Glenveagh National Park (Páirc Náisiúnta Ghleann Bheatha)

A vast wilderness of mountains, lakes and a fairytale castle.

Glenveagh protects over 16,000 hectares of the Derryveagh Mountains, glens and Lough Beagh, roamed by red deer and golden eagles. On the lakeshore stands Glenveagh Castle with its celebrated gardens.

At a glance

• Over 16,000 hectares of wilderness
• Red deer and reintroduced golden eagles
• Glenveagh Castle and gardens on the lough

In County Donegal

Glenveagh National Park is in County Donegal, Dún na nGall in Irish, which means “fort of the foreigners (the Vikings)”.

More in Donegal

• Gweedore Gaeltacht (Gaoth Dobhair): The largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland, in northwest Donegal, and a stronghold of Ulster Irish and traditional music.
• Slieve League (Sliabh Liag): Among the highest sea cliffs in Europe, rising almost 600 metres from the Atlantic in County Donegal.
• Errigal (An Earagail): Donegal's highest peak, a quartzite cone that glows pink at sunset.
• Malin Head (Cionn Mhálanna): The northernmost point of the island of Ireland.

Other places of this kind

• The Burren (Boireann): A vast, silvery limestone landscape in County Clare, where Arctic and Mediterranean flowers grow side by side.
• The Cooley Peninsula (Cúailnge): A mountainous peninsula in County Louth, and the setting of Ireland's great epic, the Táin Bó Cúailnge.
• The Glens of Antrim (Glinntí Aontroma): Nine green valleys running from the Antrim plateau down to the sea.
• The Curragh (An Currach): A great open plain of grassland, the historic home of Irish horse racing.
• The Glen of Aherlow (Gleann Eatharlaí): A lush valley between the Galtees and Slievenamuck.
• Sliabh Beagh (Sliabh Beagh): A wild upland of blanket bog and heather where three counties meet.

The Irish name

The Irish form of Glenveagh National Park is Páirc Náisiúnta Ghleann Bheatha. You can hear it spoken, and take apart names like it, in the Placename Explorer. The authoritative record for any Irish place-name is logainm.ie.