. The little museum at the entrance is nice but the real neat stuff is at the castle. Oh - the views! Walking up on the hill behind the castle it seems like you can see all the way to the coast. The castle gardens are unique to say the least. The little cafe served good food at a very reasonable price. The castle tour may have been the best one we took in all of Ireland. Gina is right about the history of the park and the evictions but you'll hear nothing about the evictions on the tour. I guess it's like Mount Vernon, where you can see George Washington's slave quarters but the signs all say "servant quarters." We even saw a big red stag on our way out of the park. BEAUTIFUL!

Entry to the National Park is free and there is a large car park available. It covers over 16,000 hectors of moorland and mountain and is great for a family ramble in the countryside. There are also guided walks on a regular basis throughout the year. It surrounds the beautiful Lough Veagh and Glenveagh Castle (for which there is a charge) is also inside the Park.

Glenveagh National Park is an amazing place to visit if you enjoy walks and gardens. The is a Victorian garden behind the castle, a conservatory with delicate plants, a pleasure garden and other garden themes.