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Kilkenny Celtic Festival (www.celticfestival.ie; late Sep-early Oct) A weeklong celebration of all things trad Irish, especially the language, spanning performances, exhibits, seminars and more.

Sleeping

If you’re arriving in town with no room booked (an unwise move at weekends, in summer and during festivals), the tourist office runs an efficient accommodation booking service (€4).

BUDGET

Tree Grove Caravan & Camping Park ( 056-777 0302; www.treegrovecamping.com; New Ross Rd; campsites €15-20; Mar–mid-Nov) This camping ground in a small park is 1.5km south of Kilkenny off the R700. Tent sites for hikers or cyclists travelling without a car cost €7.50. Showers are free, and there’s a camp kitchen, TV room with a pool table, and a laundry. Bike hire can be arranged.

Kilkenny Tourist Hostel ( 056-776 3541; www.kilkennyhostel.ie; 35 Parliament St; dm €17-19, tw 40-42; ) Inside an ivy-covered 1770s Georgian townhouse, this cosy, 60-bed independent hostel has a sitting room warmed by an open fireplace, and a timber- and leadlight-panelled dining room adjoining the self-catering kitchen. Staff keep a list of pub gigs, most of which are within stumbling distance.

Atmospheric Foulksrath Castle Hostel is just 17km north of town.

MIDRANGE

Rafter Dempsey’s ( 056-772 2970; www.accommodationkilkenny.com; 4 Friary St; r €45-130) While worn, this good-natured pub’s 16 basic B&B rooms are perfectly clean and just footsteps from the town centre and castle.

Bregagh House ( 056-772 2315; www.bregaghhouse.com; Dean St; s €50-60, d €76-100; ) If you want the cosiness that comes with staying in a family home, this B&B is a good bet for its convenient location opposite the cathedral, friendly hosts, and filling hot breakfasts. There’s ample onsite parking and a pretty back garden.

Kilford Arms Hotel ( 056-776 1018; www.kilfordarms.ie; John St; s €50-85, d €90-160; ) Mounted in the lobby, a stuffed 150-year-old Bengal tiger (somewhat mangy, but in better shape than the Celtic Tiger) sets the tone at this slightly offbeat hotel, which has 70 colourful rooms and an equally offbeat bar (O’Faolain’s; Click here).

Pembroke Hotel ( 056-778 3500; Patrick St; www.pembrokekilkenny.com; r from €69; ) Wake up to castle views (from some of the 74 rooms) at this new epicentral hotel. The Pembroke’s decor has a retro-funky feel, there’s a leather-sofa-filled bar onsite, and free parking and use of swimming and leisure facilities are just around the corner.

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KILKENNY CATS

There once were two cats of Kilkenny

Each thought there was one cat too many

So they fought and they hit

And they scratched and they bit

‘Til (excepting their nails

And the tips of their tails)

Instead of two cats there weren’t any!

The origins of this little ditty, with or without its optional extra couplet, and the phrase ‘fighting like a Kilkenny cat’ (fighting tooth and nail) have been lost over time (most theories relate to soldiers’ mistreatment of felines at various points in history). To this day, Kilkenny’s citizens are dubbed ‘Kilkenny cats’; its hurling team (consistently Ireland’s best) wears black-and-orange tom-cat colours and are called ‘the Cats’; and it inspired the name of the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival.

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Celtic House ( 056-776 2249; www.celtic-house-bandb.com; 18 Michael St; r €80-90; ) Artist Angela Byrne extends one of Ireland’s warmest welcomes at her spick-and-span B&B. Some of the bright rooms have sky-lit bathrooms, others have views of the castle, and Angela’s landscapes adorn many of the walls. Guests return time and again – definitely book ahead.

Butler Court ( 056-776 1178; www.butlercourt.com; Patrick St; r €80-130; ) Not to be confused with the grand Butler House a few doors uphill (right), this was originally the mail coach yard for Kilkenny Castle. Wrapping around a flower-filled courtyard, contemporary rooms have Canadian-cherry parquet floors and king-size beds. A continental breakfast, including fresh fruit and filtered coffee, is stocked