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County Carlow
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| Attractions: Browns Hill Dolmen Old Leighlin Cathedral |
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| Co. Carlow Ceatharlach Prov. Leinster Republic of Ireland |
| Major cities: Carlow, Ballon, Tullow, Rathvilly |
| Surface: 896 km2 Population: 45,845 |
County Carlow, a small triangle shape county, is bordered by the Blackstairs Mountains. These granite mountains are offering several challenging climbing courses for the thrill seeking mountaineer. If your character is not that adventurous you may like the fertile limestone area of the Barrow Valley in the west or the uplands in the north-west.
The main rivers in the county, the Barrow River and the River Slaney, are not known as good fishing grounds.
The megalithic monuments in County Carlow are attracting the attention by their size. The capstone of the Browns Hill Dolmen is believed to be the biggest in Europe and the chamber of the Haroldstown Dolmen, which was in use by a family as dwelling in the nineteenth century, is one of the largest in the world.
The more romantic visitor will appreciate the castles and gardens of County Carlow.
Due to the presence of the Institute of Technology the city of Carlow is a surprisingly young town. Wherever young folks are there is entertainment and Carlow is not an exception. For a rather small county town there are lots of shops, restaurants and pubs.
Every summer in June Carlow is the stage for the Éigse Carlow Arts Festival, one of Ireland's largest art festivals with visual art, performance, dance, music, literature, street spectacle, craft and film.
If you are wondering why the courthouse of Carlow seems just too big and impressive for the city you might be right. Apparently this Pantheon-like building was intended for Cork but the drawings got mixed up.