Kilkenny Castle, near Dunbell
For furnished rooms and a picture gallery at the centre of a walkable city.
The story behind Kilkenny Castle
The castle began as a Norman stronghold and became the Butler family’s home for centuries. What you visit inside chiefly reflects its later domestic life. The restored Victorian rooms show how a fortress became a comfortable and highly public statement of status.
What you will see
The Picture Gallery, library and family rooms reward a slower visit than an exterior photograph. The park gives a different perspective on the building and can be enjoyed separately. Choose the interior if furniture, paintings and household life interest you.
Resized and converted to WebP. Display may be cropped; the full photograph is linked.
Ticketed interiors; separate park access
OPW lists adult self-guided admission at €8 and summer guided visits at €12. April to September hours are 09:15 to 17:30, last entry 17:00; October to March, 09:30 to 17:00, last entry 16:30. Park hours differ. Use official tickets and check access requirements for upper rooms.
Check the official visitor information ↗Sources and checks
- Office of Public WorksVisitor access and historical context. Checked .
- Fáilte IrelandHistorical context and visitor experience. Checked .
- Kind
- Castles
- From Dunbell
- 7.3 km north-west, in a straight line
- Wheelchair
- Recorded as not accessibleOne tag covering the whole place. It does not say whether the entrance, the inside, the toilets or the route to the door are step free, and this page will not say so either.
The map does not yet record a phone number for Kilkenny Castle. Anyone can add it on OpenStreetMap, and this page picks the change up at the next refresh.
Getting to Kilkenny Castle
About these directions
Public transport times come from National Transport Authority. Timetables cover 2026-09-18 to 2027-09-19. These are scheduled services; check with the operator for cancellations and changes before travelling.
Walking and driving times are estimates. A town search starts at its centre; choose your location or a point on the map for a more precise starting point. Eircode search is not available.
How journey planning worksDestination, access and nearby stops
Kilkenny Castle is in Dunbell, County Kilkenny. Routes here end at the point the map records for this place. No entrance has been verified, so the last few metres are for you to judge.
The nearest scheduled stop is Kilkenny Cstl (13636), 50 m away in a straight line. Use the planner to check walking connections for your journey.
- Kilkenny Cstl 50 m
buses 871 and IW01Scheduled departures from this stop
- Ormonde Road 270 m
buses KK1, 891, 897 and 717Scheduled departures from this stop
- John Street Lwr 350 m
buses KK2, KK1, 881 and 882Scheduled departures from this stop
- Upr Patrick St 380 m
bus KK1Scheduled departures from this stop
- Market Yard 470 m
buses KK1 and KK2Scheduled departures from this stop
Getting to Dunbell covers the journeys into the town itself.
Events nearby
Not at Kilkenny Castle. These are at other venues within a few hundred metres of it.
- 2 July to 24 September 2026TicketedKilkenny Leisure Phone Photography ExperienceKilkenny City
- 3 October 2026Free entryOktoberfest 2026Sullivan's Taproom
- 22 to 26 October 2026Free and ticketed partsSavour Kilkenny Food Festival 2026Kilkenny City
- 23 to 26 October 2026TicketedA Samhain Medieval FeastRothe House & Garden
Other castles in Dunbell
Nearest to Kilkenny Castle first, and the figure beside each one is how far it is from Kilkenny Castle, in a straight line. Same point, same measure.
Questions people ask
Where is Kilkenny Castle?
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How far is Kilkenny Castle from the centre of Dunbell?
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Where this comes from
- From the map
- The name, the kind of place, the address where the record carries one, and any website, phone or opening hours shown as recorded on the map are tags on OpenStreetMap way/1023433070, and can be corrected there.
- Worked out here
- Every distance, the nearest road where the record has no address, which car park and which stop are nearest, and the order of the lists are this site’s own calculations from those records. Distances are straight lines between two points, not walks along the footpaths, and the map will route the real walk on request. A mistake in any of this is a mistake here rather than on the map.