Derry
Walk the walls first: the complete circuit is the city in one loop. Derry stands on the River Foyle, and its name comes from Doire, the Irish for an oak grove.
County Derry
The walled city on the Foyle is the headline, with the Sperrins behind it and a fine coast at Castlerock and Portstewart. Heaney's home ground around Bellaghy draws its own pilgrims.
County Derry facts
- Province: Ulster
- County town: Derry
- Setting: East coast
- Touring region: Northern Ireland
- Best for: history, cities, coast, scenic drives, hiking
- Places in the planner: 3
From the city on the River Foyle the county runs south to the Sperrin Mountains and north to the coast at Castlerock and Portstewart. Its other name is County Londonderry. The city of Derry is defined by its complete 17th-century walls, among the best preserved in Ireland.
Beyond the city, the county turns rural and quiet: the Roe Valley, the Sperrins' open hills, and small towns shaped by linen and farming. Seamus Heaney, the Nobel Prize-winning poet, was born in the south of the county, and his home ground around Bellaghy is now a place of literary pilgrimage. The coast and the city pair well together: a morning walking the walls and visiting the museums, an afternoon on the Downhill strand or in the Glenshane hills, and an evening back in the city's pubs and restaurants makes for a balanced stay.
Top sights in Derry
Derry City Walls
Complete 17th-century city walls with gates, bastions and views over the Foyle.
Mussenden Temple and Downhill
A clifftop temple on the Downhill estate above a long strand, on the county's north coast.
The Sperrin Mountains
A range of open, quiet hills in the south of the county, popular for walking.
Seamus Heaney HomePlace
An arts and literary centre in Bellaghy celebrating the poet's life and work in his home landscape.
Roe Valley Country Park
A wooded river valley near Limavady with trails and a historic mill.
Towns & cities in Derry
Coleraine
Market town near the coast and the River Bann.
Limavady
Town beneath Binevenagh mountain at the edge of the Roe Valley.
Magherafelt
Market town in the south of the county near Lough Neagh.
Best time to visit
Spring to autumn is best for the coast and Sperrin walks. The city is rewarding year-round, and its autumn cultural calendar is particularly lively.
Getting there
City of Derry Airport serves the county, and Belfast's airports are within reach by road. From Dublin, the drive northwest takes around three and a half hours.
Places for your trip
- Derry: Walk the walls first: the complete circuit is the city in one loop. Derry stands on the River Foyle, and its name comes from Doire, the Irish for an oak grove.
- Derry City Walls: The Derry city walls, built in the early 17th century, form a complete circuit around the old city.
- Mussenden Temple and Downhill: Mussenden Temple is an 18th-century cliff-top folly above Downhill Strand on the north coast.
What's on
No anchor festival is based here, but the Irish year is full: next up nationally is TradFest (20–24 Jan 2027, Temple Bar, Dublin). See the full events calendar
Nearby counties
County Donegal
Ireland's north-west runs on long roads and Atlantic weather: sea cliffs at Slieve League, Gaeltacht villages in the west and Malin Head at the top. Give it days, not hours.
County Tyrone
The Sperrins give the walking and the dark skies; the story is emigration, told at the Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh. A county of market towns, linen history and people who left.
County Fermanagh
Water is the county: Upper and Lower Lough Erne, more than a hundred islands and an island county town at Enniskillen. Hire a boat and the place makes sense.
Part of Northern Ireland.