Introduction to Bray, Ireland

BRAY, a resort first developed in the 1850s when the railway was extended south of Dún Laoghaire, now welcomes hordes of visitors taking the DART from Dublin on summer weekends with a seafront full of video arcades, B&Bs and fast-food shops. Inevitably the town has lost some of its genteel Victorian charm, but it does boast a superb sand and shingle beach and there are fine walks to be had up around Bray Head, a knob of rock pushing into the sea, where a massive cross, erected to mark the holy year of 1950, serves as a reminder that you are still in Catholic Europe.

The Bray Heritage Centre, in the Old Court House on Main Road (Mon–Fri 9.30am–4.30pm, until 5pm June–Aug, Sat 10am–3pm; €3), focuses on local history and the engineer William Dargan (1799–1867), who brought the railway to the town and is thus considered the founder of modern Bray. Probably a more interesting diversion though, especially if you have children, is the National Sea-Life Centre on the seafront (Mon–Fri 10am–4pm, Sat & Sun 10am–5pm; reduced hours in winter; €8, children €5.50; tel 01/286 6939), a hi-tech aquarium specializing in Irish marine life that is both entertaining – the touch pool, full of crabs and starfish, is a particular favourite – and educational, with a strong emphasis on the need for conservation.

The tourist office can be found at the heritage centre (same hours; tel 01/286 6796) and will provide details of the three-day Jazz Festival in May, the three-day International Festival of Music and Dance in early August and October's Oscar Wilde Autumn School, a celebration of the author and wit's life, work and times. Internet access is available at Starnet (tel 01/286 1520), above Star Leisure on the seafront. Bray's outstanding restaurant option is the Tree of Idleness (tel 01/286 3498; Tues–Sun evenings), fifteen minutes' walk along the seafront from the DART station. This award-winning Greek Cypriot establishment serves the freshest seafood, wonderful moussaka, smoked lamb and suckling pig, complemented by great service, wine list and desserts. Also on the seafront is a branch of Temple Bar's Porterhouse pub, serving beers from their own microbrewery and good food.

There's an excellent two- to three-hour walk from Bray seafront south across Bray Head all the way to GREYSTONES, a small commuter town at the end of the DART line. You can follow the comparatively flat cliff path that runs above the rail tracks for most of the way, giving close-up views of rocky coves and slate pinnacles, lashed by magnificent waves on windy days. Alternatively, take on the steep climb over the top of Bray Head for great views of Killiney Bay and the cone-shaped hills inland known as Little Sugarloaf and Great Sugarloaf, with a distant backdrop of the Wicklow Mountains: the route ascends rapidly from the end of Bray seafront through pine woods and over gorse slopes to a large cross, 600ft above sea level; from here a track winds across the ridge below the 782ft summit of Bray Head, before it turns sharply left, down to join the cliff path which will bring you into Greystones. The village supports several pubs serving food, as well as The Hungry Monk, a fine traditional restaurant that's especially popular for Sunday dinner (or "linner" as they call it), served any time between noon and 8pm.

The leeward side of Bray Head partakes of the softness of Wicklow, the "Garden of Ireland", where trees and plants from five continents flourish in gardens that throw open their gates during the Wicklow Gardens Festival (May to late July). A full list of the gardens and viewing days is available from the Bray tourist office; the easiest to reach is the seventeenth-century French-style garden of Killruddery House (April–Sept daily 1–5pm; €4.50), off the Southern Cross Route on the edge of Bray (bus #84 from Main Street or a twenty-minute walk from Strand Road). By paying €2 extra you can tour Killruddery House itself (May, June & Sept daily 1–5pm), the Tudor Revival seat of the Earls of Meath, which was a famous hunting-lodge for generations.

Information by Rough Guides

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