County Wicklow is located south of Dublin City on the east coast of Ireland. It is adorned with outstanding natural beauty, with stunning mountains, lakes and rivers - all contained within a relatively small land mass. The county relies heavily on tourism as a source of revenue. It certainly provides the visitor with a wonderful choice of activities and sightseeing.
The county is bordered by the Irish Sea and the counties of Carlow, Kildare, Wexford, as well as two parts of what was County Dublin, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South County Dublin. Wicklow is known as the Garden of Ireland because of its scenery.
The population of the county has grown at an accelerated pace during the boom years in the Irish economy. Its proximity to Dublin, with excellent infrastructure in road and rail services created massive residential development in the Bray and Greystones area in particular.as 126,194.
The County Town is Wicklow in the south of the county although the largest urban centre is Bray (pop. 31,901), on the northern border and effectively a Dublin suburb. Other main towns include Greystones (pop. 14,569), and Arklow (pop. 11,749). All of these towns are situated on the east coast.
To the west of the county, and bordering Kildare and Carlow, you have the two main market towns of the county, Blessington and Baltinglass. Russborough House stands at Blessington and is a magnificent Palladian mansion that houses the famous Alfred Beit art collection. It also has beautiful gardens and is open to the public.
Wicklow is most famous for its mountains. The Wicklow Mountains are the largest continuous upland region on the island of Ireland; the highest mountain in the range, Lugnaquilla, rises to 925 m.
The Wicklow Way, the oldest way marked long distance walking trail in Ireland, traverses the range, although tending to avoid major summits; the highest point, White Hill is at 630 m. The views of Dublin City from the Sally Gap range are stunning and are much favoured driving and sightseeing trail for Dubliners at the weekends. Wicklow also has beaches, the most famous being Bray, with its seafront promenade that is akin to Brighton in the UK.
Greystones, and Brittas Bay are two very popular beach areas. Along with mountains come the rivers including the Avoca and the Liffey; other natural features include Lough Dan and Lough Tay, and the lakes of Glendalough.
Blessington Lake is a man made reservoir serving Dublin with much of its water needs and surrounded by great amenities for sailing, golfing and swimming and a luxury hotel and resort.
For charm, do not miss the picture postcard village of Enniskerry which is close to the famous Powerscourt Demense and waterfall (the highest in Ireland). Powerscourt was owned by the Slazenger family of sports goods fame but was burned down in the seventies. It is now fully restored as a five star Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Spa and Golf Club. The golf course ranks up there with best in the world for the stunning scenery that makes it difficult to focus on the golf. In fact the county is littered with outstanding golf courses and the visitor will be spoilt for choice.
Further south on the Wexford border, lies the town of Arklow, an important industrial town and port that provides much employment in the area.
There is so much choice of accommodation, leisure activity, eating and drinking establishments, places of peace and tranquility and easy access from the capital city of Ireland that Wicklow is truly a tourist paradise.
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