Getting to Bundoran without a car, and where Donegal ends

Bundoran is easy to reach and awkward to reach in equal measure. It sits on the N15 at the southern tip of County Donegal, so driving in from Sligo is half an hour. But the railway that built the town closed in 1957, and it is a short drive from both the Leitrim and the Northern Ireland borders, which matters more than you might think for planning a trip.

Without a car

The nearest station is Sligo (MacDiarmada), on the Dublin to Sligo line, about 40 km south. Do not be put off. The Sligo bus station stop is beside the railway station, and from there three services run to Bundoran: Bus Éireann's Expressway 480, which takes about 35 minutes to Bundoran West on the timetable; the Expressway 64, which runs between Galway and the north via Sligo and Donegal Town; and TFI Local Link 982, a slower service of a little over an hour that runs on to Ballyshannon. Local Link 983 links Bundoran with Kinlough and Manorhamilton in Leitrim and with Ballyshannon. Bus Feda's Galway to Donegal coaches also pass through.

The detail that catches people out is the stops. Bus Éireann uses Bundoran West and Bundoran East, at either end of the town. Local Link uses a stop in the centre by the Tourist Office and the Holyrood, as well as the ends. Discover Bundoran is blunt that Bus Éireann does not stop at the Local Link points, so check which bus you are on and where it stops before you stand in the rain.

If you are coming to surf, Bundoran Surf Co sells a weekend package with a coach from Dublin Heuston, leaving on Friday evening and returning on Sunday afternoon.

With a car

From Dublin there are two ways. Via Sligo on the N4 and N15, which stays in the Republic, or via Cavan and Enniskillen, which crosses into Northern Ireland and back. Discover Bundoran puts Dublin at about 205 km, two and a half hours, and Belfast and Galway at about 180 km each. Parking is paid on Atlantic Way from Easter to September; the car park at the end of Tullan Strand Road is the one for the strand and the Fairy Bridges, and it fills early on summer weekends.

Where Donegal ends

Bundoran is the first town in Donegal on the road north, and the county boundary is closer than it looks. Walk or drive west through the West End and Magheracar and you reach the River Drowes, and across it Tullaghan, which is in County Leitrim, as is Kinlough a few kilometres inland. The Bundoran 10 road race goes over that line and back, with its first water station at Tullaghan Community Centre. Mullaghmore, the harbour and headland you can see across the bay to the south-west, is in County Sligo. North-east, beyond Ballyshannon, is Belleek and County Fermanagh, which is Northern Ireland, where the currency is sterling and the speed limits are in miles per hour.

That is why the angling pages for Bundoran read like a map of three counties: Lough Melvin, five kilometres away, lies between Leitrim, Fermanagh and Donegal, and the Drowes, which traditionally gives up the first salmon of the year in Ireland, flows from it to the sea at Tullaghan. They are good trips. They are not in Bundoran, and nothing over those lines is listed in this guide as if it were.

Money, phones and health

• Bundoran is in the Republic, so it is euro. If you cross into Fermanagh you will need sterling or a card.
• The nearest Emergency Department is Sligo University Hospital, about 40 km south. Bundoran has none of its own. In an emergency dial 112 or 999.
• On the beaches, cliffs or water, dial 112 or 999 and ask for the Coast Guard. There is an RNLI lifeboat at the Boat Quay.
• Out of hours, NoWDOC is the GP service for Donegal, on 0818 400 911.

When to come

The town keeps two calendars. The holiday one runs from Easter, when Waterworld usually opens, to the end of the summer, with the main beach and its lifeguards at the heart of it. The surf one runs all year, with lessons every day and the bigger swells in autumn and winter. The first weekend of March brings the Bundoran 10, 17 March the parade, and November the dancing weekends at the Allingham. Outside summer, check opening hours before you travel: plenty of businesses cut their days in the off-season.