Town
Things to do in Athy
County Kildare
Where the Barrow meets the Grand Canal. White's Castle guards the bridge and the 1740s town hall stands on Emily Square.
5 of the 20 places on our County Kildare list are in Athy: Moone High Cross, Barrow Way, Burtown House and Gardens, The Shackleton Experience and Athy. Between them a monastic site, a walk, a house and garden and a museum.
On our Kildare list
4 places in and around Athy.
Moone High CrossMonastic site · AthySeventeen feet of granite high cross under a roofed shelter at Moone, carved with fifty one scriptural panels.
Barrow WayWalk · AthyThe towpath follows the Barrow south from Lowtown, through Athy and on into Carlow.- Burtown House and GardensHouse and gardens · AthyThe early 18th century farmhouse near Athy has walled kitchen gardens, a wildflower meadow and a sculpture walk.
- The Shackleton ExperienceMuseum · AthyAthy's 1740s town hall on Emily Square reopened in 2025 as a museum on Ernest Shackleton, who was born at Kilkea a few miles away.
The top of the Kildare list
Irish National Stud and Japanese GardensGarden · Kildare townTully is still a working thoroughbred farm, and the Japanese gardens beside it were laid out between 1906 and 1910.
Castletown House and ParklandsHouse and gardens · CelbridgeIreland's first Palladian country house went up from 1722 at Celbridge, with parkland running down to the Liffey behind it.
St Brigid's Cathedral and Round TowerCathedral · Kildare townThe 13th century cathedral stands on the town square, and the round tower beside it is open to climb for the view out over the plain.
The CurraghPark · NewbridgeTwo thousand hectares of unfenced grass between Newbridge and Kildare town, grazed by sheep and worked every morning by racehorses.
Donadea Forest ParkForest · ClaneNear Clane, forest laid out around the ruins of Donadea Castle, with a lake, a walled garden and a 9/11 memorial inside it.
Maynooth CastleCastle · MaynoothKeep and gatehouse of the Fitzgerald stronghold, standing at the top of Maynooth main street beside the university gates.