Powerscourt Waterfall
Short level walk from the car park to the falls ·
About
At 121 metres this is the highest waterfall in Ireland, the River Dargle coming off the lip of the Glensoulan valley in a long white smear down a rock face rather than a single plunge, so it looks its best after a few days of rain and can look thin in a dry August. It sits in a parkland clearing of oak, beech and Scots pine with a big grass meadow in front of it, and the whole point of the place is that you can sit in it: picnic tables, a playground, barbecue stands, a kiosk in season, and dogs allowed on leads. In 1821 the 5th Viscount had the water above the fall dammed so it could be released while George IV watched from a bridge built for the occasion; the king did not turn up, the water was let go anyway and the bridge was swept away. The single most important thing to know is that this is not part of the gardens. It is a separate site with its own entrance and its own ticket, 7km from the village and about 6km from the gardens entrance, and tickets are sold only at the gate.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Ireland's highest waterfall, 121 metres, at the head of the Glensoulan valley
- ✓A parkland meadow of oak, beech and Scots pine that is built for a picnic rather than a march
- ✓A playground, picnic tables and free barbecue stands (wheeled barbecues only, no disposables)
- ✓Dogs welcome on a lead, which is not true of the gardens
Tips
- →This is NOT the gardens. Separate entrance, separate ticket, about 7km from Enniskerry village by road and roughly 15 minutes' drive.
- →Tickets are sold at the entrance only. There is no online booking, so bring a card or cash.
- →The falls run hardest after wet weather. In a dry spell they thin out considerably.
- →The estate publishes a seasonal table for the waterfall on its opening times page: 9.30am to 7pm from May to August, 10.30am to 5.30pm in March and April and again in September and October, and 10.30am to 4pm from November to February. Last admission is an hour before closing from May to August and half an hour before closing from September to April. The site is closed from 11 to 25 December and reopens on 26 December at 10.30am. That table was re-read on the estate's own opening times page on 28 August 2026 and is unchanged. Note that the waterfall page itself still carries only a flat 9.30am to 7pm line, which is the summer row; the seasonal table is on the opening times page.
- →There is no bus. You need a car, a bike with legs behind it, or a taxi from the village.
- →The estate publishes no Eircode for the waterfall, only the house and gardens code seven kilometres away, so do not use A98 W0D0 for this. The operator's own coordinates for the falls are 53.1467 N, 6.2105 W.
Best Season
Accessibility
Accessible parking spaces, accessible toilets and baby changing at the site. The meadow and the main approach to the falls are largely level, though the ground closest to the rocks is rough and uneven. Dogs are welcome on leads.
Last verified 2026-08-06
More Attraction Activities
Powerscourt House & Gardens
The Palladian house and its 47 acres of Italian terraces, Japanese gardens and walled garden, twenty minutes uphill from the Square. Separate site and ticket from the waterfall.
The Square and the Clock Tower
The triangular estate-village square, ringed by mock-Tudor terraces and pivoting on an 1843 granite clock tower with an 1860 copper cupola.
Glencree German War Cemetery
A quiet terraced cemetery built into a granite quarry in 1961, holding 134 German war dead, ten kilometres up the Glencree valley from the village.