Conway's Bar is the oldest & nicest bar in the heritage town of Ramelton or Rãth Mealtain, which was once apparently an important port . Beautifully picturesque, with lots of 17th & 18th century buildings, it's situated at the point where the mouth of the River Lennon, flows into Lough Swilly, and is around 12km northeast of Letterkenny.
The BBC filmed the 1995 television production The Hanging Gale here, set during the 1846 famine, indeed there are many pictures of the filming inside this exceptionally cosy pub.
The nearby Bridge Bar, also great, may be the place most notable for live music, but if you're after the true craic in a pub from old, old Ireland, then this is the place to come. From outside, with it's thatched roof, it looks like a classic model for one of those typically Irish, turf-burning little model houses, or the popular subject for a tourist post card, but there is nothing phony in here. A genuine warmth permeates throughout, and in what I found without exception was a hugely sociable town, where literally everyone I encountered gave me a cheery greeting, and meant it, the welcome here was exceptional.
Ramelton is a must-visit if you're in County Donegal, and Conway's would be worth coming this way for alone.
The beers good too! read more