Where to See Ireland's Best Autumn Colour: 8 Walks from Wicklow to Mayo
There is a fortnight in October when Ireland stops being green.
It doesn't last. One good Atlantic gale and the whole thing is on the ground. But if you catch it ... a still, bright day in the middle of the month, the light coming in low and sideways, there is nowhere better in the world to be standing in a wood.
Here's where to go, what it takes to get around, and roughly when to leave the house.
When does autumn colour actually peak in Ireland?
Later than people expect. Birch and rowan turn first, usually in the last days of September. Beech follows through early October and is the one that does the showing off that deep copper-orange that makes a whole avenue glow. Oak is the stubborn one and holds its leaves into November, going a slow rust brown rather than anything dramatic.
So the sweet spot for most of the country is mid-October to the first week of November, with sheltered river valleys holding on longest. Exposed coastal woodland can be stripped bare a fortnight earlier by one bad night of wind.
Which is worth knowing, because we don't have much of this to spare. Ireland has around 11% forest cover — one of the lowest figures in Europe, against an EU average closer to 38% and a 2024 study found that barely 1% of the country is genuinely natural, native woodland. The places below aren't just pretty. They're rare.
Eight autumn walks, east to west
1. The Spinc, Glendalough, Co. Wicklow
9.5km loop · about 3.5 hours · 380m of climbing · Upper car park
The big one. Over 600 steps at the start take you up out of the trees and onto the boardwalk along the ridge, where you're looking straight down onto the Upper Lake with the whole valley turning underneath you. The descent through Glenealo and the old Miners' Village is the best part, and the bit most people are too tired to enjoy. Go early as the car park fills by ten on a good Saturday. The rocks after the river crossing are genuinely slippy when wet.
Glendalough is also the valley behind our newest design. We drew it this summer and it has barely stopped moving since. The design features the two lakes, the round tower and the fall of the valley, printed by hand on organic cotton.
2. Devil's Glen, Ashford, Co. Wicklow
5.2km waterfall loop · about 2 hours · moderate
A glacial meltwater gorge with the Vartry River tearing down through it, and a mix of beech, Spanish chestnut and ash that puts on one of the best colour displays in Leinster. There are sculptures set into the woodland along the way, which sounds twee and isn't. If you've the time, the 4.2km Seamus Heaney Walk loops through the high forest above.
3. Raven Point, Curracloe, Co. Wexford
6.8km there and back · about 1.5 hours · flat and easy
Corsican pine was planted here from the 1930s onwards to pin the dunes down and protect the Slobs behind them, so it's a strange, dark, needle-floored wood that suddenly opens onto miles of empty beach. Red squirrels if you're patient, seals offshore, and from October the geese start arriving on the North Slob in numbers you have to see to believe. The Raven Point is one of our most loved walks, through the woods onto the beach, pure heaven.
4. Glenbarrow, Slieve Bloom, Co. Laois
4.5km loop · about 1.5 hours · strenuous in places
The Barrow starts up here as a mountain stream and drops through a three-tiered waterfall that is worth the whole drive on its own. Down into the woods, up along the river, steep steps out, and back around on a boardwalk through natural woodland. Boots, not runners. No dogs on this one.
5. Portumna Forest Park, Co. Galway
Rinmaher trail 12.4km · allow 3–4 hours walking · nearly flat
Four hundred and fifty hectares of ash, beech and silver birch running right down to the shore of Lough Derg. Fallow deer, red squirrel, fox and badger and white-tailed sea eagles have nested nearby in recent years. If 12km is too much, shorter woodland trails start from the same car park and give you most of the colour for a quarter of the effort.
6. Coole Park, Gort, Co. Galway
Seven Woods trail 4.5km · Family trail 1.75km · easy
Lady Gregory's estate, and the wood Yeats was writing about in The Wild Swans at Coole : "the trees are in their autumn beauty, the woodland paths are dry." He wasn't exaggerating. The autograph tree still carries the initials of half the Irish Literary Revival cut into its bark, and in autumn the turlough fills and the swans come back to it. If you only do one walk on this list with somebody who doesn't really do walks, do this one.
7. Brackloon Wood, near Westport, Co. Mayo
2.8km loop · about an hour · easy
Semi-natural Atlantic oak woodland with some of the oaks around 200 years old and the Owenwee river running through it and moss over everything. Small, quiet, and completely different in character to a planted forest. Six kilometres out the Leenane road from Westport, and almost nobody there.
8. Doolough Valley and Aasleagh Falls, Co. Mayo
A drive, with short walks at either end
Not woodland at all. This is bog and mountain going copper and russet and black, the lake dead still between Mweelrea and the Sheeffry Hills, and the famine memorial standing on the roadside to remind you what happened here in 1849. We wrote about Doolough properly a couple of autumns ago. Finish at Aasleagh Falls, where the Erriff comes down into the Killary. There is no better hour in the Irish year.
What to actually wear for it
October is the awkward one. You will be too warm on the climb and too cold at the top, and there is a fair chance of getting rained on and dried out twice in the same afternoon.
The answer is three layers rather than one warm one — and the reason is breathability. A single heavy coat traps the sweat you make going uphill, and that damp is what makes you cold the moment you stop. Layers let the moisture move outward and let you take heat off without taking everything off.
Next to the skin: organic cotton
Start with a tee that breathes. Ours are 100% organic cotton, screen-printed by hand in Dublin and Wexford. Organic cotton is grown without chemicals, certified OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and Fair Wear certified. On a mild day this and a fleece is the whole system.
The middle layer: hoodies and sweaters
This is the layer most people get wrong, by going too heavy. An organic cotton hoodie or sweater is brushed on the inside, holds warmth without sealing you in, and unlike a synthetic mid-layer, doesn't hold a smell after three walks. Wear it on its own on the flat and stuff it in the bag on the climb.
Browse the hoodies and sweats →
The outer layer: recycled fleece
Wind is what actually ruins an Irish autumn walk — not cold, and usually not rain. Our fleeces are 100% premium recycled polyester with a bonded polar fleece inner and contrast softshell panels across the shoulders, collar and pockets, which is the part that takes the edge off a breeze coming down a valley. Warm, breathable, and made entirely from recycled fibre.
There are three, and they do different jobs:
- The Gilet — sleeveless, sherpa shell. Core warm, arms free. The one for a mild day or for wearing over a hoodie without cooking.
- The Trekker Fleece — full sleeves, brushed fleece shell, zip welt pockets. Cut with a bit of give so it works over a tee or over a sweater.
- The Explorer Fleece Jacket — the proper outer layer, sized to go over a sweater. This is the one for Doolough in November.
See the whole fleece collection →
Two things nobody tells you
Wet beech leaves on a slope are as slick as ice, so grip matters more than waterproofing. And bring proper organic cotton socks — cold feet end a walk faster than rain ever will.
If you want more of Wicklow specifically, we went into it in the best hiking in Wicklow off the beaten path.
And then the dark half begins
The old Irish year didn't have four seasons. It had two: the bright half and the dark half, and the turn between them was Samhain, at the end of October. Autumn wasn't a wind-down. It was the last of the light, and you were meant to go out and use it.
So use it. Pick one off this list, watch the forecast for a still day, and go.
If there's a walk we've missed — and we've definitely missed some — tell us. We build this list out every year.