Donegal Coast by mjmkeating

Podcast on things to do in Donegal

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Trace your roots at the Glencolmcille Folk Village Museum

Because of the many eras of emigration from Ireland, many people return to explore their Irish roots. The Glencolmcille Folk Village Museum is a great place to get a window into the world that so many left behind while also exploring the world that has shaped current day Ireland.

Picture courtesy of sludgegulper

Travel back to the Iron Age at Griana an Aileach

Stay at the town of Burt and visit the nearby Iron Age ring fort, Grianan an Aileach. Sitting atop a hill, the fort looks out over Co. Donegal and offers views that are hard to beat. The area was most likely once a seat of power and culture in ancient Ireland. Today, it is one of those ancient ruins that just shouldn’t be missed.

Grianan an Aileach by Steve Cadham

Visit Donegal Castle

Take a guided tour at the 15^th century Donegal Castle in Donegal Town. There is a small fee to visit the castle, but the castle has been nearly completely restored and is well worth the entrance fee.

Picture courtesy of Marcus Murphy.  More pictures by Marcus Murphy here.

Learn to speak Irish

Learn Irish at the Oideas Gael Language camp. For over 25 years, the camp has been offering education in both the Irish language as well as Irish culture for adults. While the course does not necessarily come cheap, it offers a unique opportunity to learn the Irish language in one of Ireland’s most beautiful landscapes.

Spectate at the Donegal Car Rally

Enjoy (from a safe distance) the Donegal International Car Rally.  On the third weekend of June, the three day event brings rally fans from around the world to the competition. The course winds through breathtaking scenery and offers world class racing.

Picture courtesy of leppre

Explore the region on foot or bike

People from around Ireland and Europe flock to Co. Donegal for the nature. With good reason. So go for a walk or go cycling. Anywhere. The countryside is beautiful so get out there and explore.  You can head off on your own, either having rented a bike or by foot, but be sure to head out there.

Picture courtesy of Jule_Berlin. More pictures by Jule_Berlin here.

Go swimming or surfing

Boasting some of the most beautiful beaches in Ireland, Co. Donegal has plenty of white sandy beaches to choose from. Bundoran is a great place to enjoy the sea as well as get a little surfing in.

Picture courtesy of dusi_bbg. More pictures by dusi_bbg here.

Go Diving

Not only can you go swimming, but you can even go diving.  Mevagh Diving Center offers dives for all experience levels as well as dives to various wrecks and plenty of scenic dives. They are a PADI 5 Star certified dive center and the only dive center in Co. Donegal.  They’ll even take you diving every single day of the year.  Although, unless you’re braver than me, diving in December, that far north is better left to others.

Explore Glenveagh National Park

Glenveagh National Park offers guided walks with park rangers throughout the year, although booking is essential. The lakes, forests, and mountainous areas offers a beautiful countryside and the park prides itself on its ongoing efforts to reintroduce the Golden Eagle which was classified as extinct in the area in 1912.

Picture courtesy of rejflinger. More pictures by rejflinger here.

Admire the views from Slieve League

And finally, go to the Slieve League. The sea cliffs are actually much higher than the Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare and due to the lack of notoriety you’ll find fewer people swarming the cliffs.  As always though, be safe!

Picture courtesy of Dr.epsylon. More pictures by Dr.epsylon here.

Find the best deals on hotels in Donegal

Click here for great deals on Donegal hotels on the HotelsCombined price comparison site.

Your tips for things to do in Donegal

Let us know what you think about Co. Donegal and your own tips for enjoying Ireland’s northernmost county.

Ten Tips for Things to Do in County Donegal, Ireland

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Swedes eat.  Specifically, Swedes eat semlor.  A semla is a delicious baked good smothered in cream.  The pastry itself is a wheat bun, spiced with cardamom.  The top of the bun is cut off (but not thrown away) and hollowed out.  Inserted into the newly hollowed out bun is a dollop of almond paste. Finally, the bun is filled with cream and the cut off (but not thrown away) top acts as a sort of hat to the semla.

Picture courtesy of ratexla. More pictures by ratexla here.

Semlor are traditionally meant to be eaten on Fat Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday in the UK), before the Lent fast begins on Ash Wednesday. However, the Semla starts making an appearance in bakeries and grocery stores throughout the country around the beginning of the year and don’t disappear until Easter.

