Free for everyone; the only charge is the €2 pay-and-display car park. Last entry 30 minutes before closing. No membership card is needed.
Pay-and-display car park inside the estate off the front drive, €2 per visit, near Ballon between Tullow and Bunclody, signposted off the N80 and N81. Not a Trust car park, so membership does not cover it.
OPW's own car park inside the estate is pay and display at €2; OPW does not say how long the charge covers and reviewers describe it as the only cost of a visit. The gardens are near Ballon, signposted off the N80 and N81 between Tullow and Bunclody; OPW names no bus service.
Driving pin: OPW's own pin at the start of the one-way front drive off the L6060, the estate entrance; the car park itself is unmapped.
Altamont Gardens, signposted off the N80 and N81 between Tullow and Bunclody in County Carlow, cover sixteen hectares laid out in the style of William Robinson, which strives for honest simplicity, with an old-world atmosphere all of their own. Lawns and sculpted yews slope down from the creeper-clad house to a lake ringed by rare trees and rhododendrons, and a fascinating walk leads on through the arboretum, the bog garden and the Ice Age Glen, sheltered by ancient oaks and flanked by huge stone outcrops, to the banks of the River Slaney. Visit in summer for the perfume of roses and herbaceous borders and in February for the snowdrop collection begun by the garden's former owner Corona North, now one of the largest in Ireland with over 150 named varieties. The renovated walled garden holds a private plant nursery and cafe. Entry is free, parking costs two euro, and dogs may wait on a lead at the front of the house and the picnic area but not enter the gardens.
Later dates are in the calendar.
Free entry
Open all year, seven days including bank holidays, closed Christmas Day: January 09:00 to 16:00, February 09:00 to 16:30, March 09:00 to 17:00, April to September 09:00 to 18:30, October 09:00 to 17:00, November 09:00 to 16:30, December 09:00 to 16:00, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. The gardens close in severe weather and may not open on bad winter days, so phone 059 915 9444 before travelling. Allow one to two hours.
Toilets including a wheelchair-accessible toilet, picnic area, guided tours on request, interpretive panels and a brochure; hold the handrail on the steps up from the river. The cafe and plant sales in the walled garden are private businesses. Assistance dogs only in the gardens.
Dogs: Pet dogs are not permitted in the gardens; dogs on leads may be brought only to the surroundings at the front of the house and the picnic area. The gardens, arboretum, glen and river walk are the grounds, and pet dogs are not permitted there. Assistance dogs only in the gardens (OPW restriction, 19 October 2026); welcome at all OPW sites.
Photo: Altamont House, its front covered in red Virginia creeper, behind the gravel sweep under a mackerel sky. michelle ronan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Altamont_Garden%27s.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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OPW's described walk from the lake through the arboretum, bog garden and the oak-sheltered Ice Age Glen with its stone outcrops down to the banks of the River Slaney and back up the steps; free, inside the gardens during opening hours, from the €2 car park; no pet dogs in the gardens.
