A day trip from Cashel: Cahir Castle and the Swiss Cottage

Cashel is the headline, but it sits in a corner of Tipperary thick with things to see, and the easiest add-on to a Cashel trip is the short run southwest to Cahir. Two more OPW sites sit close together there, a great medieval castle and a picturesque ornamental cottage, and together with the Rock they make a satisfying day of south Tipperary heritage. Here is how to plan it.

Cahir Castle

Cahir Castle is about seventeen kilometres southwest of Cashel, on a rocky island in the River Suir in the middle of Cahir town. It is one of the largest and best-preserved medieval castles in Ireland, built by the Butler family from the 13th century, and it kept its keep, towers, defensive walls and a working portcullis where many Irish castles are reduced to a single ruined keep. The OPW runs it with an exhibition and a short film, and you can walk the walls and towers. Allow an hour to an hour and a half. Admission is modest, and OPW Heritage Card holders go free, which is the same card that gets you into the Rock of Cashel.

The Swiss Cottage

A short way downriver from the castle, about twenty kilometres from Cashel, is the Swiss Cottage, an early-19th-century cottage orne built as an ornamental retreat for the Butlers in the picturesque style associated with the architect John Nash. It is all thatched roof, rustic timber and decorated interiors, a deliberate piece of romantic make-believe rather than a real cottage, and it is shown by guided tour only. It is small and charming and takes about three quarters of an hour. It opens seasonally, so check the dates before you build a day around it, and note that the two Cahir sites are a short drive apart rather than walkable from one another.

Putting the day together

The natural shape of the day is the Rock of Cashel in the morning, while you are fresh and before the coaches, then lunch in Cashel, then the drive to Cahir for the castle and the Swiss Cottage in the afternoon. If you hold an OPW Heritage Card, all three sites are covered, which makes the card worth buying for a Tipperary trip even at a single weekend's use. The drive between Cashel and Cahir is quick and mostly main road. Cahir also has a railway station, on the less frequent Limerick Junction to Waterford line, if you are piecing a trip together without a car, though driving is far simpler for linking the sites.

Other nearby options

If you have more time, the wider area rewards it. The Golden Vale rolls west towards the Galtee Mountains, the highest inland range in Ireland, good for walkers. The Apple Farm near Cahir makes its own apple juice and bottled fruit and is an easy roadside stop. And the food country around Cashel and Fethard, the home of Cashel Blue, is worth a slow drive for the farm shops and producers. None of these need to be crammed into the Cahir day; they are reasons to give south Tipperary more than the single afternoon most people allow it.

Practical notes

Confirm the opening dates and admission for all three OPW sites before you travel, as the Swiss Cottage in particular keeps seasonal hours and the Rock changes its hours between summer and winter. Buy or have the Heritage Card ready if you are doing all three, fill the car before you set out as petrol stations thin out between the towns, and leave the picturesque Swiss Cottage for last, as it is the gentlest of the three and a good note to finish on.