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Carlow
Town in County Carlow, Ireland

Carlow

Carlow is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, 84 km (52 mi) from Dublin.

Plan a trip to Carlow→From Dublin

At the 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the twelfth-largest urban centre in Ireland.

Get in

Getting to Carlow

Trains run every hour or two from Dublin Heuston via Newbridge, Kildare and Athy, taking an hour to Carlow and continuing to Bagenalstown / Muine Bheag, Kilkenny, Thomastown and Waterford (another 1 hr 45 min). See Irish Rail for timetables, fares and on-line tickets.

See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Carlow Cathedral
  2. 02
    Carlow County Museum

    This is housed in the beautifully renovated Presentation Convent, a former convent school; the nuns' chapel has a gold-leaf ceiling and stain glass windows.

  3. 03
    Carlow Courthouse
  4. 04
    County Carlow Military Museum

    Small volunteer-run museum within the former church of St Dympna's Hospital.

Do

Things to do

IMC Cinema is within Fairgreen Shopping Centre by the coach park. Gaelic games: Carlow GAA play football and hurling at Dr Cullen Park, capacity 21,000. It's on N80 ring road 1 km north of town centre. River Barrow is navigable from tidal waters up through Carlow to Athy, then the canal continues north, eventually joining the Grand Canal. Boat trips sail from the west bank just upstream of the bridge.

  1. 01
    Carlow Golf Club

    Deerpark R93 HX46, info@carlowgolfclub.ie.

  2. 02
    Carlow Golf Centre

    Driving range in tranquil surroundings at the foot of the Killeshin Hills.

  3. 03
    Quinagh House Par 3

    St Patrick's Day is celebrated on 17 March whenever it falls in the week.

Eat

Where to eat

Chokdee (formerly Lemongrass), Unit 6, Hanover Square,. Tu & Su 1-9PM, W-Sa noon-9PM. Good standard of Thai food. Shapla, Hanover Court, Kennedy Avenue R93 D2C0,. Tu-Sa 4:30-10:30PM, Su 1-10:30PM. This Indian place near the bus park was closed down for hygiene breaches in 2024 and again in 2026, but they soldier on and get mostly good reviews. Lotus, Unit 3, Kennedy Avenue R93 P7W4,. Th-Tu 4:30-10:30PM.

How locals move

Getting around Carlow the local way

  • Get inLocal Link Bus 800 runs from Arklow (for trains from Wicklow Town, Wexford and Rosslare ferry port) via Aughrim and Tullow, taking two hours to Carlow.
  • Get inFrom Rosslare ferry port, take M11 to Enniscorthy then N80 northwest.

From Wikivoyage: Carlow, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.