According to the ninth edition of the Lonely Planet Ireland guidebook, which was published this week, many areas in Mayo were highly recommended as places to visit as the county has “pub saturated Ballina, busy Castlebar, and Georgian jewel Westport”.
Lonely Planet describes Westport, with its “central location” as a “convenient and enjoyable base for exploring the county” and “the town’s Georgian streets, lime tree-shaded riverside mall, and colourful pubs are about as photogenic as Ireland gets.”
Other picturesque areas noted include the recently opened Ballycroy National Park as it “is a gorgeously scenic region”; the “pristine beaches of the Mullet Peninsula”, and the River Moy, “which pumps right through the heart” of Ballina is “one of the most prolific rivers in Europe for catching the scaly critters”.
Castlebar is described “as a hub for shops and services, but most places of interest for visitors lie outside the town centre” and it has a “traffic-choked (and poorly signed ) one-way road system”.
The overall consensus of this recent travel edition is that Ireland “needs to draw on more of its unique culture and traditions in order to continue to attract tourists from around the world”.
