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Arrival, information and accommodation
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Buses
stop outside the
Abbey Hotel
on the Diamond, with timetables displayed in the helpful and information-packed
tourist office
on the Quay (Easter-June & Sept Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; July & Aug daily 9am-8pm; tel 073/21148). For details of
walks
in the Blue Stack Mountains, just north of Donegal town
, and in the rest of the county, pick up a copy of David Herman's excellent
Hill Walkers' Donegal
from the tourist office or the Four Masters bookshop on the Diamond. Both also sell Ordnance Survey
maps
of the area.
One advantage of staying in Donegal is that you've plenty of choice of accommodation . There are literally dozens of B&Bs scattered around the town, but many of them are very small, so to avoid a lot of walking it's simplest to call at the tourist office. Some B&Bs to try include the Atlantic Guesthouse on Main St (tel 073/21187; A?33-40/a?¬41.90-50.79), Drumcliffe House on Coast Rd (tel 073/21200; A?33-40/a?¬41.90-50.79) and Castle View House (tel 073/22100; A?26-33/a?¬33.01-41.90) and Riverside House (tel 073/21083; A?33-40/a?¬41.90-50.79), both on Waterloo Place across the river from the castle. For something more upmarket, try the comfortable Abbey Hotel (tel 073/21014; A?110-130/a?¬139.67-165.07) or the Hyland Central Hotel (tel 073/21027; A?90-110/a?¬114.28-139.67) both on the Diamond. If you really want to push the boat out, book in at St Ernan's House (tel 073/21065, www.sainternans.com ; over A?130/a?¬165.07), built by Wellington's nephew in 1836 and situated on its own private island, signposted a few hundred yards up the Sligo road. Hostels include the popular Donegal Town Independent Hostel (tel 073/22805), half a mile west down the Killybegs road, which has camping and a jovial atmosphere; and the secluded but often busy An A?ige Ball Hill Hostel , about three miles further west in a former coastguard station on the north side of Donegal Bay (Easter-Sept; tel 073/21174, mailbox@anoige.ie ), which also offers camping facilities. On the way here you'll pass Ashleigh Riding Stables (tel 073/21097) where you can arrange horse riding .
Bikes
can be rented from the Bike Shop, Waterloo Place (tel 073/22515) and from O'Doherty's on Main St (tel 073/21119) which also sells
fishing permits
and rents out
tackle
. The owner is a mine of information on the region, including the best angling spots and hiking routes.
Donegal Bay Charters
(tel 073/23191,
donegalbay@ireland.com
) offers sea-angling, scuba-diving, whale-spotting and birdwatching trips. Around the Diamond there's good shopping, including the Four Masters
bookshop
, Magee's department store, Foodmarket
supermarket
and Simple Simon's
natural foods
. Dermo's
laundry
(Mon-Sat 9am-6pm) is in the Millcourt Shopping Arcade on the Diamond. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Ireland,
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