Wicklow Makes National Geographic Top 35

The Black Castle, Wicklow Town. Pic: Glaucia Bernardo

t’s hardly a secret that the Garden County is one of Ireland’s favourite destinations, but National Geographic have now declared us one of the world’s greatest escapes.

In their just-published Best Of The World, the globe-trotting giant has included Wicklow in its 35 Destinations For 2023.

Which means we’re sitting pretty alongside the likes of Greece’s Dodecanese Islands, Aboriginal Australia, Sierra Sur in Mexico, the Austrian Alps, Choquequirao in Peru, Switzerland, San Francisco, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago.

Listed under the Family section, Wicklow may have many famous attractions – Glendalough, Powerscourt, Joe’s Chipper – but the National Georgraphic people are particularly excited and delighted by one shiny new attraction.

Appearing in their December issue, here’s what the NG gang have to say…

A multi-million pound treetop walk is just part of the Irish garden county’s new appeal

Wicklow is Ireland’s ‘garden county’ — similar in size to England’s Cotswolds and crammed with mountain trails for hikers and bikers, stately Palladian mansions, wild waterfalls and an underrated coast. As of this year, it’s also home to Ireland’s tallest slide and an exhilarating new walkway that gently ramps up to immerse visitors in the tree canopy itself.

Beyond the Trees Avondale is a revamped experience at Avondale Forest Park. The fully accessible canopy walk opens up birds’ eye views of an estate with over 100 tree species, while the swirling, 12-storey slide is the centrepiece of a wooden structure shaped like a giant pint of Guinness (the whoops you hear spraying about inside are from adults and kids alike).

So, count yourselves lucky, kids. You don’t have very far to go when it comes to holidaying in one of the 35 wonders of the natural world.

BOOM!

Now, go make the most of it, and take a hike, here.