Waterford

Dublin (DUB ^IATA) is usually the best option, for its range of flights and good onward transport. You might also fly into Cork or Shannon and hire a car from there.

Waterford Airport, 7 km south, has had no scheduled flights since 2016. Since then, large amounts of money have been poured in to create a bigger airport than Cork, nicely in time for Covid to ruin the air travel business.

Ryanair's first flight was here on 8 July 1985, flying an Embraer Bandeirante 15-seater turboprop between Waterford and London Gatwick. In 1986 they added the Dublin-Luton route, competing with the flag-carrier airlines, assisted by EEC deregulation rules. In the new few years they moved to a budget carrier model, web-based booking and demand-priced fares, and began their march towards European domination. In 1992 they declined to pay Waterford Airport's charges, and axed the route.

Direct trains run from Dublin Heuston, taking 2 hr 15 min to Waterford via Newbridge, Kildare, Athy, Carlow, Bagenalstown / Muine Bheag, Kilkenny and Thomastown. There are seven M-Sa and four on Sunday.

There are two trains M-Sa from Limerick Junction (for Dublin, Cork and Limerick city) via Tipperary, Cahir, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir. The railway from Rosslare was axed in 2010, use the bus.

Waterford railway station is 🌍 Plunkett just north of the river bridge. Of the many illustrious Plunketts that it might be named for, it commemorates Joseph Plunkett (1887-1916), executed for his part in the Easter Rising.

Expressway Bus 4 / X4 runs every hour or two from Dublin Airport, taking 3 hours to Waterford via Dublin Busáras and Heuston, Carlow and Thomastown; two of these continue to New Ross. A single adult fare is around €20.

JJ Kavanagh competes on this route, with Bus 736 every hour or two from Dublin Airport and several city stops but not Busáras, via Carlow and Kilkenny to Waterford, with some buses continuing to Tramore. They have at least one overnight run.

Expressway Bus 55 runs daily every two hours from Limerick via Tipperary, Cahir, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir.

Bus Éireann 73 trundles across the midlands from Athlone to Tullamore, Portlaoise, Carlow, Kilkenny, Thomastown and Waterford. There are two M-Sa and one on Sunday.

Expressway Bus 40 runs hourly from Cork via Youghal and Dungarvan to Waterford, and continues to New Ross, Wexford and Rosslare Harbour, for ferries to Wales and the Continent.

Waterford 🌍 bus station is on Merchants Quay by the riverside.

By road from Dublin follow N7 / M7 onto M9, 160 km and reckon 2 hr 30 min.

From Wexford follow N25. You can take that route from Rosslare, but there's a shortcut along the minor roads and across the 🌍 Passage East Ferry from Ballyhack. It sails 07:00-20:00 every 15 min or so; a car and its passengers is €8 single and €12 return.

The N25 bypassing the city to the west has a toll bridge: cars €1.90.

• Waterford Treasures consists of two museums: Medieval Museum and Bishop's Palace. Both have a guided tour lasting 45 min, after which you can explore at liberty. (A third, Reginald's Tower, is closed in 2020 for restoration.) They're open daily M-F 10:00-17:00, Sa Su 11:00-17:00. Admission to one is adult €10, conc €8, under-12 with paying adult free. For both museums it's adult €15, conc €14. There's also a combi-ticket with Mount Congreve Gardens.
• 🌍 Medieval Museum (Treasures of Medieval Waterford), The Mall, ☏ +355 761 102501. Hours and prices as above. Descend by spiral staircase into the 1270 Choristers' Hall, which extends into the wine vaults - Waterford had extensive trade with Bordeaux, which was ruled by the English. Religious artifacts include a relic of the True Cross (it must be a true relic if Pope Paschal II deemed it so in 1110, but no wonder Europe was rapidly de-forested in that era) and a pilgrim badge (violently anti-Semitic). There's a sumptuous gold brooch of 1210, a charter roll stating Waterford's precedence over a rival nearby port (which they destroyed just to be on the safe side), and a ceremonial sword presented by Edward IV. The Cloth of Gold clerical vestments were woven circa 1460 with Florence silk and embroidered in Bruges: they were hidden in the cathedral from Cromwell’s army in 1650, and only rediscovered 123 years later. They were in an ornate Spanish iron chest, also displayed. The "cap of maintenance" was presented by Henry VIII; the Great Parchment Book is the city records from 1356 to 1649. The Luker chalice is from 1595. Finally the Mayor's Treasury is a summary of civic history. (updated Sep 2020)
• Bishop's Palace (Treasures of Georgian Waterford), The Mall (next to Medieval Museum), ☏ +355 761 102501. Hours and prices as above. Grand Georgian residence with decor and items mostly from that era, including a 1789 piece of Waterford Crystal and a Napoleon Mourning Cross. The Hucklebuck shoes are from 1963 (from pop group Royal Showband) yet resemble the attire of a Regency buck. (updated Sep 2020)
• 🌍 Reginald's Tower, Parade Quay. Closed. It's named for Røgnvaldr, a common name among Viking rulers, so he may or may not be the fellow who founded Waterford in 914. The tower was probably built late 13th century - Prince (and later King) John began fortification of the city with stout walls and towers a century earlier. It's been variously a mint, a prison, a military bastion and munitions store, and the residence of the Chief Constable. It's nowadays part of the "Museum of Treasures" complex and normally displays the Viking era, but in 2020 it's closed for restoration. (updated Sep 2020)
• Other towers: seven still stand: Semi-Lunar Tower, Beach Tower, Turgesius’s Tower, St Martin’s Gate, The Watch Tower, The Double Tower and The French Tower. Sections of the city walls remain, linking the towers, west crossing Patrick St and south in a loop across Parnell St and John's Lane.
• The French Church or Greyfriars Abbey is a ruin next to Reginald's Tower. It was built in 1241 and the bell tower added in the 15th century; the friary was dissolved in 1540.
• King of the Vikings is a virtual-reality museum next to the tower, open daily 11:00-17:00. Adult €10, child under 12 €5.
• Christ Church Cathedral is the C of I (Protestant) building in Cathedral Square next to the two museums. It was built in Georgian style 1773-79 replacing the 13th century Gothic cathedral, from which the Catholics had been ejected at the Reformation. When the old one was demolished, they found the remarkable medieval vestments now in the museum.
• Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity is the RC building on the Quays. It was completed in 1793 on the site of a chapel when the Penal Laws against Catholic assemblies were relaxed. It's in Romanesque style resembling a particularly august bank.

