Painterly view of Downpatrick Head in north Mayo — the sea stack Dún Briste standing isolated in the Atlantic just off striped sandstone cliffs, gulls wheeling above clifftop grass in golden evening light.

Wild Atlantic Companion · Mayo

Welcome to Ballina & North Mayo.
We're glad you're here.

Ballina — Béal an Átha, 'the mouth of the ford' — is the largest town in Mayo, on the lower River Moy. The river carries one of Europe's finest runs of Atlantic salmon; you can watch fly-fishers casting from the Ridge Pool in the centre of town. North-west of Ballina, the WAW runs along one of the most dramatic coastlines on the route — Downpatrick Head with its sea stack and EIRE 64 sign, and the Céide Fields, the world's oldest known field system, preserved under blanket bog for nearly 6,000 years.

Downpatrick Head, Céide Fields, and salmon on the Moy.

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First things first

Where are you headed next?

Tell us once and we'll shape the rest of the page around it.

The essentials

What you shouldn't miss.

Locally chosen, not algorithmic. In rough order of "if you only do one thing".

History

Céide Fields

A 5,500-year-old Neolithic farming landscape — stone walls, enclosures, tombs and houses — preserved beneath the blanket bog and now exposed by peat-cutting and survey. The world's oldest known field system. A pyramid-shaped visitor centre on the cliff edge, with a viewing platform looking over the unforgiving Atlantic the early farmers somehow lived beside.

Good to know · On the R314 between Ballycastle and Belderrig. Open daily April–October; reduced winter hours. Allow 2 hours.

Get directions

View

Downpatrick Head

A grass-topped headland 5km north of Ballycastle with the dramatic sea stack of Dún Briste — 'the broken fort' — separated from the cliff in a storm in 1393. An EIRE 64 sign in white stones from WWII. Holes in the cliff (Poll na Sean Tine) where waves explode upward in big swells.

Good to know · Free, always open. Park at the headland, walk five minutes to the edge. Stay back — no fences, the cliff edge is undercut.

Get directions

Town

The Ridge Pool, Ballina

The salmon pool at the centre of Ballina, beside the Cathedral. One of the most productive Atlantic salmon pools in Europe — anglers from around the world fish here. Walk the riverbank from the Cathedral down to the Quay; you'll usually see fish being landed in season.

Good to know · Free riverbank walks. Permits required to fish (from the Ballina Salmon Anglers Association). Salmon season April–September.

Get directions

History

Killala and Round Tower

A small fishing village 13km north of Ballina with a 25m round tower, built in the 12th century at a site founded by St Patrick. Killala Bay was the landing spot for General Humbert's French invasion force in August 1798 — the Year of the French. A small museum at Killala Pier tells that story.

Good to know · Round tower free, always visible. Pier and museum signposted.

Get directions

Drive

Belderrig and the bog road

The R314 from Ballina to Belmullet runs along one of the wildest coastlines in Ireland — Ballycastle, Céide Fields, Belderrig, Glenamoy, into the bog. Belderrig itself has the Seamus Heaney memorial (he often stayed at the Belderrig research station of his archaeologist friend Seamus Caulfield, who excavated Céide).

Good to know · Long drive, almost no fuel between Ballycastle and Belmullet — fill up before. Allow a half-day with stops.

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Beach

Enniscrone (across the river)

Technically Sligo, but a 15-minute drive from Ballina. A 5km Blue Flag strand on Killala Bay, and Kilcullen's Seaweed Baths — Edwardian seaweed and steam baths in the original 1912 building, still operating.

Good to know · Free beach parking. Seaweed baths year-round, book ahead.

Get directions

Local businesses

Places we'd point a friend to.

Hand-picked, not paid for. The ferries, the beds, the pubs and the bike hire that make a visit work.

Thumbnails are illustrations — businesses can claim their listing and upload their own photo.

Eat

A small round table in a whitewashed 19th-century stone cottage tea-room with a porcelain teapot, a slice of buttered brown soda bread and a wedge of fruit cake on a vintage china plate, soft afternoon light through a small deep-set stone window, painterly editorial style.

Eat

Mary's Cottage Kitchen

On the village street in Ballycastle, halfway between Ballina and Belmullet — Mary Munnelly's tiny tea-room in a 19th-century cottage. Brown bread, scones, soup, the kind of lunch that makes you ring home.

Where
Main Street, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo
Get directions

Drink

A pint of stout on a polished wooden bar with a beer garden of drinkers in golden evening light beyond, the River Moy curving past and a fly-fishing rod leaning against the wall — the salmon-fishing season scene at a Ballina riverside pub, painterly editorial style.

