Things to do
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Copper Coast
Twenty-five kilometres of cliff, cove and old copper working between Tramore and Stradbally, designated a UNESCO Global Geopark for rock that records a vanished ocean. The coves at Kilfarrasy and Ballydowane are reached down short lanes off the R675.
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Waterford Greenway
Forty-six kilometres of disused railway from the city to Dungarvan, crossing three viaducts and a four-hundred-metre tunnel and running along the coast for the last stretch. Bikes are hired at either end and the shuttle brings riders back.
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Bishop's Palace
A Richard Castle palace of 1743 on the Mall furnished as a Georgian house, holding the oldest surviving piece of Waterford crystal and Napoleon's mourning cloak. It completes the three museums of the Viking triangle with the Medieval Museum and the tower.
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Cliff House Hotel
Built into the cliff at Ardmore so every room faces the bay, with a Michelin-starred restaurant and a terrace above the round tower and the oratory where Saint Declan preached before Patrick landed. It is fifty minutes west along the coast.
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House of Waterford Crystal
The working factory on the Mall where blowers and cutters make the trophies and chandeliers on a floor visitors walk through. The tour is guided and the cutting wheels are running while it happens, which takes about an hour and is booked at the door.
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Medieval Museum
Built over the thirteenth-century Choristers' Hall and the fifteenth-century wine vault, both left standing inside it, and holding the cloth-of-gold vestments hidden from Cromwell under the cathedral floor. They are the only complete set of medieval vestments in northern Europe.
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Reginald's Tower
A circular stone tower at the point of the Viking triangle, the oldest civic building in the country, the present stone tower dating from about 1253 and in use ever since as mint, prison and arsenal. It holds the Viking collection, including the Waterford kite brooch.
