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festivals · Friday 11 September 2026 · See website for times 
Dunfanaghy Jazz and Blues Festival
At Multiple Venues · Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal
At Multiple Venues · Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal
Every September, the small seaside village of Dunfanaghy transforms into one of the north-west’s best music weekends. The Jazz and Blues Festival runs from Thursday 11th to Monday 15th September 2026, returning after a four-year break, and it does something that most Irish festivals don’t: it scatters 20 groups across 8 different venues in a village you can walk end-to-end in minutes. That means stumbling from one bar to the next and catching a completely different band at each turn. It suits music lovers who want to listen properly, and it suits anyone who just wants a good evening out in a place that knows how to host one.
The music runs continuously from 8am Friday through to midnight Sunday, which sounds extreme until you understand the format - daytime sets tend to be more relaxed, with the village bars filling out steadily as the weekend picks up pace. Venues including Molly’s Bar, Patsy Dan’s, the Whiskey Fly, the Oyster Bar, the Shandon Bar and Ramsay’s all take part, so you move between rooms rather than standing in a field. The lineup draws local and touring artists from across Ireland, playing jazz, blues, and genres that bleed between the two. The festival has been running since around 2008 and has built a following that comes back from across Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the UK each year. The entire event is free.
Dunfanaghy sits on the N56 on the north coast of Donegal, about 30km west of Letterkenny. From Dublin, it is roughly three hours by car via the M1 and N14. Bus Eireann serves Letterkenny from Dublin, and from Letterkenny there are local buses west along the coast, though services are infrequent - checking timetables in advance is worthwhile. If you are driving, parking in the village is on-street and can get tight during the festival; arriving early or staying locally removes that problem entirely. Several hotels and B&Bs operate in and around the village, including Arnolds Hotel and the Shandon Hotel.
The festival falls in the middle of September, when the evenings still have some warmth and the summer crowds have thinned. Horn Head is a short drive or a long walk from the village and offers some of the most dramatic clifftop scenery on the entire Irish coast. Marble Hill Strand is a few minutes away and is one of Donegal’s finest beaches. There is more to see in Dunfanaghy and across Co. Donegal.
Heading to Multiple Venues in Dunfanaghy? Donegal has plenty more to see. Read the Dunfanaghy area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.