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, paid at reception in cash only; no online booking, EH card shown there. A combined ticket with the separately run Colclough Walled Garden costs €9 at reception. 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. Under-16s must be accompanied by an adult. 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.
From the R733, the L4041 leads in 1 km to the stone-walled entrance of the Tintern estate; a walkers' car park with Coillte toilets lies 100 m inside, and the avenue continues for about a kilometre past grazing cows and sheep to OPW's car park and overflow beside the abbey, with coach parking. OPW publishes no parking charge. The abbey is 16 km south of New Ross off the R734 or 29 km from Wexford off the R733; there is no public transport.
Driving pin: OPW's own pin, which sits at the abbey car park.
Tintern Abbey on the Hook peninsula was founded around 1200 by William, Earl Marshal, on lands that came to him through his marriage to the Irish heiress Isabella de Clare, Strongbow's daughter. It was a daughter house of Tintern Major in Wales and is often called Tintern de Voto, the abbey of the vow, and the nave, chancel, tower, chapel and cloister still stand. Granted to the Colclough family in the sixteenth century, the church was partly converted into living quarters and adapted over the centuries, and the Colcloughs lived here until the mid-twentieth century. The tour climbs the tower, once a six-roomed house, to a bright library room hung with paintings and stories of the people who lived there. Conservation work protected the local bat colonies, and the abbey sits in a special area of conservation among Coillte woodland threaded by the waymarked Tintern Trails. The restored Colclough Walled Garden nearby is run separately, with a combined ticket sold at the abbey.
Prices, non-members
Open 5 March to 4 November 2026: daily 10am to 5pm from March to May and from September to November, and 10am to 5.30pm from June to August, with last admission 45 minutes before closing; OPW says the site closes for the season at noon on its final day, which its blocks give as Wednesday 4 November, so expect a noon close that day. The 2027 season is unpublished. A guided tour of about 45 minutes or a self-guided visit, tickets at the desk, cash only; children under 16 must be with an adult. A combined ticket with the separately run Colclough Walled Garden costs €9 at reception. Free admission for everyone on the first Wednesday of each month in season.
The abbey grounds are wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet just below the front door and a hearing loop at the desk, but the tower and Lady Chapel are reached only by three sets of stairs with handrails, one an outside metal staircase; gravel paths and uneven ground. Toilets and history videos in the Tack Room behind reception; no mobile devices or climbing inside. Seasonal coffee and pizza vans in the woods; picnic tables are in the forest and at the main entrance rather than at the abbey.
Photo: Tintern Abbey's battlemented tower, nave arches and converted chancel seen across rough grassland and trees on an overcast day. Audrius Janecka, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tintern_Abbey_in_a_green.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Dog friendly
Easy 0.9 km loop of about 15 minutes starting and finishing at Tintern Abbey, on easy paths through mixed woodland past the restored Colclough walled garden and the ruins of Castleworkhouse; blue arrows; free. Dogs: Dogs allowed on a lead (Sport Ireland Trails).
Dog friendly
Moderate 3 km loop of about 45 minutes with 50 m of ascent from the walkers' car park at the main entrance, along the Tintern River and the demesne boundary with views of the abbey, past the Old Mill and Holy Well; red arrows; free. Dogs: Dogs allowed on a lead (Sport Ireland Trails).
Dog friendly
Moderate 4.3 km loop of about an hour with 100 m of ascent from the walkers' car park, through woodland on well-constructed paths along the Tintern River with some climbs and uneven surfaces, bluebells in spring; purple arrows; free. Dogs: Dogs allowed on a lead and under control at all times (Sport Ireland Trails).
Dog friendly
Moderate 11.3 km loop of about 3 hours 20 minutes with 200 m of ascent from the walkers' car park, along the estuary to Saltmills and the edge of Bannow Bay; green arrows; free. Dogs: Dogs allowed on a lead (Sport Ireland Trails).
