Sparkling water, beautiful landscapes and friendly locals. That is what makes Sligo the perfect place for a family holiday! Whether you are looking for those big surfing waves, or a relaxing SUP tour or kayak, this is the location to be! And then there is the majestic Benbulbin, a table mountain that can be seen from miles around. Or the stunning sandy beaches dotted around the coastline, just right for little feet to curl their toes in.
When people talk about visiting the west coast of Ireland, they often mean visiting Donegal, Clare or Kerry. But County Sligo is not somewhere you should drive past on the way to those other locations. It’s somewhere you need to stop and breathe! Sligo is a pretty little county with so much to do for families, it’s certainly worth stopping for a few days when you’re travelling in Ireland.
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Where Is County Sligo?
Sligo is located on the North West coast of Ireland, below Donegal and wedged on the coastline between Leitrim and Mayo. It’s fairly close to Northern Ireland too, just a 2 hour drive from Londonderry.
How to get to Sligo
It’s easily accessible by car from Northern Ireland or elsewhere in Ireland. There is a train station in Sligo town, which has direct links with Dublin. Or there are bus links throughout Ireland with Sligo.
You can also fly into the nearest airport, Ireland West Airport Knock, which is 45 minute drive from Sligo town.
Where To Stay in County Sligo
There are plenty of places to stay within Sligo, from hotels to self catering and campsites. We stayed at two different hotels. One in Sligo town and one in Enniscrone.
Sligo Southern Hotel, Sligo Town
Located in the heart of Sligo town is Sligo Southern Hotel. The hotel is well situated on the Wild Atlantic Way, perfect for exploring both the north and south of County Sligo. The hotel has an excellent restaurant for dinner along with a cosy atmosphere and spacious, comfy bedrooms.
Sligo Southern Hotel also has its own leisure centre attached, with swimming pool, children’s pool, sauna and steam room, plus a fitness centre. Great to unwind after a long day exploring!
Ocean Sands Hotel, Enniscrone.
Right on the border with North Mayo, Enniscrone is a great little beach town. The hotel is right by the beach, so you can see the waves crashing down on the beach from the hotel windows. So it’s the perfect place or a summer Irish beach holiday.
Ocean Sands Hotel also has a spa, so it’s fantastic to take a relaxing break from the kids. I can definitely recommend their seaweed bath, my skin was so soft afterwards.
Dinner in the restaurant is great for families, with kids menus, family favourites and locally sourced produce. You can also order a Sligo picnic from the hotel for lunch!
Best Things To Do In County Sligo
So why should you stay in Sligo, what is there to do?! Oh there’s so much, you’ll be spoilt for choice! Here are a few of the many things to do in county Sligo!
Atlantic Sheepdogs
Near Grange, in the North of the county, you’ll find the Atlantic Sheepdogs. This is the best place to go and learn about how sheepdogs are trained. With an excellent demonstration of their skill you can listen to the farmer, Martin, explain how he trains his sheepdogs. It’s highly entertaining and worth a stop on your travels.
You are also introduced to some of the rare breed sheep kept on the farm. This is to keep heritage stock alive, as it’s no longer commercially viable. If you’re lucky you may even get to cuddle a lamb!
Historic Sites
County Sligo has a fair chunk of prehistoric sites including the internationally important Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery.
Carrowmore has over 30 surviving Neolithic monuments spread across the cemetery. There is likely to have been more monuments that have disappeared due to field clearance over the years. Our guide did also mention that the stones inside the portal tombs had been placed there when farmers were clearing the field, and were not originally placed in those locations. It’s incredibly interesting to walk around the site with a guide, explaining the importance of the monuments and how they would originally have looked.
Queen Maeve’s tomb is also visible on Knocknarea in the distance. Although it’s unknown if this tomb has any relation to the megalithic cemetery below.
Watersports
There are a multitude of watersports available in Sligo. As a well known surf destination, Strandhill in Sligo has several different surf schools where you can book lessons. Beside the surf school shops is the National Surf Centre with excellent changing rooms and showers for those using the surf schools.
Enjoy the surf safely with an instructor and learn how to surf in Irelands impressive waves! And don’t worry about the water, it’s not as cold as you think it will be, especially once you have a thick wetsuit on! We headed into the water with, the well recommended, Atlantic Surf School at Strandhill. They were brilliant, friendly and great at showing us what to do.
Stand up paddle board lessons are also available around the coast of Sligo county. We haven’t been on paddle boards much, so had a lesson in the harbour at Enniscrone with Harbour SUP. It was nice and calm, easy for beginners learning how to stay upright on paddle boards! For more experienced people, you can take tours up the river at Enniscrone too. Maybe next time! And to relax after paddle boarding you can use the West Coast Sauna right beside the harbour.
The other watersport that may interest visitors is kayaking. There are both sea and lough kayaking available. We took a tour with the friendly and professional Sligo Kayak Tours on Lough Gill. Although the weather was windy and wet, we still had an enjoyable paddle around part of the loch, stopping at an island to explore midway. I was particularly impressed with the table set up with hot drinks and biscuits!
Walking
There are lots of excellent walks around Sligo, including walking up Knocknarea to visit Queen Mae’s tomb or Benbulbin, the table mountain. However, you can also find plenty of other lower down walks including Killaspugbrone coastal walk, walking over the sand to Coney Island at low tide or Raghly loop trail.
We enjoyed a lovely walk at Killaspugbrone, playing on the beach and admiring the wildflowers and old church along the way. It’s a great walk from Strandhill, looping back round to the town.
Raghly loop trail car park is also beside a great pebble beach with plenty of hag stones. It’s definitely worth stopping just to explore the pebble shoreline!
Nature
As mentioned above there are plenty of walks in the area, where you can explore nature and enjoy the forest and coastline. But why not take it one step further and enjoy natural living with a bushcraft session?
We had a great few hours with Tonnta Adventure near Enniscrone, enjoying the woodland and learning how to safely make fires, climb trees, make mallets out of fallen branches and bounce along slack lines. It’s a great way to engage with nature, but encourage learning and play too. We even spotted a little mouse and a red squirrel in the woods!
Why Is It Good For Families?
So, why is County Sligo so good for families? It is small enough to explore in a few days, but plenty to keep you busy. And for those who want to relax there is plenty of nature, seaweed baths for the adults and excellent beaches for the kids to play.
And with so many different activities available it’s easy to see why families will happily stay and enjoy their whole holiday in Sligo!
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