Ireland's East from Edenderry: Meath, Wicklow and Wexford in 3–5 Days
Newgrange, the Hill of Tara, Glendalough, the Sally Gap and the Wexford coast — a driving route east from Edenderry, with approximate times.
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow · Photo: Schcambo (CC BY 3.0)
Here is the argument for Edenderry that nobody makes: you are in the middle. Dublin is about an hour east, Galway about an hour and three quarters west, and almost nothing worth seeing in Leinster is more than a morning's drive away. Most people booking an Irish road trip pick a coast and commit. From here you do not have to.
This is the eastern half of that idea — Meath, Wicklow and Wexford over three to five days, depending on how much you want to linger. If you would rather point the car the other way, we have the western version too.
Meath: where history runs deep
Start north, because Meath is closer than people expect from Edenderry and it holds the oldest things in the country.
Trim Castle is about forty minutes away and is the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland. It is a genuinely huge keep, you can go inside on a guided tour, and it is the one people skip in favour of the famous sites, which is a mistake. Braveheart was filmed here, if that helps sell it to anyone in the car.
The Hill of Tara, another ten minutes on, was the seat of the High Kings of Ireland. There is not much to look at in the conventional sense — grass, earthworks, a standing stone — and it is all the better for it. On a clear day you can see a startling amount of the country from the top.
Newgrange is the headline act, about an hour and a quarter from Edenderry in the Boyne Valley. A passage tomb older than the pyramids, aligned so that the rising sun floods the inner chamber at the winter solstice, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You must book through the visitor centre and you cannot simply drive up to it — plan this one properly, especially in summer.
If you have time, Loughcrew Cairns is the quiet alternative: similar age, hilltop setting, and you can often have it more or less to yourself.
Wicklow: mountains, lakes and monastic ruins
Wicklow is the reason people call the east coast the Garden of Ireland, and the run down through the mountains is one of the best drives in the country.
Glendalough is roughly an hour and twenty minutes from Edenderry. A sixth-century monastic settlement in a glacial valley with two lakes, a round tower and a graveyard that has been in use for over a thousand years. It is busy, deservedly, so go early. The walk up to the Upper Lake is easy; the Spinc boardwalk above it is a proper hill walk with the best view in Wicklow.
The Sally Gap is the mountain pass to drive on your way in or out. Blanket bog, no trees, no phone signal, and turf-brown hills in every direction. It feels a long way from anywhere and it is forty minutes from a motorway.
Blessington and the lakes make a good lunch stop, with the reservoir spread out below the village and Russborough House nearby if you want a grand eighteenth-century interior to walk around.
Wexford: coastline and seafood
Wexford is the longest leg — about two hours to the town — so it works best as an overnight rather than a day trip, or as the far point of a loop.
Hook Lighthouse on the Hook Peninsula is one of the oldest working lighthouses in the world, eight hundred years old and still lit. The tour takes you up the tower. The drive out along the peninsula is worth it on its own.
Wexford town is a proper harbour town with narrow streets, the National Opera House, and the ruins of Selskar Abbey tucked into the middle of it. This is also where you eat well — the seafood on this stretch of coast is the best on the east side of the country.
The Irish National Heritage Park just outside town reconstructs nine thousand years of Irish settlement across a woodland site, from Mesolithic camps to a Norman castle. It sounds like a school trip and it is much better than that, particularly with children.
How to actually do it
Three days: Meath on day one, Wicklow on day two, keep day three loose. Five days: add Wexford as an overnight and give yourself a full day in the Wicklow mountains rather than driving through them.
You can base yourself in Edenderry for the Meath and Wicklow legs without moving, which is the whole point — pack once, drive out, come back to the same room. All the drive times above are approximate and depend on which way you cut across the midlands, so check them against your own route before committing.
We have ten en-suite rooms in the centre of town with parking. Have a look, or get in touch and we will help you plan the run.
