Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), checked by Global Adventurer.
The walk
From the Glencar Lough car park, take the paved path up the wooded glen beside the stream to the steps and viewing platform at the foot of Glencar Waterfall, where the water drops into a pool. Come back down the path on the other bank to the car park. The loop goes anticlockwise. These are the falls W. B. Yeats wrote of in 'The Stolen Child'.
It is 0.7 km round with 30 m of ascent; allow about half an hour. The grade is Easy: a short, paved path through the trees, with a few steps up to the platform.
The waterfall is a public site, free to enter, and part of it is on Coillte land. The steps and boardwalks are slippery when wet. The longer Glencar Hill Walk, which climbs from the same car park towards the Dooneens, is not part of this walk: it has no waymarks and runs mostly on narrow lanes, then onto open hillside near cliff tops.
The car park is free, with public toilets, a picnic area, a children's playground and a tourist information point, and a café looks out over the lake. We found no bus to Glencar. Manorhamilton, the nearest town, is about 5 km away.
Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.
Good to know
- The waterfall drops about 15 m into a pool in a wooded glen at the east end of Glencar Lough
- W. B. Yeats placed it in 'The Stolen Child', where the wandering water gushes from the hills above Glen-Car
- Glencar Lough sits on the Sligo-Leitrim border in a glacial valley walled by the limestone cliffs of the Dartry Mountains
- Just west along the valley the Devil's Chimney, Ireland's tallest waterfall, runs only after heavy rain
Getting there
Start: Glencar Waterfall car park · Free parking. 54.33844, -8.36903
Directions to the start
Places to stay nearby
Rooms in and around Sligo Mac Diarmada: Booking.com → Expedia → Hotels.com →
Affiliate links: if you book, Global Adventurer earns a small commission at no cost to you.
Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line and figures come from OpenStreetMap and our own checks; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.