And it is a good thing, because they are delicious.  Several years ago, Aftonbladet, one of the evening newspapers in Sweden, reported that the average Swedes eats five semlor per year for a grand total of 40 million semlor.

Picture courtesy of Per Ola Wiberg ~ Powi. More pictures by Per Ola Wiberg ~ Powi here.

I had initially planned on ranking my favorite semla places, but it’s just not fair. The beauty of Fat Tuesday is sampling your way through several different semlor.  The cafés in Gamla Stan in Stockholm are a great place to start.  If the weather is nice, continue on to Kungsträdgården and grab a seat at one of the outdoor cafés.  Finally, make your way towards Hötorget.  You won’t be disappointed.  You will be full, and if you didn’t pace yourself, borderline sick.  Semlor are rich and heavy and should probably be eaten in moderation.  Of course, it is Fat Tuesday, so enjoy.

If you can’t make your way to Sweden in time to sample a semla, try this recipe here.

Mardi Gras in Sweden with Cream Buns

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This was long before I had learned that you get what you pay for, love, and so instead of paying a bit extra for a nice cushy compartment that might actually allow for some sleep, I paid for a normal seat.

Picture courtesy of sh1mmer. More pictures by sh1mmer here.

I am not a small person and so my long legs tend to not enjoy sitting in tight spaces for extended periods of time. Trying to sleep in a sitting position is tight spaces is even worse.  Yet there I was, in an overnight train heading towards Italy, with several other people all in various stages of discomfort.  But I was young and poor and thought the experience would count for something. For what I still don’t know.

After several hours of pretending to sleep, I decided maybe a bathroom run with toothbrush in hand would help.  So I carefully and quietly attempted to extract myself from the crowded row of seats.  Not an easy task on a moving train in the middle of the night.  After the several muttered excuse me’s, I was free. To the bathroom I went. I took my time getting there, it was nice being able to wander through the silence and I was in no hurry.

Finally though, my teeth brushed, I headed back to my seat. Only to end up very confused. It was filled.  By a man. A very asleep man. What happened next makes me a pushover. I’d like to think it makes me a thoughtful and caring individual, but really it just makes me a pushover.  Because I did nothing. I wandered the train the rest of the evening, even sitting on a bench with a book in hand for a while.

How a man was able to slide into my seat and fall asleep so quickly, I’ve never been able to figure out. But there he was, and there I was.  And I haven’t taken a night train since.

Andy loves taking the trains in Europe, while I’m sceptical to say the least.  What do you think? When you’re planning your European travels, does train travel figure into the equation?

The European Night Train from Sweden to Italy

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Knowing what café is on what street on what island in Stockholm might not be necessary for moving the plot along, but for those who have been on that island, on that street, at that café, it’s a fun exercise.  It makes for a great travel trip while visiting Stockholm, Sweden.

The Stockholm City Museum seems to agree.  The museum offers walking tours of Stockholm, stopping at places that appear in the Millennium books.  Because of the international popularity of the books, tours are offered in a variety of languages: French, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish and Russian.

Picture courtesy of StefanRos. More pictures by StefanRos here.

Of course, they also offer an English language tour, which leaves every Saturday at 11:30 am.  The tour lasts about two hours and tickets can be purchased, for 120 SEK, from a few different places, including the museum itself.

Regardless of your opinion of the book, Södermalm, the island which is host to much of the action in the books, is a beautiful place and well worth wandering.  You’ll be surrounded by great little stores, bars, cafés, restaurants.  Not only that, but the area offers some amazing people watching, as the Stockholmers mill about on a Saturday.  Pick the Saturday after everyone gets paid (usually the 25^th of each month) and you’ll be amazed how the city comes to life.

Picture courtesy of Robin Iversen Rönnlund. More pictures by Robin Iversen Rönnlund here.

Keep in mind you do not meet at the museum! Instead, the meeting point for the tour is Bellmansgatan 1, for Millennium fans, better known as the apartment of Mikael Blomkvist.

Millennium Books Walking Tours: Following the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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The island itself is home to hundreds of churches.  Some are in ruins, others are in use.  All are impressive structures.  In particular, the largest city on the island, Visby, is home to several different ruins.  Climb the still standing medieval city wall and you will be able to look out over the cityscape and pick out the different ruins.

