Ballina Itineraries
Half a day or a full weekend. Here are the best ways to spend your time in Ballina, planned step by step.
Whether you have a few hours off the DART or a full weekend to explore, these itineraries give you a local’s route through Ballina. Each one links directly to the restaurants and activities along the way.
Ballina on Foot: a Half Day
The best of the town without a car, all within walking distance of the river. Start with the free Jackie Clarke Collection, stop on the bridge to watch the anglers in the Ridge Pool, walk out into Belleek Woods, and come back for lunch in the centre. Flat, easy and doable in a morning or an afternoon.
- 110:00·1 hour
The Jackie Clarke Collection
Start at the free museum on Pearse Street, a world-class private collection of Irish history in a restored Victorian bank. Allow an hour; it is the best small museum in the west.
View The Jackie Clarke Collection - 211:15·30 minutes
The Ridge Pool and the Moy
Walk down to the river and out onto the bridges to watch the salmon anglers casting in the centre of town, below the weir. This is the Salmon Capital at work.
View The Ridge Pool & Moy Salmon Fishing - 311:45·1-1.5 hours
Into Belleek Woods
Follow the river north into Belleek Woods, one of the largest urban forests in Europe, for an easy loop past the castle and the old estate relics. Turn back whenever you like.
View Belleek Woods - 413:15·1 hour
Lunch back in town
Walk back into the centre and pull up at Mocha Beans on Pearse Street for good coffee and a sandwich, or Dillon's courtyard for chowder and fish and chips.
View Mocha Beans Café
Ballina & North Mayo: a Full Day
Use Ballina as the base it has always been and put a car to work. A heritage morning in town, then north along the coast to the cliffs at Downpatrick Head and the prehistoric Céide Fields, or west to the strand and seaweed baths at Enniscrone, before a proper dinner back by the river. A car is essential; the coast is spread out.
- 109:30·1.5 hours
Belleek Castle museum tour
Start with the guided tour of Belleek Castle's basement museum in the woods on the edge of town: medieval armour, curiosities and Grace O'Malley's bed. Check tour times and book ahead.
View Belleek Castle Museum Tour - 211:30·3-4 hours including the drive
North to Downpatrick Head & the Céide Fields
Drive about 30 km up the coast to Downpatrick Head, where the sea stack of Dún Briste stands off a dramatic cliff edge, and on to the Céide Fields, the oldest known field system in the world, with its cliff-top visitor centre. A grand, windswept stretch of the Wild Atlantic Way.
- 316:00·1 hour
Back along the Moy
Return towards Ballina, with the option of a stop at Rosserk Friary on the estuary, one of Ireland's best-preserved medieval friaries, free and quiet on the riverbank.
View Rosserk Friary - 419:30·2 hours
Dinner on the Quay
Finish at Crockets on the Quay or the Ice House by the river, for local seafood and beef. Book ahead at weekends and over festival week.
View Crockets on the Quay
Ready to plan your visit?
Check tide times, live DART departures, and the weather forecast before you head out.