Trim Itineraries
Half a day or a full weekend. Here are the best ways to spend your time in Trim, 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 Trim. Each one links directly to the restaurants and activities along the way.
Half a day: the keep, the steeple and the river
The shortest version of Trim that still gets you inside the keep and out onto the river bank. It is built around the one constraint that matters here: the keep interior is guided-access only, so everything else arranges itself around when the tour runs. Start with coffee opposite the castle gate, take the tour, then walk the north bank as far as the Sheep Gate and back for lunch.
- 109:45·30 minutes
Coffee on Castle Street
Stonewall Coffee sits directly across from the castle gate and the tourist office. Breakfast service stops at eleven, so this is the window for it. Take the outside seats if the weather allows; you are looking at the curtain wall from them.
View Stonewall Coffee - 210:15·1 hour 30 minutes
Trim Castle grounds and the guided keep tour
The grounds are free and open, so walk the curtain wall and the ditch first. Then join the guided keep tour, which is the only way inside the cruciform tower. The stairs are original and steep, and the tour finishes on the wall-walk with the Boyne valley in front of you. Hours are seasonal, so confirm the day's tour times with the OPW before you commit to this slot.
View Trim Castle - 311:45·30 minutes
Across the river to the Yellow Steeple
Cross the footbridge below the castle and climb the short rise to the Yellow Steeple, the broken bell tower of St Mary's Abbey and the tallest thing in the town. It is a look-at rather than a go-in; the tower is closed. Talbot Castle stands beside it.
View The Yellow Steeple and St Mary's Abbey - 412:15·45 minutes
The Sheep Gate and the top of the Porchfields
Carry on a few minutes to the Sheep Gate, the only surviving medieval town gate, then out as far as the first of the interpretive panels where the path opens into the Porchfields water meadow. Turn back here if you are on a half day.
View The Sheep Gate and Trim's Town Walls - 513:00·1 hour
Lunch at Rosemary on Emmet Street
Rosemary Bistro is the daytime room, five minutes up from the castle. No booking, so take a table when one comes free. It is where the town eats at lunchtime rather than where the tour traffic goes.
View Rosemary Bistro & Cafe
A full day in Trim: castle to Newtown and back for dinner
The whole town, walked. The castle in the morning, the full river walk out to the Newtown ruins and the medieval bridge in the afternoon, the quiet Church of Ireland cathedral on the way back, and dinner in the town. It works in any season, though the meadow sections go soft in winter and the light is gone by half four in December.
- 109:30·2 hours
Trim Castle, grounds and keep
Start at the castle. Walk the grounds, which are free, then take the guided keep tour. Confirm the tour times first: the OPW opens on seasonal hours and runs weekends only in January and from November.
View Trim Castle - 211:30·1 hour
The Visitor Centre and the Medieval Armoury
The visitor centre holds a scale model of the walled medieval town and runs a hands-on Medieval Armoury session with weapons, mail and armour. Note the awkward bit of Trim scheduling: the centre is open weekdays only and closed at weekends and bank holiday Mondays, while Flambé in the next step only does lunch at the weekend. On a weekday you get the Armoury and lunch at Rosemary; at the weekend you get lunch at Flambé and skip the centre. The Armoury caps at twenty-five people and it has been operating temporarily from the Swift Cultural Centre on High Street, so check where it is on the day.
View Trim Visitor Centre and the Medieval Armoury - 312:30·1 hour 15 minutes
Lunch beside the castle
At the weekend, Flambé is over the bridge on French's Lane, close enough to the castle for a window seat to be worth asking for, and it opens from noon on Saturday and Sunday. Midweek it is evenings only, so lunch moves to Rosemary Bistro on Emmet Street, which is walk-in and does not take bookings.
View Flambé Restaurant - 413:45·1 hour
The river walk out to Newtown
The full walk this time: footbridge, Yellow Steeple, Sheep Gate, then out along the north bank through the Porchfields to the Newtown ruins. About two kilometres each way on flat ground, with interpretive panels along the route.
View The Porchfields and Trim Castle River Walk - 514:45·1 hour
Newtown Trim and the Priory of St John
The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on the near bank, the Priory of St John the Baptist across the water, and the medieval bridge between them. No ticket, no gate and usually nobody else there.
View Newtown Trim and the Priory of St John the Baptist - 615:45·45 minutes
A pint at Marcie Regan's, if it is open
The low country pub at the end of the medieval bridge. It keeps its own hours rather than posted ones, so treat this as a bonus rather than a fixture, and walk back either way.
View Marcie Regan's - 716:45·30 minutes
St Patrick's Cathedral on Loman Street
Back through the town and up Loman Street to the Church of Ireland cathedral, for the medieval west tower, the Binns organ and the Burne-Jones Good Shepherd panel of 1869. Access outside Sunday service depends on who is about, so contact the parish rather than assuming.
View St Patrick's Cathedral (Church of Ireland) - 818:30·2 hours
Dinner at StockHouse
Trim's steakhouse of record, on the corner of Emmet Street and Finnegan's Way. Book ahead, and remember it is closed on Tuesdays. Finish with a trad session at the James Griffin on High Street if it is a Thursday through Sunday.
View StockHouse Restaurant
Ready to plan your visit?
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