Newgrange from Slane: the Donore rule, the booking windows and the right tour

Newgrange is a few kilometres east of Slane, which makes the village one of the closest places to stay for it. That closeness is also the trap, because driving toward the monuments will not get you in. Every visit to Newgrange and Knowth starts at one building, the Office of Public Works visitor centre at Donore, on the south side of the Boyne, and every visit there to the monuments is a booked, guided tour reached by shuttle bus.

The Donore rule

Put the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre at Donore into your map, not Newgrange. The OPW says it in so many words: the centre is the starting point for all visits to Newgrange and Knowth, access to the monuments is by guided tour only, and visitors who go directly to the monuments will not gain entry. From the centre you cross a footbridge to the shuttle bus depot and are driven to the tomb with your tour group.

The exhibition at the centre itself does not need booking. The tours do, and tickets are limited.

Booking: the part that decides your day

Book only on heritageireland.ie. The OPW says that no third party is authorised to sell Brú na Bóinne tickets, and tickets bought elsewhere, including on resale platforms, are refused at the door. It also warns of fraudulent sites made to look like Heritage Ireland.

The booking windows are the thing to plan around. Online tickets are released at midnight Irish time: 30 days in advance for tours from 1 April to 1 November, and seven days in advance for tours from 2 November to the end of December and for 1 January to 1 March. Cancellations come back on sale at short notice, typically between 08:30 and 09:30 each morning and between 15:00 and 16:00 each afternoon, so if the day you want is sold out, check again at those times.

Two more rules catch people. Every visitor, including children and infants, needs a ticket. And unaccompanied under-18s are not admitted.

Which tour

From 1 March to 1 November, the main option is the Brú na Bóinne Tour with the Newgrange chamber. There is also one Newgrange Tour with the exhibition a day, which includes the chamber, and one Knowth Tour with the exhibition a day. From 2 November to the end of February, only the Newgrange tour with the exhibition runs. There is no access to the chambers at Knowth on any tour. The OPW publishes its admission charges as a separate table on Heritage Ireland, so check the price there when you book.

The Newgrange passage and chamber are low and narrow. If you have mobility issues or claustrophobia, or use a wheelchair, email brunaboinne@opw.ie before booking. The monuments are outdoor sites with no shelter, and photography is not allowed in the passage or chamber.

Opening hours, and the solstice

The visitor centre opens at 9:00 or 9:30 depending on the month and closes at 16:15 from November to February, 16:45 in March, April and October, and 17:45 from May to September. It is closed from 24 to 27 December and on 1 January. On the winter solstice mornings, 19 to 23 December, it opens earlier and the regular tours are suspended. Brambles, the cafe inside, is open from 10:00 to 16:00 seven days a week, whenever the visitor centre is open.

From Slane

You need a car or a taxi. Neither Bus Éireann's route 190 nor the Collins Coaches Dublin bus goes to Donore. Allow a short drive east and arrive well before your tour time; the shuttle runs to the timetable, not to you.

A morning slot works best from Slane. You can walk the Hill of Slane first thing, be at Donore for a morning slot, eat at Brambles after the tour, and be back in the village for the Francis Ledwidge Museum, open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 4pm, or a booked tour at Slane Distillery. Boyne Valley Wools, a Jacob sheep farm and spinning studio about 500 metres from the visitor centre, is the obvious stop on the way out.

Newgrange Farm is something else

One last confusion. Newgrange Farm, off the N51 about three miles from Slane, is an open farm for families, not the monument, and it is closed for the winter, with its next season due in spring 2027. It will not get you into a passage tomb, but it is good for small children on a day when the tour is for the adults.