Experience the best of Donegal

Donegal town stands where the River Eske meets Donegal Bay, in the far north-west of Ireland. The Diamond, a triangular market square with an obelisk, is the centre, and Donegal Castle, a fifteenth-century O'Donnell stronghold with a seventeenth-century wing, stands beside the river. Nearby, the ruins of a Franciscan friary recall the Four Masters, who compiled Irish annals in the 1630s.

The county around the town is the draw: the sea cliffs of Slieve League fall some 600 metres into the ocean, Glenveagh National Park has lakes, deer and a castle, and Errigal, a quartzite peak, rises in the north-west. Sandy bays and surf beaches run along the coast, and the Gaeltacht areas keep the Irish language in daily use. Donegal's hand-woven tweed is a local craft.

Seafood chowder, smoked salmon, mussels and fresh fish fill the menus, with soda bread and potato dishes, and pubs host traditional music sessions most evenings. The weather moves fast off the ocean, with soft rain, wind and sudden bright light, and summer evenings stay light until late. The county forms part of the Wild Atlantic Way coastal route.