What is Brú na Bóinne?
Brú na Bóinne, about 40 miles north of Dublin, is one of the world's most important prehistoric sites from the Neolithic period. There are three large passage tombs at Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth as well as 90 additional monuments dotted around. They date from 3500-3200 BC, making them older than the Pyramids of Giza (86) and Stonehenge (227). Nobody knows exactly why they were built but Newgrange and Dowth are built to align with the winter solstice.
What is Brú na Bóinne like?
It's awe-inspiring. I was quite startled by my first glimpse of the tomb at Knowth, even though I'd already spent a good hour in the visitor centre learning about the site. Once you've appreciated the scale of the tombs, you can spend quite a bit of time looking at the symbols carved onto the stones. The tour guide also takes you into the passage tomb at Newgrange, which has not altered since it was built 5000 years ago.
Where is Brú na Bóinne?
County Meath, Ireland
When did we go?
June 2023How did we get there?
You need to book tickets online well in advance as they get snapped up quickly. The Brú na Bóinne visitor centre was only a 30 minute drive from Dublin Airport and then a bus took us out to the tombs at Knowth and Newgrange to get a closer look. We hired a car for our visit and then drove back to Dublin ready to walk to Trinity College (423) the next day.
Worth noting:
The Battle of the Boyne was fought in County Meath - the visitor centre is only 10 minutes' drive from Brú na Bóinne and is well worth a visit.What was Brú na Bóinne's position on the 2015 edition of the Lonely Planet Ultimate Travel List?
224. It dropped 42 places in the new edition.
Does Brú na Bóinne deserve its place in the 2020 top 500?
Yes - it's an ancient link to our ancestors.
