From the bus stop on the R756 road from Dublin, next to the car park on your left, walk up to the Glendalough Visitor Centre. Start your exploration of Glendalough with a visit to the centre’s exhibition and multimedia show, which helps to place the site in its historical context. Most of Glendalough’s buildings were built between the 8th and 12th centuries AD. All show the ravages of time, but some are in better shape than others, having been restored in the late 19th century. Like all Ireland’s monasteries, Glendalough and its treasures attracted the unwelcome attention of Viking marauders from the late 9th century onwards, and it was repeatedly looted and pillaged. It gained a respite after the Dublin Vikings accepted Christianity in the 11th century, and after the Anglo-Norman conquest of Dublin it received some protection from the new English rulers. In 1398, however, it was partly destroyed by King Richard II’s troops during one of Ireland’s many rebellions against English rule. Glendalough’s final downfall came with Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries of Ireland in 1539, but devout Catholics continued to make pilgrimages to St Kevin’s shrine, as many do to this day. 

From the visitor centre, take the road that forks left round the visitor centre to the stone gateway to enter the site. This grey stone archway is the original entrance to the monastery precincts and is the only monastery gatehouse still standing in Ireland.

Enter the site and walk for about 50 yards (45m) to reach Glendalough’s largest single ruin, the slightly spooky-looking cathedral.  Now a roofless shell, the cathedral was built in the 12th century, not long after the Anglo-Norman conquest. In its churchyard, the small building known as the Priest’s House was a mausoleum for higher-ranking monks and priests – among them, perhaps, St Kevin himself, for one of the three much-eroded figures carved above the door is said to be an image of the saint accompanied by two of his acolytes. Between the Priest’s House and the footpath is one of the finest of Glendalough’s plethora of early stone crosses, carved from a single slab of granite and ornately decorated with intricate Celtic patterns.

Turn right and head away from the footpath to Glendalough’s most conspicuous landmark, the Round Tower, and the surrounding graveyard. Just over 110ft (33m) tall, the slim, grey-stone tower, with just a few small windows, is one of the site’s best-preserved buildings, having been restored during the 1870s.

Continue through the monastic site and bear a little to your left. From here you’ll see the ruins of Our Lady’s Church (St Mary’s) in a fenced off area beyond the monastic site (the church is not accessible). Turn left and walk downhill.

Walk down through the site to pass St Kevin’s Church, also known as St Kevin’s Kitchen on the left. So called because of its chimney-like belfry, this is not, of course, a kitchen at all but a pretty little oratory or prayer house, built entirely of grey local stone and dating from the 11th century (some 400 years after St Kevin’s death).

Join the footpath away from the site, turn right, cross the footbridge over the Glendassan and turn right. With the Lower Lake on your right, walk for about 1.4km (1,500yds), passing a (seasonal) Tourist Office and a left-hand detour leading up to view the Poulanass Waterfall. Just past this, cross another small stream to gain a path to the ruin of Reefert Church, which overlooks Upper Lake. Its name, derived from the Irish Righ Fearta (burial place of kings) indicates that this much-ruined church was probably built on or next to a graveyard of Irish monarchs, probably pre-dating the coming of Christianity.

Return to the main path and continue left to reach Kevin’s Cell at the top of a steep climb. Beehive-shaped structures like this much-ruined building are not uncommon in Ireland and are often said to have been the homes of hermits and holy men. In fact, they may well pre-date the Christian era by hundreds, if not thousands, of years, and like the brochs of northern Scotland their original purpose remains a mystery to this day.

Retrace your steps down past Reefert Church ruin and turn left, cross the footbridge over the stream and continue past the east end of Upper Lake, pausing to enjoy the view west along the narrow, mirror-calm water hemmed in between lush green hillsides. Look south across the lake, which is less than 250yards (230m) wide, to spot two sites associated with St Kevin that are inaccessible on foot. On the lake shore stand the grey stone ruins of what is claimed to be St Kevin’s very first church, Teampall-na-Skellig (church on the rock). Above it, and a little to the left, look for a shallow cave above a small ledge in the cliff. This may have been an ancient rock tomb, but legend has it that this was where St Kevin came to pray and to remove himself from worldly temptation. Temptation, however, pursued him, in the form of a nude and shapely woman; Kevin’s response to her advances was to pitch her into the lake.