EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

CAVAN town grew up around an abbey, but nothing remains of this beyond its memory and an eighteenth-century tower beside the burial place of Owen Roe O'Neill. The town is quite subdued, with only two main streets: Main Street is the principal artery of shops and bars, while Farnham Street has an older character with some very nice stone Georgian houses, a Classical courthouse of warm sandstone and a huge Catholic cathedral, built in the 1940s, that surprisingly succeeds in confirming status and a sense of place without being overbearing.

The tourist office on Farnham Street (April-Sept Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat 9am-1pm; tel 049/433 1942) will offer information on the county in general; there's little to see in the town itself. The Lifeforce Mill, Mill Road, a renovated nineteenth-century flour mill (May-Sept; tel 049/436 2722), is only open to groups, and building work at Cavan Crystal, Dublin Road, means that tours are unlikely to be available for some time (tel 049/433 1800). There are a handful of places to stay in and around the town: B&B is available at Oakdene , 29 Cathedral Rd (tel 049/433 1698; £33-40/¬41.90-50.79), and McCaul's Guesthouse , 10 Bridge St (tel 049/433 1327; £40-55/¬50.79-69.84), and the welcoming Lisnamandra Farmhouse , four and a half miles out of Cavan towards Crossdoney, is good value (tel 049/433 7196; £33-40/¬41.90-50.79). The Farnham Arms Hotel on Main Street (tel 049/433 2577; £70-90/¬88.88-114.28) provides pleasant and comfortable accommodation, and their bar and restaurant is open to non-residents. Eating options in general are fairly limited, but there are a number of good spots for bar food , including An Síbín , 86 Town Hall St, the loud and popular Blackhorse Inn , Main Street, and The Imperial Hotel , which serves excellent, hearty bar meals. There's no shortage of viable watering holes: An Cruíscín Lán , 82 Main St, draws a young crowd, as does An Síbín (DJ on Friday nights); if you are looking for a bar with character and a mixed crowd, try Louis Blessings on Main Street. For rod hire, licences and information on fishing , visit Sports World , 11 Town Hall St (tel 049/433 1812). Cavan is very much the transport centre of the county, and Bus Éireann (tel 049/433 2533) connects it with all major towns in the Republic and the North. Wharton's private buses (tel 049/433 7114) also operate a daily service to Dublin, leaving from outside the Lakeland Hotel .