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Every Easter the historic Fairyhouse racing course hosts the Powers Gold Label Irish Grand National.

The only horse race in the world run on a beach. As the tide rolls out, the finishing posts rise and bookies open shop.

Events occur year round at Leopardstown, but the four-day Christmas Racing Festival is one of the highlights of the Irish racing calendar. Built in 1888, the course offers some of the finest hospitality suites in racing.

Also known as the Kerrygold Horse Show, this is one of the world’s top international equestrian events. Eleven competitions take place over the five-day event drawing more than 20,000 spectators.

This bleak and remote crossroads on the mountain road between Dublin and Glendalough stands at one of the highest mountain passes in Ireland. With its extensive areas of watery bog, the country is so inaccessible around here that it was a favourite hideout for Irish warriors and nationalist rebels during the centuries of conflicts between the English and Irish forces.

The oldest stadium in the Six Nations Tournament holds 48,000 irrepressible Irish supporters during the nation’s home games.

“There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet,” wrote 19th-century poet Thomas Moore in his work The Meeting of the Waters . It is perhaps not as idyllic now as it was then, but the meeting of rust-coloured rivers among wooded hills is still enticing. Avoca Handweavers, at the nearby village, produce wonderful authentic tweeds in Ireland’s oldest handweaving mill.

This high point on the little R756 road through the Wicklow Mountains is also on the mountain route to Glendalough from Dublin. Turn here to climb up to the 2,670-ft (816-m) Tonelagee viewpoint, with its breathtaking panoramic view. There are few places that better capture the lonely beauty of this mountain range.

Wicklow’s modest county town has a low-key charm, with its harbour and unpretentious pubs. The one unmissable sight is Wicklow Gaol. A shocking tale is told at this notorious historic jailhouse (closed in 1924), where hundreds of Irish rebels were detained, often tortured and, in many cases, hanged. Evocative exhibitions fill in the background, including a section on the deportation of the inmates to the colonies, such as Australia.

For those who really want to see the mountains at close hand, there’s nothing better than walking. Numerous easy marked local paths run through pretty hill country, while the Wicklow Way is for serious hikers. This 82-mile (130-km) marked path makes its way through the heart of the region, all the way from Dublin to Clonegal, in County Carlow.