A Day Out from Ballina to Enniscrone

Eight kilometres up the coast

Enniscrone makes an easy and rewarding day out from Ballina. The two are only about eight kilometres apart, a fifteen-minute drive across the Sligo border along the shore of Killala Bay, which means you can leave Ballina after breakfast and be paddling in the Atlantic well before lunch. If you are staying in Ballina, or arriving by train at its station, this is the perfect coastal half-day or full day. There is also a bus, Bus Éireann route 458, that links the two towns for those without a car.

Start with the strand

Begin where the village does its best work: the beach. Enniscrone's five-kilometre Blue Flag strand is ideal for a morning walk, a swim in the lifeguarded summer season, or a first surf lesson with one of the two surf schools on the sand. The wide, firm beach is perfect for stretching the legs and clearing the head, with the Mayo coast and Bartragh Island across the bay.

Soak at Kilcullen's

From the beach it is a short step to Kilcullen's Seaweed Baths on the Pier Road, the village's defining experience. Book ahead and set aside about an hour to soak in hot Atlantic seawater and locally harvested bladderwrack, in an Edwardian porcelain bath that has been in use since 1912. It is restorative, distinctly local, and unlike anything else you will do on the trip. If you would rather bathe later, it stays open into the evening in season.

Climb to the castle

For a dose of history, walk up to the Castle Field on the Carrowhubbuck ridge north-east of the village. The gaunt ruin there is known locally as O'Dowd's Castle, Nolan's Castle or Field Castle. What survives is an early 17th-century fortified house, raised on the site of an earlier O'Dowd stronghold that local tradition dates to the close of the 14th century and that is documented at Enniscrone by 1417 in the Great Book of Lecan. The ridge also holds Neolithic tombs and an early medieval ringfort, so it has been a place of habitation and burial for thousands of years. The castle is an active conservation site, so respect any fencing, and remember that the adjoining land is privately owned. The reward at the top is a wide view westward over Killala Bay.

Lunch in the village

Enniscrone is small but eats well for its size. The Pilot Bar on the village street does pizzas, burgers and a well-regarded seafood chowder in generous portions. Gilroy's, with the Áit Eile restaurant upstairs, leans toward fresh local seafood with views over the bay. For something different there is The Spicy Affair for Indian food on the Pier Road, or the Diamond Coast Hotel for a sit-down meal overlooking the links. A café like Surf's Up near the seafront is handy for a lighter daytime bite.

Rounding it off

If you have a full day rather than a half, add a round on the Scurmore course at Enniscrone Golf Club, or simply head back down to the strand for one more walk as the light softens over the bay before the short drive back to Ballina. It is a small loop of coast, but a remarkably complete one: a great beach, a genuine piece of living heritage in the baths, an ancient ridge with a ruined castle, and good food to finish.