Free things to see and do in Sligo

I was inspired by Una’s fabulous post about free things to see and do in Dublin so I’ve decided to do a Sligo based version.

As the saying goes the best things in life are free (apart from cake!)

I’m writing this for visitors who might arrive into Sligo town without their own transport so everything is based in the town.

Visit an art gallery – we have several galleries here in the town: The Model, Hamilton Gallery, Hyde Bridge Gallery and even the Hawk’s Well Theatre have exhibitions on throughout the year. All are free to visit and the exhibitions change throughout the year so do check them out.

For the month of May the Bealtaine Festival is running – this festival is all about celebrating creativity as we age. Most of the events are located in the town and all are free.

Go on the Sligo Heritage Trail. Narrated by Sligo actor Ciarán McCauley, this free Abarta Audio Guide will lead you around the wonderful heritage town of Sligo.

Check out Sligo Abbey – all OPW sites are free to get into on the first Wednesday of every month.

If you fancy getting active there’s are two outdoor gyms down at Doorly Park (opposite Argos) – one for adults and one for the little people. There’s also a great playground there too.

Go on a real life treasure hunt. Geocaching is great fun for all ages. Using your GPS enabled device you navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

Go bird watching. Sligo Tidy Towns have various signs located throughout the town to let visitors know about the birds found in Sligo (the feathered ones!). Why not see how many you can spot?

Check out the street art. There are some fabulous murals located in and around the town. Along the inner relief road you will see the 1916 mural, W. B. Yeats and Maud Gonne. Opposite the Cathedral you’ll see Westlife. There is a fabulous deer on Union Street and a wonderful colourful car park opposite Salon 2.

Visit the ‘Yeats’ Secret Garden in Sligo’ designed by Lorely Forrester, this was one of the large Concept Gardens at Bloom 2015, where it won a Gold Medal. It’s now located at the back of The Model.

Go walking. The Sligo Walks website is brilliant for highlighting some of the fabulous walks we have here in Sligo. I love the walk along the Garavogue River, it’s so peaceful and scenic and right in the centre of town.

Sligo parkrun – thanks to Jim for suggesting this. A 5km timed run every Saturday morning from Doorly Park. You need to register to take part but it’s free.

So that’s a brief blog of just some of the free things you can do in Sligo.  Let me know if you have any other suggestions.