Things to do
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Ballintubber Abbey
An Augustinian abbey founded in 1216 and the only church in Ireland founded by an Irish king and still in continuous use, through suppression, burning and the penal laws. The pilgrim path from here to Croagh Patrick is thirty-five kilometres.
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Waterfront
Clew Bay
A drowned drumlin field of low green islands, traditionally counted as one for every day of the year and actually about a hundred and twenty, with John Lennon's Dorinish among them. The best view of the whole bay is from partway up the reek.
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Croagh Patrick
A quartzite cone of seven hundred and sixty-four metres climbed as a pilgrimage since before Christianity, with a chapel on the summit and a scree shoulder that is loose in both directions. Reek Sunday in late July brings tens of thousands, some of them barefoot.
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Delphi Lodge
A sporting lodge of the 1830s built for the Marquess of Sligo in a valley of its own between the Mweelrea mountains, with salmon fishing on the Bundorragha and dinner served at one long table. It is remote by design and half an hour south of Louisburgh.
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Doolough Valley
A dark lake between steep scree walls on the road to Leenane, and the site of the 1849 famine march in which hundreds walked to Delphi for relief and died on the way back. A stone cross marks it and the valley is empty of buildings.
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Great Western Greenway
Forty-two kilometres of disused railway from the town to Achill Sound by way of Newport and Mulranny, running along the shore of Clew Bay for much of it. Bikes are hired at either end with a shuttle service back.
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Westport House
A house of 1730 by Richard Cassels on the site of an O'Malley castle, whose dungeons survive under the east wing, built by descendants of the pirate queen Grace O'Malley. The grounds hold a lake, a pirate adventure park and the estate campsite.