Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center

The Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center located near the village of Donore in the Boyne Valley is the starting point for guided tours of Newgrange and Knowth. The first step in planning a visit is to book tickets online.

Ticket Options

Brú na Bóinne Tour with Newgrange Chamber

This is the standard tour from March to early November. It includes the visitor exhibition and guided visits to both Knowth and Newgrange and lasts approximately three hours.

Newgrange Tour with Exhibition

This is the only tour option from early November to the end of February, with limited availability during the main season. It includes the visitor exhibition and a guided visit to Newgrange and lasts approximately two hours.

Knowth Tour with Exhibition

Limited availability from March to early November. It includes the visitor exhibition and a guided visit to Knowth and lasts approximately two hours.

Brú na Bóinne Tour Ticket Options

Brú na Bóinne Ticket Options

Visitor Experience

When you arrive at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center there is free car parking.

There is a short walk to the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

First view of the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

Tickets are checked at the front door of the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

The exhibition at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

The exhibition at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

The exhibition at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

The exhibition at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

The exhibition at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

The exhibition at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

Replica of the Newgrange Chamber at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

Free water refill at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

Map of heritage sites in the Boyne Valley at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

Tasty food at the café in the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

The Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center blends into the landscape of the Boyne Valley.

Leaving Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center to cross the River Boyne for the shuttle bus to Newgrange and Knowth.

View of the River Boyne from the pedestrian bridge.

View of the River Boyne from the pedestrian bridge.

View of the River Boyne from the pedestrian bridge.

Looking back towards the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center.

Brú na Bóinne Electric Shuttle Buses to Newgrange and Knowth

Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center (Newgrange and Knowth)

The World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne is Ireland’s richest prehistoric landscape, set within a great bend of the River Boyne in County Meath. It is renowned for the passage tombs of Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth, built around 3200 BC. These ceremonial monuments are among the most significant Neolithic structures in Europe and contain the largest concentration of megalithic art in Western Europe. Brú na Bóinne was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 in recognition of its outstanding universal value.

The Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center, located on the southern side of the river, is the starting point for all public visits to Newgrange and Knowth. Opened in 1997 and developed by the Office of Public Works, the center was carefully positioned outside the core archaeological zone to protect the monuments and their setting. Individual car access to Newgrange and Knowth is not permitted, and visitors travel by shuttle bus from the center to the monuments. Advance booking is essential for monument access, while entry to the Visitor Center itself does not require prebooking.

Exhibition and Interpretation

The exhibition introduces visitors to the Neolithic builders who created these great cairns more than five thousand years ago. In 2019, the Visitor Center underwent a major refurbishment, unveiling a redesigned interpretive exhibition. The updated galleries feature improved lighting, new graphics, enhanced models and immersive audiovisual presentations. The renewed focus places Brú na Bóinne within its wider ceremonial landscape, highlighting surrounding tombs, henges and recent archaeological research including radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA studies.

Architecture and Facilities

The building itself reflects the surrounding landscape, with a low profile, curved form and grass-covered roof that echo the shape of the passage tombs. Large windows frame views across the Boyne Valley, reinforcing the sense that the monuments belong within a living rural setting. Facilities at the center include ticketing desks, exhibition galleries, a café, gift store and bookshop.

Each year, the center also administers the Winter Solstice lottery for Newgrange. Due to limited space within the chamber, only a small number of people can witness the sunrise illumination between 19 and 23 December. The lottery attracts global interest and reflects the careful management required to preserve these remarkable monuments for future generations.

Private Hire Day Tour to Brú na Bóinne

A private hire day tour to Brú na Bóinne offers a comfortable and carefully paced way to explore this extraordinary landscape. With door-to-door collection from your Dublin accommodation, you travel in comfort through the Boyne Valley, enjoying historical context and local insight along the way. Guided tours inside Newgrange and Knowth are conducted by the expert on-site guides from the Visitor Center, while your private driver guide provides background, orientation and wider interpretation before and after your visit.

Beyond the passage tombs, the day can include other key sites such as the Hill of Tara, Monasterboice, Bective Abbey or Slane, allowing you to connect the Neolithic monuments with later Celtic, early Christian and medieval heritage. The result is a seamless and enriching experience that combines official monument access with the flexibility and personal attention of a private tour.

Book online now! Inquire now!