Laytown Horse Races

Every September in Laytown, County Meath, they Laytown Strand Races are run. We got to attend the 2014 races, and it was a great time. It lasts a few hours and the horses race directly on the sand. There are plenty of good spots for viewing the horses, even at the finish line. In addition to the races, there's plenty of food and drink vendors on site. There are also various betting stations to place bets on the races.

Trim Castle

The site of Trim Castle was used during the filming of Braveheart. While being a film set for an Oscar award winning movie can make it fun to visit, the site stands as a top notch stop without that modern portion of its history. Built back in the 12th century, the ruins of the castle are an excellent site to see today. The grounds are kept up quite nicely.

There is a tour option that takes you into the castle and gives you a view from the top of the remaining tower, but we decided to skip it for our stay and to just concentrate on taking in the view of the grounds, which was a great experience.

There are two spaces to take in, the main castle grounds and then across the creek and up to the bell tower on the hill. Be sure not to miss the tower on the hill, which gives visitors a great sweeping view of Trim Castle.

Loughcrew

Loughcrew was one of our favorite sites in Ireland. This ancient site, which is largely intact and has not been excavated, offers visitors a glimpse into what life was like about 5,500 years ago (which is 2,000 more than the Egyptian pyramids). You can see original petroglyphs inside, which are fascinating.

Only a few people are allowed inside the passage tomb at any one time, and it is very tight at some points. A tour guide also joins tourists into the passage to tell stories and show the petroglyphs on the walls as well as how to sun rise comes through the passage and lights the main space.

In addition the site itself offers gorgeous views of multiple counties in Ireland from its high vantage point.

It is a bit of a hike to get up there, so this isn't something for people who have difficulty doing uphill hikes. However, the hike is well worth it. On the climb up though, beware of all of the animal droppings.