Where to Stay in Derry, Northern Ireland

What is Derry known for?

Derry is known as the second-largest city in Northern Ireland, a walled city on the River Foyle also called Londonderry. Its ramparts still stand whole. The Tower Museum and the Siege Museum hold its long story, while the Museum of Free Derry keeps the record of the Cityside slopes.

St Columba's Church carries the name of the saint tied to the city's origins. The Foyle Valley Railway Museum recalls the lines that once crossed the river.

What are the main landmarks in Derry?

Derry's landmarks gather along the walls and both banks of the River Foyle. The Tower Museum and the Siege Museum stand within the old walled city, near St Columba's Church and St. Augustine's Church. Free Derry Corner marks the slopes below.

The Museum of Free Derry sits close by, while the Foyle Valley Railway Museum keeps the railway record, and across the water Prehen House and St. Columb's Park House stand on the Waterside. Celtic Park lies west of the centre.

What is the history of Derry?

Derry began as a monastic settlement on the west bank of the River Foyle, its name carrying the memory of the oak grove where the community of St Columba took root. The St Columba Heritage Centre records those early centuries. The walled city rose much later.

In the early seventeenth century the great ramparts were raised around the streets on the higher ground, enclosing a planned town above the river, and the name Londonderry came into official use alongside the older Derry. The Siege Museum tells of the long siege the walls withstood in 1689. The city spread across both banks as it grew, and bridges were thrown over the River Foyle to join Cityside and the Waterside.

Rail came too. The Foyle Valley Railway Museum keeps the record of the lines that once served the crossings and the docks, while the twentieth-century history of the Cityside slopes is gathered at the Museum of Free Derry near Free Derry Corner. On the Waterside, Prehen House and the barracks square at Ebrington stand from the city's later expansion.

The grown city spans the river it rose beside, a walled place set on the border country of Northern Ireland.

Where is Derry?

Derry stands on the River Foyle in the north-west of Northern Ireland, close to the border with County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. The city covers both banks of the river. Water splits it in two.

Cityside and the old walled centre sit on the west bank, while the Waterside spreads across the east, joined by bridges over the Foyle. Beyond the built-up area the estuary opens northward toward the sea.

What is the climate of Derry?

Derry has a mild, wet oceanic climate shaped by the Atlantic and the estuary of the River Foyle. Winters are cool and damp, with rain rolling in off the sea and low cloud over the border country toward County Donegal. Summers are cool and green.

Rain falls through every season. When the clear days come, the river and the hills across the Foyle stand out sharply under a wide northern sky.

How do you get to Derry?

Derry is reached by air, rail, and road across the north-west of Northern Ireland. Its airport lies east of the city, out beyond the Waterside. Trains run along the coast.

The line follows the shore toward the wider region, and roads cross the River Foyle by the city bridges and run on across the border toward County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.