County Limerick

If you talk rugby in Limerick, you'd better know what you're talking about: the Munster team plays here at Thomond Park in front of a highly knowledgeable crowd. A trip to County Limerick takes you to the Republic's third-largest city on the Shannon and out into the green Golden Vale, one of the most fertile grazing regions in Ireland.

Limerick City

Limerick was founded by Vikings and later fortified by the Normans. King John's Castle, dating from the early 13th century, stands right on the Shannon and tells the city's history in a modern exhibition. Across the river, the Treaty Stone commemorates the treaty of 1691. St Mary's Cathedral is one of the oldest buildings in the city still in use, and the Hunt Museum displays art and antiquities spanning several millennia. In the Georgian quarter of Newtown Pery and at the Milk Market on Saturdays, you get a feel for everyday life. Frank McCourt's novel "Angela's Ashes" made the city known around the world.

Sights in the Surrounding Area

With its thatched cottages, monastery ruins, and Adare Manor, Adare is considered one of the prettiest villages in Ireland. At Lough Gur, south of Limerick, you'll find stone circles and traces of Neolithic settlement, including the large Grange stone circle. To the west, the Limerick Greenway follows a former rail line through Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale. In the 1930s, Foynes on the Shannon was a stop for transatlantic flying boats; the museum there is said to be where Irish coffee was invented.

Getting There and Best Time to Visit

Shannon Airport is only about 15 miles (25 km) away, and trains connect Limerick with Dublin, Cork, and Galway. The best time to visit is between May and September, when the gardens and the Greenway are at their most beautiful. Limerick ham, traditionally cooked in cider, belongs on the menu. In the evening, it's worth strolling along O'Connell Street and through the pubs of the city center, where hardly a seat is left after a Munster game. The University Concert Hall and the Lime Tree Theatre bring music and theater to the city. If you're after nature, the Ballyhoura Mountains in the south of the county offer mountain biking trails and hiking paths through forest and bog, while Glin on the Shannon, with its castle, makes for a short stop.