Best Wicklow Day Trips from Dublin
How to pair Glendalough, Powerscourt and the Sally Gap into a day out from Dublin, with what you can do by bus and what genuinely needs a car.
Food & Drink in Wicklow
Avoca's cafés and food market, running on a mill dating to 1723, and Powerscourt's whiskey distillery pairing Wicklow cheese with its own spirits.
By Ireland Spots TeamPhoto: Joe King / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Wicklow's food and drink scene is concentrated around two names most visitors already know for other reasons — Avoca and Powerscourt — both of which go further than their gift shops and gardens suggest.
Avoca
Avoca Handweavers traces back to 1723, when it started as a co-operative mill where local farmers could spin and weave their own wool. Its food side has grown substantially since, with cafés known locally for their brown bread and soups, and a dedicated food market at several locations — including inside the Powerscourt Estate — stocking artisanal, locally sourced Irish ingredients rather than generic gift-shop food.
Powerscourt Distillery
A working whiskey distillery on the Powerscourt Estate, running food-and-whiskey pairing tours that go from charcuterie through to Wicklow cheese alongside its own spirits. It's a genuine production site rather than a tasting room bolted onto the estate's gardens, and Powerscourt's own Farm Shop stocks produce from the wider Wicklow Naturally food network, including Killruddery Farm meat, if you'd rather shop than sit down for a tour.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Avoca just a shop, or is there food too?
Both — Avoca started as a weaving mill dating to 1723, but its food side has grown substantially, with cafés known for their brown bread and soups, and a dedicated food market stocking artisanal, locally sourced ingredients at several of its locations, including Powerscourt.
What is Powerscourt Distillery known for?
A working whiskey distillery on the Powerscourt Estate running food-and-whiskey pairing tours, from charcuterie to Wicklow cheese, alongside its own spirits — a genuine production site rather than just a tasting room.
Where can I buy local Wicklow produce?
Powerscourt's Farm Shop stocks artisan producers from the Wicklow Naturally food network, including Killruddery Farm meat, making it a reasonable one-stop option for genuinely local Wicklow ingredients.
Practical details last verified 5 November 2026.
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