• 🌍 Edmund Rice Heritage Centre, Mount Sion, Barrack St, ☏ +353 51 874 390. M-F 09:00-17:00. Chapel, shrine and museum commemorating the work of the Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice (1762-1844). Widowed young, he gave up his business and threw himself into the education of the city's impoverished youngsters. Others joined him and by 1803 Mount Sion was established as a school, monastery, and teacher-training centre, in an era when RC education was slowly recovering from the Penal days of "hedge schools". But as the initiative expanded, Rice as a layman had no authority in the RC church, and had to laboriously seek permission from the local bishop whenever one of his teacher-priest Brothers was to be relocated. In 1820 he obtained papal authority to manage these Christian Brothers, and the scheme extended geographically (eg to England) and to secondary education. A minority remained subject to the bishops under the earlier arrangements and these were called the Presentation Brothers. Both societies remain active internationally, but the Christian Brothers' regime in the 20th and 21st centuries was marked by systematic physical and sexual abuse of their pupils. Rice himself lived in retirement at Mount Sion and died there. In the 20th century a campaign began for his beautification. In 1976 a boy who seemed sure to die of a gangrenous colon had a relic of Rice placed at his bedside and recovered fully; post hoc ergo propter hoc and in 1996 Rice was declared a saint. Free. (updated Sep 2020)
• House of Waterford Crystal, 28 The Mall (opposite Medieval Museum). Mar-Oct daily, Nov-Feb M-F, 10:00-17:00. Waterford Crystal is the brand name of a fine flint glass, used in glass tumblers, chandeliers, decorative bowls, trophies and similar luxury wares. The brand is owned by WWRD (who also own Wedgewood and Royal Doulton), in turn owned by the Finnish company Fiskars. It's almost all manufactured abroad - the factory in Kilbarry, south edge of Waterford city, closed in 2009, in spite of a long sit-in by the workforce. Visits to the House are by guided tour, taking 50 min and demonstrating the glass-making process. Then, of course, you troop to the gift shop. Adult €13.50. (updated Sep 2020)

• 🌍 Mount Congreve Gardens, Kilmeaden X91 PX05 (8 km west of city), ☏ +353 51 384 115. Apr-Oct Th-Su 11:00-17:30. 70 acres of woodland garden and a 4-acre walled garden, a riot of colour in summer. There's normally a combi-ticket with the city museums, but it's not available in 2020. The Georgian mansion isn't open to visit. Adult €7, conc €6, child €3. (updated Sep 2020)
• Kilmeadan Castle is the stump of a tower house built late 17th C, glimpsed from the Greenway between Mount Congreve and the WSVR station (see below). It's not worth thrashing through the undergrowth for a closer view.
• 🌍 Fairbrook House is an old wool mill turned into an art-space and gardens. It's open May-Sept W-Su, adult €7, no dogs. It's 1 km west of Kilmeadan along Greenway, or follow N25 from Carrick Road Roundabout.
• 🌍 Curraghmorehouse is a palatial grand mansion, mostly 18th / 19th century, the home of the Marquess of Waterford. It can only be visited by pre-arranged group tour; its grounds sometimes hold events.
• County Kilkenny lies just north of the city, and some of its sights are easier to reach from Waterford than from there.
• Grannagh Castle is a crumbling medieval turret, off N24 about 500 m west of Meagher Bridge. It was wrecked in 1650 by Cromwell's forces.
• 🌍 Mooncoin: great name, too bad it's just a nondescript modern village straggling along N24 ten miles northwest of the city. But then again, Móin Choinn means "the bogland of Coyne". You might look into the parish church. Or you might croon "Rose of Mooncoin", the mawkish ballad penned by Watt Murphy, sundered from his dear Molly (aka Elizabeth) by her flint-hearted father the vicar. The first problem was, Watt was 56 and Molly was 20. And second, he had rebel sympathies, with the Young Irelander rebellion of 1848 threatening a return to the bad old days. Molly's father had every reason to believe he was saving his entire family's lives by decamping to London. The ballad has been adopted as the anthem of Kilkenny GAA, who can have no complaints if their sporting hopes are crushed by teams half their age.
• 🌍 Piltown has a "sham castle", a Napoleonic-era monument that's now a water tower. However it's not the birthplace of the sham "Piltdown Man" - that's near Uckfield in East Sussex, England. Stay on N24 to cross into County Tipperary and the genuine castle of Carrick-on-Suir.
• 🌍 Mullinavat is 16 km north, with Poulanassy waterfall 1 km west of the village.