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festivals · Saturday 1 August 2026 · Various 
Kilkenny Arts Festival
At Various venues · Kilkenny city, Co. Kilkenny
At Various venues · Kilkenny city, Co. Kilkenny
Each August, Kilkenny city gives itself over entirely to the arts. The Kilkenny Arts Festival - Ireland’s longest-running arts festival, founded in 1974 - fills every available corner of the medieval city with theatre, opera, music, visual art, literature, and dance for eleven days. The scale is serious: around 50,000 people have attended in recent years, and the programme draws national and international artists alongside emerging Irish voices. It suits anyone who wants a proper cultural immersion rather than a single performance, with events ranging from grand productions in Kilkenny Castle to intimate readings in pubs and courtyards.
The 2026 festival runs from 6 to 16 August, with events spread across venues that make the most of the city’s historic architecture. St Canice’s Cathedral, Watergate Theatre, Butler Gallery, and the Castle Yard all feature in the programme, alongside pop-up spaces in shops, hotels, and outdoor areas that give the festival its distinctive atmosphere of discovery.
The programme spans the full range of performing and visual arts. Recent years have included world-premiere theatre productions, chamber choral concerts, contemporary opera, spoken word, and large-scale visual art installations. There is also a fringe element - AKA Fringe - running alongside the main festival, adding more experimental and community-led work to the mix.
Individual events are ticketed at varying prices, and the website offers bundle options for people planning to attend multiple shows. Some events, particularly outdoor and street-based programming, are free. Tickets and the full programme are available at kilkennyarts.ie, or by phone on +353 56 7752175.
Kilkenny is about 120 km from Dublin, roughly 90 minutes by car via the M9 motorway. Bus Eireann operates regular coach services from Dublin’s Busaras, and Irish Rail runs several daily services on the Dublin Heuston to Waterford line with a stop at Kilkenny MacDonagh station, about a 10-minute walk from the city centre. During the festival, the city gets busy - parking in the main city-centre car parks on Ormond Street and at the Kilkenny Shopping Centre fills up early on peak evenings, so arriving by mid-afternoon or using park-and-ride options is sensible.
The festival coincides with some of the best weather of the year for exploring Kilkenny Castle and its grounds, the medieval mile, and the independent shops and restaurants that line High Street and Parliament Street. There is more to see in Kilkenny and across Co. Kilkenny.
Heading to Various venues in Kilkenny? Kilkenny has plenty more to see. Read the Kilkenny area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.