Carlingford is small enough that a week there wants a few days out, and well enough placed that you can reach two countries, two mountain ranges and three decent towns without a long drive. These are the trips worth making, nearest first, with honest travel times.
One thing to settle before you plan: the Greenore–Greencastle lough ferry is not sailing in 2026. Every trip to the County Down side below is a drive round the head of the lough through Newry this year, not a fifteen-minute crossing.
On the Cooley Peninsula
Omeath — 15 minutes
A village on the lough shore at the far end of the Carlingford Lough Greenway, which runs along the old railway line from Carlingford. Walk or cycle out and get a lift back, or the other way round. The views across to the Mournes are better from this side, and there are a couple of pubs for the turnaround.
Greenore — 20 minutes
A Victorian port village built by a railway company, with the old customs house and station still standing. Greenore Golf Club runs along the shore with the Cooley Mountains behind it — the club describes it as a blend of links and heathland — one of the courses in our guide to golf near Carlingford. Greenore is also the ferry slipway, for when the crossing is running again.
Templetown — 25 minutes
The beach on the seaward side of the peninsula, and the one locals actually use. A long sandy stretch with the Mournes on one side and the open sea on the other. Good for a whole afternoon with children and a picnic; cold, as all of them are.
The Cooley Mountains — on the doorstep
The Táin Way is a waymarked circuit of roughly forty kilometres around the peninsula, walkable in sections rather than in a day. The Slieve Foy Loop goes up the mountain behind the village, three to four hours up and back. Hiking trails and outdoor adventures has both.
Further afield
Newry — 30 minutes
The nearest city and the obvious stop for a big shop, with the Buttercrane and Quays centres. Bagenal’s Castle, a sixteenth-century fortified house, holds the Newry and Mourne Museum. The Newry Canal is the earliest summit-level canal in Britain or Ireland, opened in 1742, and its towpath is a flat easy walk.
The Mourne Mountains — about an hour
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the far shore, and the serious walking in this corner of the island. Slieve Donard is the highest peak in Northern Ireland and a long day rather than a stroll. The Silent Valley reservoir is the easy option — marked paths, a car park and somewhere to sit. Take boots, waterproofs, a map and a charged phone, and tell somebody where you are going.
Dundalk — 30 minutes
The county town of Louth, with the County Museum and, out at Ballymascanlan, the Proleek Dolmen — a Neolithic portal tomb around five thousand years old, with a capstone of around forty tonnes balanced on two uprights. Dundalk is also where most groups do the weekend shop on the way in.
Drogheda and Brú na Bóinne — about an hour
Drogheda has St Laurence’s Gate, a thirteenth-century barbican, and Millmount Fort above the town. Twenty minutes further on is Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the best-known Neolithic landscape in Ireland. Book the visitor centre in advance; access to the tombs is by timed tour only and it sells out.
Belfast — about an hour
A comfortable day out: Titanic Belfast, the Ulster Museum, the Botanic Gardens and a food scene that has come a long way. Dublin is a similar day in the other direction, an hour and a quarter to the airport.
Practical notes for a group
- A car is the honest answer. Bus Éireann route 161 runs Dundalk – Carlingford – Newry, and trains serve Dundalk and Newry, but the beaches, the dolmen and the Mournes all want a car.
- You will cross a border. There are no checks, but Newry, the Mournes and Belfast are in sterling. Cards cover most of it.
- Book golf and guided tours ahead, and Brú na Bóinne always.
- Check the forecast, then bring the waterproof anyway.
- Split the group up. Four cars can go four ways and meet back at the house for dinner — which is the real advantage of one base over separate rooms.
A base for the day trips
Every one of these works better from a single house than from a room each. Carlingford Heights is a six-bedroom lodge at Mountain Park, half a mile above the village, let as a whole house, sleeping twenty, with ample parking for a group arriving in several cars. The gallery shows it room by room and the booking page has the rates and terms.
