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Ireland’s waterways

Fourteen navigations on one island: the Shannon and its lakes, the Erne, the canals and the Barrow, Lough Neagh with the Lower Bann, and Lough Corrib. Each page has the stops in route order, who may moor where, the locks and the rules.

  • 14 waterways
  • 928 km of navigation
  • 247 stops
  • 114 public moorings
  • 57 private marinas
  • 161 locks

The Shannon

  • Illustration: a cruiser on the broad Shannon below a long arched stone bridge, a hillside town with a cathedral tower and moored boats.

    River · Ireland

    Lower Shannon: Killaloe to Limerick

    From Killaloe down the Shannon Scheme’s headrace canal and through the giant Ardnacrusha lock into Limerick city and the tide: a passage for experienced skippers, not hire boats.

    13 stops · 2 locks

  • Illustration: a cruiser crossing Lough Derg towards a wooded island with a round tower and ruined churches, limestone and reeds on the shore.

    Lake · Ireland

    Lough Derg

    Ireland's third-largest lake: almost 40 km of open water, wooded shores and harbour villages between Portumna and Killaloe, with no locks at all.

    19 stops · no locks

  • Illustration: a cruiser on the Shannon through misty meadows below round towers, ruined churches and high crosses, two swans in the foreground.

    River · Ireland

    Middle Shannon & River Suck

    The quiet middle of the Shannon: about 57 km of slow river and wide callows from just above Portumna to Athlone, past Banagher, Shannonbridge and Clonmacnoise, with a 16 km side trip up the River Suck to Ballinasloe.

    12 stops · 3 locks

  • Illustration: Lough Ree with a wooded island and old church ruins, a cruiser, small sailing boats and a red buoy.

    Lake · Ireland

    Lough Ree

    The Shannon's middle lake: almost 30 km of open water and monastic islands between Athlone and Lanesborough, with sheltered inner lakes and most of the marinas at its southern end.

    21 stops · no locks

  • Illustration: hire cruisers moored along a town quay with colourful houses, a church spire and an arched stone bridge.

    River · Ireland

    Upper Shannon: Lanesborough to Carrick

    From the head of Lough Ree up to Carrick-on-Shannon: small loughs, harbour villages a short hop apart, three keeper-worked locks and the hire-boat capital of the Shannon.

    14 stops · 3 locks

  • Illustration: a cruiser passing a wooded island with a ruined castle on calm Lough Key, framed by oak leaves.

    Lake · Ireland

    Boyle River, Lough Key & Lough Allen

    Two quiet branches at the top of the Shannon: the Boyle River through Cootehall and Clarendon Lock to the wooded islands of Lough Key and the harbour at Boyle, and the little Lough Allen Canal from Battlebridge to Drumshanbo and the open reservoir lake below the Iron Mountain.

    13 stops · 4 locks

The Erne & the Shannon–Erne Waterway

  • Illustration: a cruiser in a lock on the Shannon–Erne Waterway while a boater works the gates, a stone bridge and misty drumlin hills with sheep.

    Canal · Ireland · Northern Ireland

    Shannon–Erne Waterway

    A 63 km cross-border link between Leitrim village and Upper Lough Erne, with sixteen Smart Card locks you work yourself, a string of quiet drumlin lakes and the towns of Ballinamore and Ballyconnell.

    23 stops · 16 locks

  • Illustration: a cruiser winding between small wooded islands of Upper Lough Erne, a ruined castle among the trees and a heron in the reeds.

    Lake · Northern Ireland · Ireland

    Upper Lough Erne

    A sheltered maze of wooded islands and narrow channels from Belturbet in County Cavan to the island town of Enniskillen, with no locks, public jetties with a 48-hour limit and the National Trust’s Crom estate on the way.

    14 stops · no locks

  • Illustration: a round tower and a ruined church on an island above Lower Lough Erne, with small wooded islands, a cruiser and a sailing boat.

    Lake · Northern Ireland

    Lower Lough Erne

    The big, open lake of the Erne system, from Portora Lock below Enniskillen past Devenish, White Island and Boa Island to Belleek on the border, with Killadeas and Kesh for marinas and supplies.

    16 stops · 1 lock

Canals & the Barrow

  • Illustration: a lock on the Grand Canal with black-and-white balance beams, a stone cottage, a humpback bridge and a narrowboat, a walker and dog on the towpath.

    Canal · Ireland

    Grand Canal

    Ireland's classic barge canal: 135 km and 48 hand-worked locks, counting the short Naas Branch, from Dublin's docks across Kildare and the Offaly bogs to the Shannon at Shannon Harbour.

    18 stops · 48 locks

  • Illustration: the River Barrow at a hillside town with a many-arched stone bridge, a weir and a lock, a kayaker and a small cruiser.

    River · Ireland

    River Barrow & Barrow Line

    One of Ireland’s prettiest navigations: 111 km and 33 hand-worked locks from the Grand Canal at Lowtown along the Barrow Line to Athy, then down the wooded River Barrow past Carlow and Graiguenamanagh to the tidal lock at St Mullins.

    20 stops · 33 locks

  • Illustration: a narrowboat on the Royal Canal crossing a stone aqueduct over a river, a cyclist on the towpath through flat green fields.

    Canal · Ireland

    Royal Canal

    Dublin's other canal to the Shannon: 146 km and 46 hand-worked locks from Spencer Dock on the Liffey to Richmond Harbour at Clondra, with Ireland's longest greenway on the towpath.

    26 stops · 46 locks

More lakes

  • Illustration: a small stone harbour with rowing boats on the vast, flat water of Lough Neagh under a wide evening sky.

    Lake · Northern Ireland

    Lough Neagh & Lower Bann

    Ireland's largest lake and the river that drains it to the north coast: open water ringed by council marinas, then 52 km of the Lower Bann through five keeper-worked locks to Coleraine.

    25 stops · 5 locks

  • Illustration: Lough Corrib with a ruined tower house on a rocky island, an angler in a small boat and the Connemara hills behind.

    Lake · Ireland

    Lough Corrib

    Ireland's second-largest lake: a short river up from Galway city, then 176 km² of rocky, island-strewn water reaching to Cong, Ashford Castle and the Joyce Country hills at Maam.

    13 stops · no locks

Who may moor where

Every mooring in the guide carries one of these marks, on the map and on the stop pages. Private marinas are always marked: never treat them as public berths.

  • Any visiting boat may tie up.

    Public Visitors welcome

  • Private or restricted: ask first, customers, members or hire fleet only, or private and not yet checked.

    By arrangement Customers only Members only Hire fleet only Private · not yet checked

  • No visiting boats.

    No visitors

  • Nobody has checked the visitor rules yet: ask locally.

    Not yet checked