Wexford Tours

About Wexford

County Wexford occupies the southeastern corner of Ireland, earning its reputation as the sunniest county thanks to Ireland's highest average sunshine hours. The county's defining feature is the Hook Peninsula — a finger of land pointing into the Celtic Sea, crowned by Hook Lighthouse, the oldest intact operational lighthouse in the world. Hook Lighthouse was purpose-built in the early 13th century by the Norman knight William Marshal. Its black-and-white striped tower rises 24 metres above the headland, and guided tours climb 115 steps to a balcony with 360-degree views of the Wexford and Waterford coastline. The Ring of Hook — a signposted coastal driving loop of roughly 72 kilometres — circles the peninsula past Tintern Abbey (a Cistercian foundation from 1200), Duncannon Fort (a star-shaped 16th-century harbour defence), Ballyhack Castle, and the ruined village of Slade. Inland, Johnstown Castle is a Gothic Revival estate 6 kilometres from Wexford town. The castle's turrets and ornamental lake sit in 50 acres of gardens managed by the Irish Heritage Trust. Inside, guided tours reveal the castle's restored interiors, while the Irish Agricultural Museum in the grounds covers rural Irish life through 19 exhibition spaces. The Irish National Heritage Park at Ferrycarrig, on the edge of Wexford town, is an open-air museum reconstructing 9,000 years of Irish settlement across 35 acres — from Stone Age camps and Bronze Age cooking sites to a Viking longhouse and a Norman motte-and-bailey. Three guided tours (Prehistoric, Early Christian, and Age of Invasion) bring the reconstructions to life. In New Ross, 30 minutes west, the Dunbrody Famine Ship is a full-scale replica of the 1845 emigrant vessel, offering an interactive experience of the famine emigration story. Nearby, the JFK Homestead — the ancestral home of President John F. Kennedy — sits in the countryside 8 kilometres south.