Experience the best of Newry

Newry has been a gateway between Ulster and the south for centuries, set in a gap between the Mourne Mountains and the Ring of Gullion. The Newry Canal, opened in 1742 and one of the first summit-level canals in the British Isles, linked Lough Neagh to the sea and carried coal and goods. The Catholic cathedral dates from the 1820s, and Bagenal's Castle holds the local museum. Newry was granted city status in 2002.

The Mourne Mountains, a high ridge of granite with the Mourne Wall running across it, rise to the east, and the seaside village of Rostrevor lies at the foot of the hills on Carlingford Lough. Slieve Gullion, with a walking trail and a lake near its summit, lies to the south-west. Belfast is about an hour away by road, and Dundalk and Dublin lie south.

Carlingford Lough produces oysters and mussels, and the quays of the nearby villages serve them with brown bread and stout. The city is a busy shopping centre for a wide stretch of the border country. Rain is never far away, but when it clears the light on the Mournes is superb.