A new study has revealed the 10 most popular castles in Ireland, with Dublin Castle taking the top spot.
The research, carried out by travel insurance experts Chill, analysed Google search demand, as well as Instagram and TikTok activity, to find out which historic landmarks are attracting the most attention from visitors this summer.
The study comes as interest in heritage tourism continues to grow, with searches for "castle tours Ireland" increasing by 80% over the past three months.
Dublin Castle ranked first after recording 135,000 monthly Google searches in Ireland, alongside more than 116,000 Instagram posts featuring the landmark.
Coming in second was Malahide Castle, which attracts 74,000 monthly searches and is Ireland's most popular castle on TikTok, with almost 5,800 posts.
Blarney Castle in Co. Cork claimed third place. Home to the famous Blarney Stone, it had the biggest Instagram presence of any Irish castle in the rankings, with more than 126,000 posts.
Kilkenny Castle and the Rock of Cashel completed the top five.
The full top 10 is:
| Rank | Castle | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dublin Castle | Dublin |
| 2 | Malahide Castle | Dublin |
| 3 | Blarney Castle | Cork |
| 4 | Kilkenny Castle | Kilkenny |
| 5 | Rock of Cashel | Tipperary |
| 6 | Ashford Castle | Mayo |
| 7 | Dunluce Castle | Antrim |
| 8 | Bunratty Castle | Clare |
| 9 | Ross Castle | Killarney, Kerry |
| 10 | Trim Castle | Meath |
Looking beyond Ireland, Edinburgh Castle was named Europe's most popular castle.
The Scottish landmark, which welcomes almost two million visitors each year, generated more than 800,000 Instagram posts, 40,900 TikTok posts and an average of 6,600 monthly Google searches from Irish users.
Commenting on the findings, Ian O'Reilly, Director of Sales and Operations at Chill, encouraged anyone planning to explore castles at home or abroad this summer to make sure they are prepared before travelling, including having appropriate travel insurance in place.
