Kells Itineraries
Half a day or a full weekend. Here are the best ways to spend your time in Kells, planned step by step.
Whether you have a few hours or a full weekend to explore, these itineraries give you a local’s route through Kells. Each one links directly to the restaurants and activities along the way.
Half a day: the crosses, the tower and Colmcille's house
The monastic town on foot, built round the one thing that needs planning: St Colmcille's House is locked and the Courthouse opens it only with a day's notice. Ring the day before, then this is a morning that ends with lunch on Market Street. It works Monday to Saturday; on a Sunday the Courthouse is shut and you get the outside of everything.
- 110:00·45 minutes
The Courthouse and the Market Cross
Start on Headfort Place at the Courthouse, which opens at nine. The exhibition is free: the Book of Kells facsimile, the replica crozier and the town model. Pick up the trail map. Then look at the Market Cross under its canopy outside before you set off.
View Kells Courthouse Tourism and Cultural Hub and the Market Cross - 210:45·1 hour
Up through the town to the churchyard
Walk in along Headfort Place and John Street to Market Street, then up Cannon Street to St Columba's churchyard. The round tower is by the wall; the South Cross, the Cross of Patrick and Columba, is the one to spend time on. The tower has no stairs and cannot be climbed.
View Kells Monastic Site: the Round Tower and High Crosses - 311:45·30 minutes
St Colmcille's House
Up Church Lane to the stone-roofed house at the top of the town, opened by arrangement with the Courthouse. If you could not arrange it, the outside and the lane are still worth the five minutes.
View St Colmcille's House - 412:15·15 minutes
Past the Printing Works and down Castle Street
The Printing Works on Church Lane is tours only, booked ahead on Friday mornings in late 2026. Otherwise walk past and down Castle Street to the centre.
View Kells Printing Works - 512:30·1 hour
Lunch at the Book Market
The café and bookshop on Market Street, and the base of the Hinterland festival. It does not publish hours online, so have Café Therese at the Headfort Arms, open all day, as your fallback.
View The BOOK MARKet
A full day: monastic Kells, the Hill of Lloyd and dinner at the Pod
The whole of Kells in one day, best on a Friday in the summer season when the Spire of Lloyd is open for tours and the Vanilla Pod is open for dinner. You need a car or a taxi for the hill, which is about 2 km out on the R163; everything else is on foot.
- 109:30·45 minutes
The Courthouse and the Market Cross
The free exhibition, the trail map, and the arrangement you made the day before to see St Colmcille's House.
View Kells Courthouse Tourism and Cultural Hub and the Market Cross - 210:15·1 hour 15 minutes
The round tower and the high crosses
Up Cannon Street to St Columba's churchyard for the tower and the three crosses, then Church Lane to St Colmcille's House.
View Kells Monastic Site: the Round Tower and High Crosses - 311:30·1 hour 30 minutes
Out to the Spire of Lloyd
Drive out the R163 to the People's Park. The Friday tours climb the 164 steps at 12, 1.30 and 2.30 in the summer season; take the noon one and walk the famine graveyard and the ringfort loop after.
View Spire of Lloyd - 413:15·1 hour
Lunch at Eureka House
Back into town to the tea room in the parkland on the Navan Road, across from the Courthouse. Check its hours the day before.
View Eureka House - 514:30·2 hours 30 minutes
An afternoon on the Headfort estate or at Girley Bog
Golfers take a visitor tee time at Headfort Golf Club, booked ahead, for a round past Headfort House. Everyone else drives 7 km out the N52 for the Girley Bog loop, in boots.
View Girley Bog Eco Walk - 618:00·2 hours
Dinner at the Vanilla Pod
The Pod at the Headfort Arms opens at five from Thursday to Saturday, and Thursday and Friday have an early bird until seven. Book ahead. A drink after in the Kelltic Bar next door, where there is live music from Thursday to Sunday.
View Vanilla Pod Restaurant
Ready to plan your visit?
Check the weather forecast before you head out.