Sligo is a beautiful county with a rich history, so it is probably no coincidence that Ireland’s most beloved poet, William Butler Yeats, was born there. Sligo has some of the best walking trails in the country, along with some great historical sites to visit.
With all these factors in mind, Hospitality Ireland decided to examine the top five visitor attractions in Sligo, based on Fáilte Ireland’s Visitor Attractions Survey 2022.
1. Coleman Irish Music Centre
(44,765)
The Coleman Irish Music Centre is the top tourist attraction in Sligo, with 44,765 visitors as of 2022. Located in Gurteen, music lovers can view an audio-visual presentation on the history of Irish traditional music. The exhibition area has interactive multimedia terminals of various musicians, their music, and styles, from the beginning of the last century to modern times.
Throughout July and August nightly, summer sessions of Irish music, song and dance feature a resident group showcasing traditional music.
The Coleman Farmhouse Cottage is located at Mount Irwin, 5km from Gurteen. It is a replica of the original Coleman home and gives visitors a unique insight into how people lived in the early twentieth century in Ireland.
2. The Model, Home Of The Niland Collection
(38,400)
The Model, Home of the Niland Collection, in Sligo Town, provides audiences in the north-west with access to contemporary art exhibitions, projects, and talks by national and international artists. The Model is home to the Niland Collection, which is significant for its focus on the north-west of Ireland, through the artist or subject matter.
The education department offers workshops, tours, classes and talks for children and adults alike, and it has developed programmes for early years and those with mental and physical disabilities.
The Model, Home of the Niland Collection, also has a music programme that includes projects that respond to its exhibitions.
3. Carrowmore
(29,236)
Carrowmore is considered one of the ‘big four’ sites of megalithic importance, along with Carrowkeel, Loughcrew and Brú na Bóinne.
Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Benbulben, Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery is one of the most important megalithic sites in Europe.
Some of the monuments at the ancient site are nearly 6,000 years old.
4. Sligo Abbey
(27,367)
Sligo Abbey is a Dominican abbey that survives from medieval days and was founded in 1252/3.
It was built by Maurice Fitzgerald for the Dominicans in 1252, and the site contains a great wealth of carvings, including Gothic and Renaissance tomb sculptures and the only sculptured fifteenth-century high altar to survive in any Irish monastic church.
5. Sligo County Museum
(5,583)
The Sligo County Museum contains a collection of exhibits detailing Sligo’s rich stone-age history, including a large firkin of 100-year-old bog butter.
The Yeats Room is a particular highlight and has manuscripts, photographs, letters and newspaper cuttings associated with the local poet William Butler Yeats, including a copy of his 1923 Nobel Prize-winning medal and a complete collection of his poems from 1889 to 1936.
The museum also has paintings by Irish artists George Russell, Seán Keating and Jack B. Yeats, brother of the poet William Butler Yeats. There is also a display of artefacts and memorabilia associated with Countess Constance Markievicz and her sister, Eva Gore-Booth.
