Laois beauty spot among top visited destinations in Ireland

A REMOTE park at the source of the River Barrow in Co Laois was one of the top 20 most visited Coillte recreational forests in Ireland in 2024.

Glenbarrow had almost 51,700 visits last year, placing it 19th in Coillte’s national visitor statistics, released last month.

The park is located in the scenic Slieve Blooms area, with four walking trails beside flowing waterfalls and steep-sided valleys. The area was quarried in the 1800s with many signs of this activity still visible. The River Barrow weaves through deposits of ancient glaciers in the area, with trails leading to the nature reserve on the Ridge of Capard, where walkers overlook the beautiful valley below.

Avondale Forest Park in Wicklow topped the charts with 350,000 visits in 2024, in part due to the Beyond the Trees Avondale experience and Avondale house, the home of Charles Stewart Parnell.

More than three million people visited Coillte’s top 50 most popular recreational woodlands last year. The data, collected from counters in the forest areas, “highlights the importance of outdoor recreation and reflects a growing demand by the public to spend time in nature,” said Coillte’s head of recreation, Daithi de Forge.

Coillte manages a total of 260 forest recreational areas, 12 forest parks and six mountain bike centres nationwide. Eight of its sites remain closed for recovery works owing to damage caused by Storm Éowyn.