Salt, Surf and Seaweed: Experience the Natural Beauty of County Sligo
In a land rich with legend, life unfolds at a gentler pace—where seaweed baths soothe the soul, spectacular beaches stretch for miles, and the enchanting coastal village of Strandhill invites you to linger.
Strandhill Beach, Co Sligo
Rachel Mulrooney, a native of Strandhill—the seaside surf village in County Sligo—has no doubt about the appeal of this special corner of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. “Sligo has this rare magic,” she says. “It’s the wild Atlantic, the ancient mythology in the landscape, and a community that really values time in nature.”
That appreciation for the soul-soothing effects of the natural world is something you see in local people, according to Mulrooney, who raises her four children and runs Salt & Yoga Studio in Strandhill. Happily, those locals love to share their bounty of beauty, whether with the international surfers who have made Strandhill and Enniscrone villages their home from home, or visitors who come to slow down and reconnect with the wonders of the wilds around them.
Landscapes full of legend
From the landmark tabletop mountain Ben Bulben to the Knocknarea and Ox mountains, the very shape of the land in Sligo is steeped in myth and legend, and has been immortalised in the poetry of WB Yeats, who found the beauty here a source of inspiration.
In Irish mythology, Ben Bulben’s flat summit was the hunting ground of the legendary Fianna, elite warriors led by Fionn Mac Cumhaill, who chased the doomed lovers Diarmuid and Gráinne to their tragic fate when Diarmuid died here in the arms of his pregnant lover. It is known as a place where the veil between worlds is thin, and you might meet a fairy. Whether you climb Ben Bulben from near Drumcliffe or stroll around it from Gortarowey Forest, take time to pay homage at Yeats’s grave in Drumcliffe Cemetery before a scenic drive back to your Sligo base, with coastal cliff views and storytelling stops along the way.
Nearby, the distinctive silhouette of Knocknarea mountain is topped by the burial tomb of the mighty, mythical Queen Maeve. The burial cairn is reached by an easy trek up the paved Queen Maeve’s Trail. A great way to explore Knocknarea is in the company of Lucianne Hare of Nourished in Nature, who runs half- or full-day seasonal foraging tours up onto the mountain or along the shoreline.
On this historical foraging hike up Knocknarea, you’ll learn to spot edible native plants, herbs and flowers, from the coconut-scented golden gorse to herb Robert, a wild geranium. Hare’s public seaweed foraging tours can be booked through the National Surf Centre or you can go for a private tour with Nourished in Nature. Bespoke options include snorkelling for deeper seaweeds or exploring the shoreline (fully clothed!) to discover what treasures the low tide reveals.
VOYA Seaweed Baths, Strandhill, Co Sligo
Surfing the waves and seaweed baths
The National Surf Centre in Strandhill is home to three surf schools in one net-zero-carbon building: Sligo Surf Experience, Strandhill Surf School and the female-owned Rebelle Surf, while the nearby Atlantic Surf School, Lodge and Hostel makes a choice of four in the lively village.
An hour southwest of Strandhill, Enniscrone village has a sleepier character thanks to its deep rural setting. But here, the surfing is as legendary as the 5km white strand that has drawn holidaymakers for generations. Instructors at the family-run North West Surf School have grown up on these waves, and beginners are in the best of hands.
Both villages also have very different expressions of another deeply traditional aspect of Sligo’s culture: therapeutic seaweed bathing.
Enniscrone’s Kilcullen Seaweed Baths were built by the Kilcullen family in 1912. Tractors still line up outside when autumn turns, as local farmers come to soak in enamel baths full of wild alginate-rich fucus serratus seaweed in heated iodine-rich seawater as a traditional cure for rheumatic aches and pains. Any day of the year, you’ll see the founder’s great-grandson Cain, bringing in the sustainably harvested seaweed by tractor at low tide – before the ex-pro surfer hops back on his board as the tide rises.
In wonderful contrast, Strandhill’s Voya Seaweed Baths offer a chic modern spa experience, but still with time-honoured methods of sustainable hand-harvesting of local seaweed at its heart. And just like at Kilcullen bathhouse, where the post-soak seaweed becomes organic fertiliser for the family’s farm, the spent seaweed from Voya baths goes to local organic farmers and community gardeners.
Edible Seaweeds, Streedagh, Co Sligo.
Great flavours and unique festivals
You will find plenty of opportunities to sample seaweed’s flavours and textures in the locality’s thriving food scene, which has been central to a modern revival of the age-old use of wild native seaweeds as a versatile food source packed with minerals, trace elements and vitamins.
At Osta Cafe and Wine Bar on the banks of Sligo town’s Garavogue River, try the house salad with sea spaghetti and air-fried nori or a seaweed-seasoned chocolate brownie. Want to know more about Irish seaweed? Join local seaweed expert and Irish Seaweed Kitchen cookbook author Dr Prannie Rhatigan for one of her seaweed identification walks on north Sligo’s shores during the summer, or a seaweed talk and demo at September's Taste of Sligo Food Festival.
Autumn is a great time to visit, as the summer crowds subside, and Sligo’s cultural calendar gears up.
This October, Salt & Soul will celebrate nine years in business by launching their new boutique wellness retreat, which combines the yoga studio’s expertise with much of what makes Sligo so special. Designed for the mindful traveller looking to recalibrate by the ocean, the weekend retreat in Strandhill will combine rejuvenating yoga sessions with surf lessons and seaweed soaks, as well as invigorating sea dips, wood-fired saunas, and vibrant local cooking at Shells Cafe and Stoked Restaurant.
“There’s something really raw and grounding about Sligo and Strandhill,” Mulrooney says. “Everything is within our reach: the surf, the beach, yoga, mountain walks. It’s a place that draws people in, gives them permission to pause, and invites them to breathe deeper – and to exhale.”
Whether you're chasing waves, walking with legends, or soaking in the sea, Sligo offers a rare kind of beauty - one that stays with you, long after you’ve left its shores