Still standing, and in use, is St. Maria Cathedral, which was built as a church and dedicated as early as 1225 for the German traders in the area. In 1572 it became a cathedral.  While visiting, I stumbled upon a choir practice.  I was not alone.  Several other tourists had made their way to the church and stood around in a semi-circle as the choir rehearsed.

Despite the beauty of St. Maria, I prefer ruins.  It’s the romantic in me and luckily Visby has plenty to offer.  My favorite is probably St. Nicolaus, if only because despite being a ruin, performances are still held every year in the old church.  For the history nerd in me, there are few things better than watching live music in the skeletal ruins of a medieval church.

Considering that Visby, Gotland was quite the European destination nearly 800 years ago, I’d be remiss if I didn’t think it was still one of the best medieval places to visit in all of Europe.

Church Ruins on Gotland

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But Wroclaw had something I wasn’t expecting.  Gnomes.  Lots and lots of gnomes.  I first stumbled upon a gnome and thought it was a tourist gimmick.  Just a small statue of a gnome peering out at me.  But as I wandered around, I realized gnomes were hiding everywhere.  Some up high staring down at me, some swinging from lamp posts, others hiding right in the open.  And still I thought it was some sort of tourist gimmick.

Turns out those gnomes have a pretty impressive history.  An anti-communist history.  In the ‘80s a group known as the Orange Alternative movement protested against the reigning communist regime.  Their focus was non-violent resistance.  And it seems if they could make people laugh or smile a bit, that was a plus.  So they used a variety of techniques.  One being dressing up as gnomes on International Children’s Day back in 1988.  My favorite story of protest was an account of the group gathering at the local zoo in front of the monkey cage and singing Stalinist anthems.  I appreciate the creativity.

The gnomes, though, became a symbol of the resistance and today dot Wroclaw’s cityscape.  I wandered around the Old Town of Wroclaw, happily surprised by every gnome I managed to find.  I was snapping pictures of every gnome I managed to find. But some eluded me. I just know it.  It became a sort of game that got me lost on several occasions, but lost in a city that suddenly seemed just a bit more whimsical.  Gnomes will do that to you.

I went to Wroclaw because I found a cheap ticket on Ryanair; I would gladly travel there again, when planning my next trip to a European city, for the sole purpose of gnome hunting.  There are a few I have yet to catalogue.

Polish Gnome Hunting

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Wroclaw riverside

But then I suddenly found myself in a train station, late, without a ticket, and no idea where to go.  And I started to worry.  I do not speak Polish. And I do not speak Russian.  And this was causing a huge problem in my ability to communicate.  I had intended to head out to a town called Rogoźnica to visit an old concentration camp called Gross-Rosen (an amazingly somber and impressive experience by the way and one that I can not say enough about).

I had identified the time I needed to be at the train station and taken care to write everything down so I wouldn’t forget. And away I went to the train station.  What I had not taken care to do was figure out how long it would take me to walk to the train station. I made it though with a bit of time to spare and was pleased to see plenty of ticket windows open and available. I chose the window with the youngest looking employee in hopes of getting someone who spoke English. I did not.

Wroclaw railway station

I began pointing at my piece of paper, attempting to explain the time and place that I wanted to go.  To no avail.  Tens of minutes passed in hopes of finding a ticket to where I needed to be.  Finally, with the help of a second woman, I managed to purchase a ticket.  They had written down for me the platform I was to leave from and the time.  Away I went, harried, but relatively pleased to have a ticket in hand.

As I sprinted to the platform, I noticed something strange.  The time at the platform didn’t match the time on my ticket.  The time on the next platform over did.  I took my chances and went to my original platform.  I found a conductor.  He did not speak English.  I pointed to my ticket, to the train and did the classic shoulder shrug as if to say, is this right? His response? Nyet. I don’t speak Russian or Polish, but I knew what that meant.  So I turned and sprinted for the other train only to watch it pull away.

This time I managed to find a customer service desk.  And the employee there spoke flawless English.  As I kicked myself for not trying the customer service desk first, I was told that the next train didn’t leave for several hours.  My only option was a taxi.

