Samuels Heritage

Ireland’s oldest city, founded by the Vikings in 914 on the River Suir, with a walkable medieval Viking Triangle and its own crystal-making tradition.

Waterford is Ireland’s oldest city, founded by Viking settlers in 914 on the south bank of the River Suir, and it still carries that layered history in its street plan: the Viking Triangle at its centre, named for the shape of the original walled settlement, holds thirteen centuries of building in a few compact streets. Reginald’s Tower, at the tip of the triangle, is Ireland’s oldest civic building and the only urban monument in the country to keep its Norse name.

A B&B or guesthouse in Waterford city puts the Viking Triangle, the Georgian quays along the Suir, and the shopping streets of the city centre all within easy walking distance. The House of Waterford Crystal, continuing a craft tradition associated with the city since the eighteenth century, sits right in the same quarter, alongside the Medieval Museum and Bishop’s Palace, which between them hold one of the more concentrated runs of museums in any Irish city of this size.

Waterford’s architecture reflects its long, continuous history rather than one single period: Viking and Anglo-Norman remains sit alongside a Georgian mercantile core built when Waterford was one of Ireland’s busiest ports, and Christ Church Cathedral, a Georgian building on a much older site, anchors the centre of town.

The city is also a good base for the surrounding coast and countryside. The Waterford Greenway, a walking and cycling trail laid along a disused railway line, runs from the city all the way to Dungarvan, and Tramore’s beach and cliff walks are a short drive away, so a stay in the city centre can easily combine urban sightseeing with a day outdoors.