Where to Stay for Adventure Lights in Carlingford

Adventure Lights runs at SkyPark from 24 October right through to 3 January, and it is the kind of evening that works far better when nobody has to drive home afterwards. The trail, the maze and the food are all on site, and the walk back to a warm house is what turns an evening out into a weekend away.

Carlingford Heights is a six-bedroom lodge a few minutes from the park, sleeping twenty. Booked as one house, it takes two or three families together — which is usually how Adventure Lights gets visited in the first place.

Twenty of you is a group rate

Book early and groups of fifteen or more pay from €13 each rather than the standard €22 — and this lodge sleeps twenty. Fill the house and everybody travels on the group rate rather than buying tickets family by family.

That is worth planning around. Two or three families travelling together get the group rate and one kitchen, one living room and one bill.

What the lodge gives you

• Six bedrooms, sleeping twenty in total
• One kitchen and one living space big enough to eat together
• Off-street parking for several cars
• Booked as a whole house — no sharing with other guests

The point on a night like this is simple: everyone gets back at the same time, the kettle goes on once, and the children who fell asleep in the car get carried ten feet instead of thirty miles.

Making an evening into a break

The light trail runs from late afternoon — 4pm to 8pm for most of the season, and from 3pm between mid-December and the first week of January — which leaves the days free. Late October to early January is the quietest and, frankly, the prettiest time to have Carlingford to yourself.

• Slieve Foy and the Táin Way start on the doorstep — short, bright winter walks with the lough underneath you.
• The Greenway runs along the shore to Omeath: flat, easy, good for an hour out with children.
• The village is half a mile away and the pubs and restaurants stay open through the winter. See our guide to the best pubs and restaurants in Carlingford.
• Carlingford Marina is a short walk along the water.

Midweek is the quiet secret

Adventure Lights runs midweek as well as at weekends — check the calendar for your dates — and midweek in Carlingford in November is a different place — no queues, no crowds on the trail, the village to yourselves. If your dates are flexible, come on a Tuesday.

Check the dates

Carlingford Heights books as a whole house. Tell us your dates and how many of you there are and we will come straight back on whether the house is free. Get in touch here, or call Catriona on +353 87 993 7349.

Ticket prices, opening times and dates are SkyPark’s and can change — check skypark.ie before you travel.

Staying over Christmas or New Year? See our page on Christmas and New Year group stays in Carlingford.