Killybegs

Killybegs is the biggest fishing port in Ireland by landings, with a deep natural harbour that takes the large pelagic vessels - the Irish mackerel, herring and blue whiting fleet, some of the boats over sixty metres and among the most valuable fishing vessels in Europe. Watching them work the quay is not a curated experience but it is a genuinely impressive one, and it makes clear how industrial modern fishing is. The town also had a carpet-making industry: Donegal Carpets, whose hand-knotted looms produced carpets for Aras an Uachtarain, the White House and the Vatican, and the maritime and heritage centre in the former carpet factory covers both trades, with a surviving loom. The Killybegs Seafood Shack and the town's restaurants sell what is landed. A seafood festival runs in summer. It is a working industrial town rather than a pretty harbour village and does not pretend otherwise.

What you actually see

• The pelagic fleet - large trawlers working the quay in Ireland's biggest port.
• The carpet loom - the hand-knotted Donegal Carpets tradition, in the heritage centre.
• The landings - mackerel, herring and blue whiting in industrial quantity.
• The seafood festival - the summer event around the harbour.

When to go

April to September; the seafood festival is in summer. Landing activity depends on the season and the quota calendar rather than the tourist one - ask locally what is running.

Honest expectations

An industrial port, not a scenic fishing village - noisy, busy with lorries, and smelling of fish. The quays are working areas with restricted access. The heritage centre is small.

Nearby

Slieve League is west; Donegal town and Ardara are inland and north.