Cavan

Some 365 lakes, one for every day of the year. County Cavan's 81,000 people live among them, across 1,932 square kilometres of drumlin landscape, the low rounded glacial hills between which the meltwater pooled, and almost no one outside Ireland ever reaches this inland border county. It takes its name from its small county town and belongs to the historic Gaelic territory of East Breifne; the nickname is the Breffni County. To the north, the Cuilcagh mountain range straddles the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. On Cuilcagh's southern slope, at a place called the Shannon Pot, the longest river in Ireland rises in a small dark pool of welling water.

Cavan stayed empty for very specific reasons, and that is what makes it an undertourism destination rather than a generic rural one. The drumlin landscape and heavy clay soils defied easy farming and easier invasion. The rail link to Dublin closed in 1959 and never reopened. And the Troubles immediately to the north meant that for forty years the border region was a place to drive through, not visit. The legacy is a county-sized area of lakes and anglers' coves, plus the most northerly source of the Shannon, up a mountain that almost no Dubliners ever climb; the EU's EDEN 2013 award recognised the county's accessible-tourism work. Cavan is the photographic and culinary opposite of the Atlantic coast: drier, lower, greener, less photogenic, and emptier.

May, June and September. The lakes are open for anglers, the drumlin trails are dry enough underfoot, and the long Cavan evenings hold light until nearly ten o'clock. July and August bring a little more warmth and a little more traffic, local rather than international, and the festivals in Bailieborough and Virginia run in midsummer. Cavan is not a winter destination. The November-March drumlin country is cold and wet, lakes freeze in cold snaps, and most of the smaller guesthouses close. The exception is the angling community, who fish through the year on Lough Sheelin, Lough Ramor and Lough Oughter; accommodation is correspondingly geared to fishermen. The Cuilcagh boardwalk to the Shannon Pot is at its best in late May to early July, when the bog cotton is in flower.

By public transport: Bus Éireann route 30 runs direct from Dublin (Busáras) to Cavan town, ten daily journeys, 2.5 hours; the same service continues to Donegal. From Belfast, Aircoach or Bus Éireann route X4 reaches Cavan via Monaghan in around 2 hours. From Dublin Airport, the X30 direct coach is the quickest; check the timetable on buseireann.ie. There is no working passenger rail to Cavan: the line from Dublin via Mullingar closed in 1959 and never reopened. Once in Cavan town, Local Link Cavan-Monaghan operates rural bus routes to Belturbet, Bailieborough and the lakes country (locallinkcm.ie); frequencies are real but limited and Sunday service is thin. For the western mountains (Blacklion, the Cuilcagh / Shannon Pot trailhead), the only practical access is a car, or a longer bus to Sligo + onward to Blacklion.

Cavan's accommodation stock is shaped by the angling and weekend market and is not, in general, designed for the international slow-tourism visitor. Cabra Castle near Kingscourt is a comfortable historic-house hotel for those who want a base with character; the Hilton Templepatrick (across the border in Antrim) is the chain option closest to the eastern county. For lake-side stays, the smaller guest houses at Killeshandra and around Lough Oughter cater largely to fishermen and are spartan but well-priced. The MacNean House and Restaurant in Blacklion (Neven Maguire's restaurant with rooms) is the destination address for a one-night food trip; plan months ahead. Self-catering on the lakes is strongest around Lough Sheelin in the south and Lough Erne (north side, across the border in Fermanagh). Avoid the chain hotels in Cavan town itself unless you are visiting for business.

Cavan's food culture sits at the quiet end of Irish rural: dairy, beef, lamb, lake fish, and a vegetable plate built around potatoes, root vegetables and the longer green seasons. The marquee address is MacNean House in Blacklion on the Fermanagh border, where Neven Maguire's restaurant has earned its national reputation for a careful, regional, ingredient-driven tasting menu (reserve three to six months out). Adrian Martin's cookery school at Glenview House in Bawnboy is the daytime equivalent for those who want to cook with regional producers. For an everyday meal, the Olde Post Inn at Cloverhill near Belturbet is the country-restaurant standard. The Cavan Walking Food Trail (confirm they're still operating) maps farmhouse producers around the lakes; Corleggy farmhouse cheese near Belturbet is the best-known cheesemaker.

Take the Cuilcagh boardwalk on the Northern Ireland side to the summit, then the Shannon Pot on the southern slope, where the longest river in Ireland wells up in a dark pool at the end of a short walk. It is the best day-walk in the county. Both sit inside the Cuilcagh Lakelands UNESCO Global Geopark, which straddles the Cavan-Fermanagh border, and the same designation covers the Marble Arch Caves a short drive north: a guided tour of around 75 minutes through limestone chambers and along an underground river. Cave tours are weather-dependent and seasonal, so check before setting out.

Coarse fishing on Lough Sheelin, Lough Oughter or Lough Ramor is the activity that brings most overnight visitors to Cavan; permits and guide services come through Inland Fisheries Ireland. For walkers, Killykeen Forest Park spreads over roughly 240 hectares around Lough Oughter, with the county's best signposted forest walks, canoe hire and the ruined Clogh Oughter castle on its lake island; the Killykeen Way runs on from it as a 12 km greenway to Killeshandra. The Cavan Burren Park near Blacklion is a small but excellent upland archaeology landscape of wedge tombs and court tombs, with rock art reached on accessible bog walks and route options ranging from about one to five kilometres.

East and south the county thins into forest parks and lake loops. Dún a Rí Forest Park near Kingscourt follows the River Cabra through old woodland where deer and red squirrels are regularly seen, and the Castle Lake walk at Bailieborough offers a short circuit of the shore or a longer one. Cabra Castle and the Cavan County Museum at Ballyjamesduff cover the historical and cultural ground; the museum occupies a former convent and keeps a large outdoor replica trench in its grounds, billed by the county as the biggest of its kind in Ireland or the UK. The Boyne Valley to Lakelands Greenway follows a former railway line for some 30 km and is the easiest car-free stretch in the region. That is the exception, though. The county is not designed for car-free movement at scale; most of the activity above involves one or two driving legs from Cavan town.

• Language: English; some place-names in Irish (Gaeilge) on signage
• Currency: euro
• Plug: UK/Irish type G three-pin
• Money: Cards widely accepted; cash useful at smaller pubs and the lakeside trailhead car-parks (some require coin)
• Mobile coverage: good in the towns, patchy in the western mountains and on the border
• Nearest hospital: Cavan General
• Health: The county is on the cross-border health-arrangements list — UK and EU travel insurance both relevant