Drink

Dillon's Bar & Restaurant

On Dillon Terrace overlooking the Moy — bar, beer garden and restaurant with Mayo lamb, Atlantic chowder and a serious craft beer list. Sessions on weekends, busy with the salmon-fishing crowd in season.

Where
Dillon Terrace, Ballina, Co. Mayo
Get directions
A dark pint of stout on a worn wooden bar with two trad musicians — fiddle and bodhrán — in soft focus behind, an open turf fire glowing warmly in a small hearth, painterly editorial style.

Drink

Polke's Bar

On Pearse Street in Ballina — locals' bar with a fire, sessions on Thursdays and weekends, no kitchen. Where the town drinks when the hotel bars get full of weddings.

Where
Pearse Street, Ballina, Co. Mayo
Get directions

Stay

A cedar barrel hot tub steaming on a wooden deck above the wide River Moy at dusk, the lights of Ballina town reflecting on the dark salmon river beyond, painterly editorial style.

Stay

Ice House Hotel & Spa

On the banks of the Moy where the salmon run, just outside Ballina — Victorian ice house bolted onto a sharp modern wing. Chill Spa with outdoor hot tubs over the river, the Pier Restaurant for dinner. The county's design-led splurge.

Where
The Quay, Ballina, Co. Mayo
Get directions
Restored ivy-covered 19th-century country house mansion at the end of a long tree-lined avenue in autumn, fallen leaves on the gravel drive, golden light filtering through ancient oak woodland, painterly editorial style.

Stay

Mount Falcon Estate

100-acre wooded estate hotel south of Ballina with its own salmon and trout fishery on the Moy — restored 19th-century mansion, lodges in the woods, fly-fishing instruction, falconry. The country-house weekend.

Where
Foxford Road, Ballina, Co. Mayo
Get directions
Restored 1850s stone coastguard station on a clifftop in north Mayo at golden hour, deep-set windows glowing warmly from within, the Atlantic stretching to the horizon and the unmistakable silhouette of Downpatrick Head's sea stack Dún Briste rising from the sea in the distance, painterly editorial style.

Stay

Stella Maris Country House

Restored 1850s coastguard station on the cliff at Ballycastle, looking out at Downpatrick Head — eleven rooms, a long conservatory bar, dinner by the chef-owner. Open seasonally; books out in summer.

Where
Ballycastle, Co. Mayo
Get directions
Stone-vaulted castle basement room with antique suits of armour standing in candlelit shadows, dark oak ship-timber beams overhead, deep chiaroscuro and warm umber tones, painterly editorial style.

Stay

Belleek Castle

19th-century castle in Belleek Woods on the edge of Ballina — Marshall Doran's eccentric collection of armour and shipwreck timber in the basement, fine-dining restaurant, period rooms upstairs. Atmospheric in a way new hotels can't fake.

Where
Belleek, Ballina, Co. Mayo
Get directions

Shop

Thinly sliced wild Atlantic smoked salmon fanned out on a wooden board with capers, lemon wedges and a sprig of dill, soft natural window light, an old timber smoking shed glimpsed in the soft-focus background, painterly editorial style.

Shop

Clarke's Salmon Smokery

On O'Rahilly Street in Ballina — Frank Clarke's smokery, the country's last independent commercial smoker still using wild and rod-caught Moy salmon when the season allows. Shop on site, mail order the rest of the time.

Where
O'Rahilly Street, Ballina, Co. Mayo
Get directions

Run a place in Ballina & North Mayo?

Our directory is curated, not pay-to-play. If we'd recommend you, you can be on here.

See how to get listed

Got a window or a counter?

Download a free A5 QR card for Ballina & North Mayo — print it, stick it up, and visitors land straight on the Ballina & North Mayo guide.

Ask a local

The bits that aren't on Google.

Practical

The things you'll wish you'd known.

Fuel
Plenty in Ballina. Stations in Killala and Ballycastle. Fill up before the bog road to Belmullet — almost nothing west of Belderrig.
Cash
All main banks in Ballina. ATMs in Killala and Ballycastle.
Pharmacy
Several in Ballina, including Sunday cover. Killala Mon–Sat.
Parking
Pay-and-display in Ballina centre. Free at Céide, Downpatrick Head, Killala.
Phone signal
Strong in Ballina. Patchy on the bog road and at Downpatrick Head.
Salmon fishing
Day permits from Ballina Salmon Anglers — book ahead in peak season.