Bru na Boinne, Province of Leinster, Ireland

5Astrid L 5:00 PM Apr 23, 2022

Awe-inspiring and ancient sites just North of Dublin
The only way to access the interior of the Newgrange tomb (without a private guide), prebooking is essential, as they limit the amount of people to enter the tomb to keep it safe. The visitor's center has a nice (slightly overpriced) cafe, but the gift shop is currently closed because of Covid, which was sad. The shuttle to the sites was a short walk from the visitor's center, and it was a beautiful walk. As for the sites themselves, what can you say? Phenomenal. Awe-inspiring. Older than the pyramids, older than Stonehenge. To walk amongst the sites was just amazing. The guides at both Knowth and Newgrange were super informative and wonderful. No photos or videos inside the tomb at Newgrange, but to be able to go inside was nothing short of jaw dropping. There was a demonstration of how the light streams into the chamber on the winter solstice, which is a phenomenon that occurs to this day (and you can even enter a lottery to enter the chamber on the solstice, but the guide said that it's risky - if it is cloudy... The one thing I would say is that if you have small children, please keep them under control. Our group had a family that was just not watching their kids, and they were grabbing ancient small stones and throwing them... the guide couldn't do much and was obviously a bit flustered by it. Yes, share places like this with your kids, but only if they can respect them. 100% see this. Book your time, go, and enjoy. (We booked about a week and a half in advance and got some of the last spots of the day!)

5Robynrad 5:00 PM Nov 14, 2022

Buy your tickets early and go, go, go!
I was so looking forward to seeing this amazing prehistoric site, and I was not disappointed. Tickets only come on sale a month before and most popular times sell out quickly so my strong recommendation is to buy them as early as possible. We had to pick up a hire car the morning of our visit and weren't sure when we would arrive so left ourselves plenty of time. We ended up being early but had no difficulty filling in the time in both the cafe and the wonderful visitor centre. We found all the staff friendly and informative. We toured both Knowth and Newgrange and found them a fascinating glimpse into the past. Quite astonishing standing in a place which was of special meaning to human beings over 5000 years ago.