Restaurant · Wicklow Mountains National Park
Fifty-plus years of Irish cooking beside rare literary first editions
Overview
Set in the village of Laragh, minutes from Glendalough, this family run restaurant has been feeding walkers, day trippers and locals for over 50 years. It sits on the doorstep of the valley, so it works as a natural bookend to a day spent around the lakes, the monastic site, the Spinc or a stretch of the Wicklow Way. The building is rustic and wood beamed, with a whiskey bar and a homely, lived in feel rather than anything polished or minimal.
Parkwolf’s verdictWhy stop hereMap
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Wicklow Mountains Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Wicklow Mountains National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Wicklow Heather Restaurant“The Wicklow Heather Restaurant is coming up in Laragh. If you stop, have a look in the Irish Writers Room, where first editions of Ulysses and Dracula are among the books on display.”
Plays as you drive up to Wicklow Heather Restaurant in the Parkwolf Wicklow Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
The most unusual thing indoors is a dedicated Irish Writers Room, lined with first editions and works connected to Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Bram Stoker, W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. A first edition of Ulysses and a first edition of Dracula sit among the displays. It is worth a slow look even if you are only passing through for a coffee, and it gives the place a character you would not expect from a roadside village restaurant.
The kitchen leans Irish and Continental, with breakfast, a la carte lunch and dinner, and daily specials. Food is freshly prepared, with locally sourced and organic produce used where possible, and long standing relationships with local suppliers. Vegetarian and vegan options and a children's menu are available. Diners regularly single out the lamb, the stew and the chowder, and portions tend to be generous.
This is a village food stop rather than a sight in its own right, and you will not get valley views from the table. Service is usually warm and attentive, but it can be stretched at busy periods, so allow time rather than squeezing a meal in before a fixed departure.
Wildlife
204 sightingsSika DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
18 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
15 sightingsGrey HeronMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
11 sightingsCommon RavenMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
28 sightingsEuropean Common FrogMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
11 sightingsViviparous LizardMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Wicklow Mountains. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyBrockagh Blue Loop4.4 km · 1.8 hr · 0.1 km awayEasy 4.5 km forest loop at Brockagh, touching the Wicklow Way
ModerateBrockagh Mountain10.6 km · 3.8 hr · 0.2 km awaySustained climb from Laragh to open heather and broad Glendalough views
ChallengingThe Spinc and Camaderry Loop17.9 km · 6.8 hr · 1.6 km awayBoardwalk cliffs above the lakes, then open ground to Camaderry
ModerateThe Avonmore Way12.9 km · 3.5 hr · 1.8 km awayOne honest climb, ridge-road views, then bluebell oakwoods by the river
ModerateWoodland Road (Silver Route)4.8 km · 1.8 hr · 2.9 km awayMixed woodland, river path and lake boardwalk on a 4.8 km loop
ModeratePoulanass and St. Kevin’s Cell1 km · 45 min · 3 km awaySteep waterfall climb to a monastic ruin above the Upper Lake
ChallengingDerrybawn, Cullentragh Mountain, Mullacor, and Lugduff SE Top Loop14.3 km · 5.8 hr · 3 km awayFour summits, boggy ridges and lake views on a long Glendalough loopChallengingSpinc Trail (Short Route)6 km · 2.3 hr · 3 km awaySteep climb past Poulanass to a boardwalk high above Upper Lake
Sight · 0.8 km awaySaint Saviour's PrioryFinely carved Romanesque arch and window, reached on a woodland walk
Sight · 1.6 km awayGlendalough Monastic Site and Visitor CentreSixth-century round tower and stone churches in a glacier-carved valley
Lodging · 1.7 km awayThe Glendalough HotelStay in the valley itself, then walk before the crowds arrive
Sight · 2.2 km awayGlendalough Lower LakeReed-fringed glacial water on the boardwalk route to the Upper Lake
Visitor center · 3 km awayWicklow Mountains National Park Information OfficeMaps, knowledgeable staff and a nature display near Upper Lake
Sight · 3.1 km awayPoulanass WaterfallSteep wooded climb to dark plunge pools above the Upper Lake
Sight · 3.1 km awayReefert ChurchRuined granite church among trees, burial place of the kings
Sight · 3.2 km awayThree Stone DocksThree Stone Docks: low stone piers on the glacial Upper LakeParkwolf’s Wicklow Mountains ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
