Walking Glendalough: how to pick the right trail

Most people who drive to Glendalough see the round tower, walk a lap of the ruins, and leave without ever finding out what the valley actually looks like from height. That is a shame, because the walking here ranges from a flat stroll that anyone can manage in well under an hour to a genuinely strenuous ridge walk with a boardwalk hanging over a cliff, and picking the right one for your time and fitness makes the difference between a good visit and a great one.

If you have an hour: the Green Road

The Green Road is the easiest walk in the valley, a roughly 3km loop linking the monastic city to the shore of the Lower Lake on boardwalk sections over the wetland. It is mostly flat, well surfaced, and takes about an hour at an easy pace. This is the one to do with young children, with limited time, or straight after touring the ruins if you want a proper lake view without committing to a climb. It also works in poor weather better than any of the higher trails, since it stays sheltered and rarely turns to deep mud the way the upland routes do.

If you have half a day: the Spinc and Glenealo Valley loop

The Spinc is the walk that separates a Glendalough day trip from a Glendalough visit. It is a 9.5km white-waymarked loop that climbs about 380 metres from the Upper Lake car park, up a long run of stone-pitched steps through native oak woodland past the Poulanass Waterfall, and onto a boardwalk that runs along the cliff edge high above the Upper Lake. From there the whole glacial valley opens up below, which is the view most people picture when they imagine Glendalough without ever actually walking up to see it. The loop continues into the Glenealo Valley, past the ruins of a lead and zinc mining village that operated on and off between 1825 and 1957, before descending back along the lake's northern shore through a stand of Douglas fir. It takes most walkers just over three and a half hours, and the downhill stone sections get properly slippery when wet, so this is not a trail for trainers. A shorter blue-waymarked alternative covers just the boardwalk section in around two hours if the full loop is more than you want.

If you want the mining history without the climb: the Miners' Way

The old lead and zinc workings that the Spinc passes above can also be reached at lake level on the Miners' Way, a roughly 5.4km, largely flat walk along the Upper Lake shore that takes about eighty minutes. It is a sensible choice if the industrial history interests you but the Spinc's stone steps and cliff-edge boardwalk do not appeal, and it stays close to the water the whole way rather than climbing above it.

If you want a short walk with a real payoff: Poulanass Waterfall

The lower section of the Spinc route, the steady climb through oak woodland beside the Poulanass River to the waterfall itself, works perfectly well as a standalone walk of about 1.6km and forty-five minutes. It gives you a genuine woodland destination without the full commitment of the longer loop, and it is the natural choice if you have already done the Green Road and want one more short walk before heading into Laragh for lunch.

For the more ambitious: St Kevin's Way

St Kevin's Way, sometimes called the Celtic Camino, is a waymarked pilgrim path of roughly 30km running from Hollywood and Valleymount in west Wicklow over the hills and down into Glendalough, tracing in outline the route medieval pilgrims are believed to have walked to reach St Kevin's monastery. It is usually done in one long day or split across two, and an organised, guided group walk runs most years around Easter as part of the national Pilgrim Paths Week programme, bookable through Eventbrite. Outside of that date, the marked route is open to walk independently year-round, though as a one-way route it needs some thought about getting back to your start point.

A practical note on footwear and timing

Whichever trail you choose, treat this as a mountain valley rather than a park. The stone steps and boardwalk on the Spinc are genuinely slippery when wet, the ground on the Miners' Way and Poulanass paths can be soft after rain, and the higher sections hold cloud even on days that look clear from the car park. Proper boots, a waterproof layer and a start time early enough to be well down again before the light fades in autumn and winter are worth more here than on almost any other walk in the county.