And so, a very long taxi-drive later, and I finally arrived at my destination.  An unused train ticket in hand, and a newfound respect for the language barrier.

When thinking of European destinations, do you consider the language barrier? And have you had any horror stories with your lack of language skills?

Language (Mis)Adventures while Traveling

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Iceland has been near the top of my list for quite some time now, but I’ve never made my way over there.  It’s almost as if when I get down to actually planning a trip, it gets forgotten up there in the north.  It might also have something to do with the fact that there are virtually no trees and it is an island.  Kind of disconcerting really, but the stories I’ve heard, the pictures I’ve seen, they all keep my interest.

Picture courtesy of ezioman.  More pictures by ezioman.

But recently, Iceland has been in the news.  Not necessarily for good things.  There was the volcano that shut down Europe and led to more travel chaos than I have ever been privy to.  And then there was the banking crisis.  Iceland was not alone in hurting, but their monumental collapse became international news.

Picture courtesy of neatephotos.  More pictures by neatephotos.

In spite of, or maybe because of, this news, Iceland seems to have shot to the top of several different lists for top travel destinations in 2011.  In my planning of trips I won’t be able to take, I kept stumbling across articles espousing the virtues of Iceland.  The unique landscape, the natural hot springs, even the volcanoes, and of course, the low prices (turns out that banking crisis may have been helpful if you’ve got the money to travel) all add up to a great destination.  Not only that, but several different airlines have begun adding flights to Reykjavík.

I’m always a little skeptical when it comes to top ten lists.  I like to stray from the beaten path every now and again.  But what happens when the path less taken becomes the beaten path?  Regardless of the rankings, Iceland is still on my list.  And I’ll continue to plan trips that I might not take.

So what do you think? Will Iceland be on your travel itinerary this year?

We’ve researched “10 of the Best Hotels in Reykjavik for all Budgets“. You can also find great deals on hotels in Iceland’s capital Reykjavik using the LateRooms search box below.

Iceland – A Top Tourist Destination?

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Vasaloppet, a 90 kilometer ski race in Mora, Sweden takes place every February, and has since 1922.  The race is supposed to follow the path that Gustav Vasa took as he raised a rebellion to take the throne from the Danish King back in 1520.  While the route may not be exactly the same, sometimes it’s easier just to play along, like the story of the first marathon.  The course has even been declared a nature reserve meaning that a strip of land 90 kilometers long and 10 meters wide is protected, which I just think is kind of cool.

Vasaloppet is incredibly competitive.  People train year round for this race; you’ll even see people during the summer on cross-country ski equipment designed for asphalt.  Luckily, the race organizers recognize the intensity that may come with having to sprint 90 kilometers on cross country skis.  That’s why they also offer an open class in which you can follow the path of the race, but the Sunday and Monday following the actual race.  Even if you’re not willing to strap on a pair of skis, the race becomes a winter celebration and an event well worth attending.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never entered Vasaloppet.  The closest I have come is having a few cousins finish the race.  Not quite the same, I know, but it’s on the list.  And one of these days, Mora, Sweden will be on my itinerary.

First picture courtesy of mill56.  More pictures by mill56.

Second picture courtesy of AndrewEick.  More pictures by AndrewEick.

Vasaloppet – Cross Country Skiing with Kings in Sweden

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However, a new tradition has come about, harkening back to a time even before Vasa and the 1500s.  Since 1999, Vikingarännet has attracted long distance ice skaters every February who are willing to tackle the 80 kilometers between Uppsala and Stockholm.

The race is skated on Lake Mälaren, a large fresh water lake that, according to the organization, follows “along an old viking route.”  This is of course in reference to the landmarks along the way.  The old Viking town of Sigtuna, for example, is on the shores of Mälaren as well as Drottningholm Palace (not so much a Viking landmark, but an impressively beautiful palace nonetheless).

This year’s race will take place on either the 13^th or 20^th of February depending on ice conditions.  So if you’re the outdoorsy type, the type that thinks it’s not really a vacation unless you sweat a little, head up north to Sweden and taking part in Vikingarännet.

First picture courtesy of linek.  More pictures by linek.

Second picture courtesy of Carles Tomás Martí. More pictures by Carles Tomás Martí.

Vikingarännet – Ice Skating with Vikings in Sweden

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