Kilkenny

Introduction

streetside in Kilkenny

© decuirrl

Kilkenny is the capital of Kilkenny County, located along the River Nore in the southern central parts of Ireland, about halfway between Dublin and Limerick, which are both around 100 kilometres away. It has around 22,000 inhabitants and in 2009 it celebrated the 400th birthday as being a city.

Sights and Activities

• Kilkenny Castle
• St. Canice's Cathedral and round tower
• Rothe House
• Shee Alms House
• Black Abbey
• St. Mary's Cathedral
• Kilkenny Town Hall
• St. Francis Abbey
• Grace's Castle
• St. John's Prior

Events and Festivals

• Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá ’le Pádraig or Lá Fhéile Pádraig) is Ireland's famous national holiday, celebrating one of Ireland's patron saints, Saint Patrick.
• Kilkenny Arts Week
• The Cat Laughs comedy festival
• The Rhythm and Roots festival
• The Source concert

Weather

Like all of Ireland, Kilkenny has a cool maritime climate. Summers from June to August average around 18 °C to 20 °C during the day and around 10 °C at night, while winters from December to February are around 8 °C during the day and slightly above zero at night on average. September to January are the wettest months with around 70-90mm of precipitation a month, but it rarely is dry here, with June being the driest month at 50mm of rain.

Getting There

By Train

Kilkenny has five trains daily to/from Dublin (1¾ hours) and Waterford (50 minutes).

By Car

From Dublin it is about 2 hours along the M7 and M9 motorways.

By Bus

Bus Eireann operates buses to Cork (three hours, two daily), Dublin (2¼ hours, five daily) and Waterford (one hour, two daily).

Sleep

Upscale

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Keep Connected

Internet

Public WiFi services are available in many cafes, bars, restaurants and hotels. They are also available on most Irish long-distance Intercity trains, some commuter trains and buses. Internet cafes are available in major urban areas, but are not as common as they once were, due to the growth of 3G data services and public WiFi. However, you will still find them in areas popular with tourists.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

There are currently four main mobile phone operators dominating the Irish market:

• Vodafone (prefix 087 - GSM900/1800 - 3G 2100)
• O2 (prefix 086 - GSM900/1800 - 3G 2100)
• Meteor (prefix 085 - GSM900/1800)
• Three (prefix 083 - GSM900/1800 - 3G 2100)

Most European phones and operators will allow you to roam on Irish networks, however you should ensure before arrival that your phone can operate on the GSM900/1800 network and that your service provider has set you up to allow roaming. This is especially true for visitors from outside the Eurozone. You can also buy a cheap prepay SIM card if you have an unlocked handset. This can be considerably cheaper as it means that you will be assigned an Irish number which you can be called at during your trip and your outgoing calls are charged at normal Irish mobile rates.
Pay phones are fairly widely available (but becoming less so) and most take euro coins, prepaid calling cards and major credit cards.
The police service (An Garda Síochána) and fire services can be contacted by dialling 999 or 112 on any phone or mobile phone throughout the country.

Post

An Post is the national postal service provider. They're generally open Monday to Friday, between 9:00am to 5:30pm or 6:00pm, and smaller post offices would also impose lunch-time closure. Half-day service is available on Saturday, from 9:00am to 1:00pm. The General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street in Dublin is the main post office in Dublin, and it is open Monday to Saturday, from 8:00am to 8:00pm. The post offices are closed on Sunday and Bank Holiday. If you want to use private courier services for sending packages you can also use companies like DHL, UPS or TNT.