Churches to Visit in Ireland
Five buildings, five completely different ways of being Irish and religious: a 6th-century monastery on a wave-battered Atlantic crag that you can only reach by boat, if the sea allows it at all; Dublin's two rival Anglican cathedrals, a few minutes' walk apart; a cluster of medieval ruins on a limestone outcrop where a king was supposedly baptised by accident with a crozier through the foot; and a Victorian castle in Connemara that became a convent because a monastery in Belgium got destroyed in the First World War. This first chapter of the Ireland guide starts with these five, and it's built the same way as the rest of this site: properly, one place at a time, rather than thinly everywhere at once.
None of these five are Roman Catholic churches, which surprises some first-time visitors given Ireland's reputation — both of Dublin's ancient cathedrals, St Patrick's and Christ Church, are Church of Ireland (Anglican), a distinction rooted in the Reformation that's still a common point of confusion on the ground. Skellig Michael and the Rock of Cashel, meanwhile, aren't working churches at all any more; they're state-managed historic sites, early and medieval in origin, that happened to be religious buildings first. Kylemore Abbey sits in between: a genuine, currently active Benedictine community, in a building that started life as something else entirely.
What connects them isn't denomination but drama — each one has a specific, unusual story attached that's worth knowing before you go, whether that's a stolen 800-year-old heart relic, a door with a hole cut in it that gave English a whole phrase, or a permit system that decides whether you get to land on an island at all.
Where to start
Skellig Michael
A 6th-century monastery of stone beehive huts, 218 metres up a sea crag, reachable only by a strictly licensed boat and 618 hand-cut steps — and, more recently, Star Wars's Ahch-To.
St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
Ireland's largest church, where Jonathan Swift was Dean for over thirty years and is buried, and where a 1492 door with a hole cut through it gave us “chancing your arm.”
Kylemore Abbey
A Victorian castle built for love, turned Benedictine convent in 1920 by nuns fleeing a bombed-out abbey in Belgium — with its own miniature Gothic memorial church on the lake shore.
Practical notes for the whole country
| Currency | Euro (€). Ireland is not part of the UK and does not use sterling — Northern Ireland, a short drive from some of these sites, does |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | Dublin's two cathedrals generally open daily, roughly 9am–6pm with shorter Sunday hours around services; the Rock of Cashel and other state-managed sites follow OPW hours that shorten in winter; Skellig Michael only operates within a licensed May–September season, weather permitting. Always check the specific site's own page before travelling — hours and seasons shift year to year |
| Admission | Dublin's cathedrals and Kylemore Abbey charge entry, typically €8–€18, since none receive full state funding; the Rock of Cashel is a state (OPW) site with its own modest fee; Skellig Michael has no separate landing fee but the boat trip itself, at roughly €100–€150 per person, is the real cost of entry |
| Getting around | Dublin's two cathedrals are a short walk apart in the city centre. Cashel and Kylemore are best reached by car; Cashel sits just off the Dublin–Cork motorway, Kylemore is roughly 70–80 minutes from Galway. Skellig Michael is reachable only by licensed boat from Portmagee, Ballinskelligs or Derrynane in Kerry, and needs its own dedicated day (or spare day, in case of weather) |
| Dress code | No formal rule at any of them; modest, respectful dress as for any working place of worship, particularly at Kylemore's church and Dublin's two cathedrals |
| Photography | Generally allowed for personal use at all five, with specific restrictions noted on each page — drones are banned on Skellig Michael |
All five
- Skellig Michael A UNESCO-listed monastic island off Kerry, reachable only by a strictly licensed boat and 618 hand-cut stone steps.
- St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Ireland's largest church, Jonathan Swift's grave, and the door that gave English “chancing your arm.”
- Rock of Cashel A hilltop cluster of medieval ruins in Tipperary, including Ireland's finest Romanesque chapel and a cathedral roofless since a 1647 massacre.
- Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Dublin's oldest cathedral, with a vast medieval crypt, a leaning wall, and a mummified cat and rat immortalised by James Joyce.
- Kylemore Abbey A Victorian castle built as a memorial to a lost wife, now a working Benedictine abbey on a Connemara lake.
Coming next
This first Ireland chapter covers five very different churches, abbeys and monastic sites across the country; more of Ireland's cathedrals, abbeys and holy islands are on the list for later, built the same way as the rest of this guide — one region finished properly at a time, rather than published half-done everywhere at once.