A working harbour of stone piers and trawlers sits below a headland cliff path, with a Church Street pub that played a fictional bar in Netflix's Bodkin.
What Howth looks like
The piers were begun in 1807 and trawlers tie up along the East Pier most days, nets and buoys stacked on the quay. The West Pier faces it across the basin, lined with sailboats and a row of pubs and seafood restaurants under painted signs. The DART line ends here, a short walk from the piers.
Church Street climbs from the harbour past the , the oldest pub in the village, its front window a stained glass kaleidoscope. Abbey Street runs off it to a row of two storey houses painted yellow, pink and blue behind low stone walls. Above them, the ruined nave of St Mary's stands in coursed grey stone, roofless. A fifteenth century tomb inside names Sir Christopher St Lawrence and his wife.
Balscadden Road climbs east out of the village past guesthouses set into the hillside and a round Martello tower with stone entrance pillars. The Cliff Path Loop starts near there and runs about six kilometres around Howth Head, tarmac giving way to gravel over heather on the open headland. The granite tower of the stands on the headland's southeast corner, its light 41 metres above the water.
Shot in Howth
Netflix's Bodkin used as its fictional convent. The same series used the Harbour Bar, the oldest pub in the village, as a bar its characters call The Muddy Farmer. Love, Rosie used on Balscadden Road as Rosie's hotel in the film's final scenes.
Bodkin, 2024
Howth Castle
Played the Inish Mac Tire convent, present day
The Netflix series Bodkin filmed the fictional Inish Mac Tire convent at Howth Castle. A departure scene set at the same convent was actually shot at Dromadoon Pier in County Cork, with the castle's towers added digitally. Street View
What Howth can double for
Whitby in North Yorkshire, England
Whitby's stone piers close around a working harbour of fishing boats at almost the same scale as Howth's, with a ruined abbey on the headland above the town in the same way St Mary's sits above Howth harbour. Whitby's abbey ruin sits much higher above the town and its roofs run to red pantile rather than slate, so a high wide shot gives the difference away. Try searching stone harbour piers fishing boats now.
Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Wales
Tenby's pastel Georgian terraces step down to a working harbour under a headland ruin, the same combination as Abbey Street's painted houses above Howth's piers. Tenby's town walls and taller Georgian fronts read differently in a wide shot, so tighter frames on the terrace itself hold the match best. Try searching pastel harbour terrace houses now.
Peel in Isle of Man
Peel's harbour sits under a ruined castle on its own headland, guarding the pier mouth the way Howth's castle and church ruin sit above its own harbour. Peel's castle stands on a tidal islet right at the harbour entrance rather than inland, so a shot joining castle and boats in one frame needs a different angle in Howth. Try searching harbour castle ruin headland now.
