what to do in waterford ireland

as we were driving from killarney to wicklow during our 10 day ireland trip we decided to make a slight detour to visit waterford.

crystal tour

there are tours throughout the day of the waterford crystal factory. they are a little expensive at 14 euros each, but it was a really cool experience. this tour took about an hour and took us through each step of the process for making the world famous waterford crystal.

waterford crystal molds

the first stop was looking at the molds. molds are made for each piece at waterford including all the special trophies they make. these molds are hand made and then cut out of wood. for important trophies or gifts they even make a duplicate in case something ever happens to the original.

the crystal is blown similar to other glass works. me and nick felt pretty comfortable with this stage since we’re basically glass blowing experts after our lesson back in seattle. to learn about that check out this post. they were making two different pieces while we were there for the tour. the crystal is then inspected and even the tiniest blemish causes it to be melted back down and recycled with the incoming crystal.

waterford crystal blowing
waterford crystal blowing

the crystal is then polished and marked by hand for the pattern the piece will have. it is then etched by hand to make the famous waterford crystal patterns. after that it is finished and ready for you to purchase and enjoy!

waterford crystal marking
waterford crystal etching

crystal shop

all of these beautiful items are now available for you to buy as the tour concludes in the waterford shop! they have everything from jewelry, dinnerware, lamps, tropies, and much more.

i enjoyed walking around and looking at all the shiny things, but they were all out of my price range.

waterfront in waterford

waterford is on the water and it is just blocks from waterford crystal. there is an old viking ship on the waterfront as well as lots of shops that you can check out.

waterford crystal is a great day trip from dublin to see a world famous crystal making process.

follow us on social media to stay up to date on all our adventures! facebook, instagram, twitter, and pinterest are great places to get travel and adventure inspiration!

pin this post for later!