Free entry for English Heritage members
This place is cared for by the Office of Public Works, which runs Ireland's national heritage sites as Heritage Ireland. English Heritage members are entitled to free entry to all OPW sites from the first year of membership. Show your current membership card at admissions.
More information
Standard price, sold at the door only; there is no online booking. OPW's general rule gives free admission to children under 12 and to visitors with disabilities and their carers. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's Child/Student rate; no age band given on the page, and OPW says children under 12 visit free. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's Group/Senior rate; no age given on the page. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's family ticket; the page does not define the family. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.
The castle is in the centre of Donegal town on Castle Street and has no car park of its own. Donegal County Council runs pay parking in the town (pay at the meter or with the Donegal eParking app) but publishes no tariff online; the nearest council car park is on Main Street by the Diamond, about 230 m away, with others at the Diamond and Drumcliff. OPW gives no bus or train directions and Donegal town has no railway station.
Driving pin: OPW's own pin on the castle at Castle Street, since no official source names a car park for visitors.
Donegal Castle towers over the River Eske in the heart of Donegal town, one of Ireland's most splendid Gaelic castles. The O'Donnells built the tower house as their stronghold in the fifteenth century, and Red Hugh O'Donnell set it on fire as he left for Spain after the Battle of Kinsale so that it would never fall into English hands. The English captain Sir Basil Brooke became its lord in 1616, built a handsome Jacobean manor house beside the tower and commissioned the magnificent chimney-piece carved with fruit and his own coat of arms. Ruined by the twentieth century, the castle was restored in the 1990s, its new roof jointed in oak without a single iron nail. Visitors climb the O'Donnells' trip stair, with steps of different heights to catch attackers unawares, to the Brookes' banqueting hall and an exhibition on the castle's history, with a guide or a leaflet in many languages. Reviewers recommend the tour and the children's treasure trail, and allow about an hour.
Prices, non-members
Open all year, daily 9am to 5pm, last admission 4.15pm; OPW prints no Christmas closure. Guides at the desk offer a guided tour or a self-guide leaflet in a wide range of languages; no online booking. Free admission for everyone on the first Wednesday of each month, first come first served.
Access is limited: the upper floors are reached by the spiral trip stair with steps of uneven height, and no lift or accessible toilet is listed; some of the ground floor can be seen without the stair. Toilets on site; card payments accepted; no cafe or shop listed. A treasure trail keeps children busy and guides dress in period costume for events such as Heritage Week.
Photo: Donegal Castle's tower house, with its corner turrets and bay window, and the gabled Jacobean manor-house wing, seen across the castle railings. Becky McReynolds, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donegal_Castle_with_English_Manor_House_wing.JPG. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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