Days Out NI
Castle & ruin Derry

Derry City Walls

The only completely intact walled city in Ireland, free to walk in full

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Check hoursOpen to the public from dawn to dusk; occ…
FreeNo ticket needed
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Derry City Walls — The only completely intact walled city in Ireland, free to walk in full.

  • Getting in: Free, no ticket. Climb up at any of the gates; Bishop's Gate is a common starting point.
  • Opening: Open to the public from dawn to dusk; occasionally closed for maintenance, so check before you go.
  • Inside: No building to enter; the walls are a raised walkway you walk around the old city.
  • Dogs: No specific guidance published; the walls are a public city walkway, so keep dogs on a lead. Check before you go.
  • Parking: City-centre car parks nearby at Foyleside and Quayside shopping centres and William Street.
  • Food: No facilities on the walls, but cafes, pubs and restaurants are all within a few minutes in the city centre.
Plan your visit

Walk a full mile of unbroken 17th-century rampart

The wall-top is a continuous walkway, so you climb up at one of the gates and follow it the whole way round. You pass the four original gates of 1613-18, Bishop's, Ferryquay, Butcher and Shipquay, plus three later ones, and a string of bastions where the guns sit. Twenty-four cannons are displayed along the route, restored in 2005, their origins all precisely documented. The biggest draw is Roaring Meg on the double bastion, a gun that fired during the great siege. The walls vary from 12 to 35 feet wide, so there is room to stop and look down on both sides.

Free Built 1613-1618 Walk the full circuit 24 restored cannons Roaring Meg Views into the Bogside
Good to know before you go:

The walls are a centrepiece for Derry's events, from the Halloween festival, one of the biggest in Europe, to seasonal guided tours and living-history walks run by local operators. Dates change each year, so check what is on before you travel.

Before you set off

What to bring

  • 👟Sturdy shoesRuins mean uneven ground, worn steps and the odd spiral stair.
  • 🧥A coatMost of it is open to the sky, so dress for the day and enjoy the fresh air.
  • 📷A cameraThe old stonework and the views are the whole point — you will want photos.
  • 💧Water and a snackFew ruins have a café right on site, so bring a little something.
Good to know

Everything before you go

Getting in
Free, no ticket. Climb up at any of the gates; Bishop's Gate is a common starting point
Opening
Open to the public from dawn to dusk; occasionally closed for maintenance, so check before you go
Can you go inside
No building to enter; the walls are a raised walkway you walk around the old city
Food
No facilities on the walls, but cafes, pubs and restaurants are all within a few minutes in the city centre
Dogs
No specific guidance published; the walls are a public city walkway, so keep dogs on a lead. Check before you go
Parking
City-centre car parks nearby at Foyleside and Quayside shopping centres and William Street
Accessibility
Step-free routes reach the ramparts at some gates, though there are also stepped access points; surfaces are firm. Seating at intervals
How long to allow
About 45 minutes to an hour for the full circuit, longer with stops
Address
Derry Walls, city centre, Derry~Londonderry, BT48 6BT
Questions

Before you go

Is it free to visit?
Free, no ticket. Climb up at any of the gates; Bishop's Gate is a common starting point
Can you go inside?
No building to enter; the walls are a raised walkway you walk around the old city
When is it open?
Open to the public from dawn to dusk; occasionally closed for maintenance, so check before you go
Can I bring the dog?
No specific guidance published; the walls are a public city walkway, so keep dogs on a lead. Check before you go
Where do I park?
City-centre car parks nearby at Foyleside and Quayside shopping centres and William Street
Getting there

Derry City Walls is at Derry Walls, city centre, Derry~Londonderry, BT48 6BT. City-centre car parks nearby at Foyleside and Quayside shopping centres and William Street. Tap below for directions.

Directions on Google MapsOfficial website See it on our map
Nearby

Make more of the day

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The story

The story of the Derry Walls

The walls were built between 1613 and 1618 by The Honourable The Irish Society, the London consortium charged with planting the new city of Londonderry. They enclosed a fresh settlement of English and Scottish colonists, laid out on a Renaissance grid around a central Diamond. The result was a complete defensive circuit roughly 1.5 km long and up to eight metres high, the last city walls built in Ireland and the only set to survive complete.

Their reputation was made in 1689. During the Siege of Derry, Jacobite forces loyal to James II surrounded the city for 105 days while the Protestant defenders held out behind the walls. The gates had famously been shut against the king's troops by thirteen apprentice boys in December 1688. The walls were never breached, earning Derry the name the Maiden City, and the siege is still commemorated each year.

Much of what you see was reinforced and added over the following centuries. Three further gates, Castle, New and Magazine, were cut to ease traffic, and the bastions were fitted with cannon. Twenty-four of those guns survive and were restored in 2005, the largest collection in Europe whose precise origins are known, with Roaring Meg the most celebrated.

Today the walls are a state-care monument looked after by the Department for Communities Historic Environment Division. They remain a working part of the city, a free public walkway that locals and visitors use every day, while preserving the four-hundred-year-old street plan they were built to defend.