Leixlip

united kingdom

Leixlip sits where the Liffey meets the Rye Water, about 20 kilometers west of Dublin via the M4 motorway to Junction 5. The town's name means "salmon leap" in Old Norse, hinting at its Viking past. Today it's home to Intel's massive European chip manufacturing campus, one of the largest outside America. The M4 connects straight through to Galway, while local roads link to Naas and the M3 toward Navan. You'll spot the bizarre Wonderful Barn, an 18th-century conical tower that's one of Ireland's oddest buildings, plus 12th-century Leixlip Castle overlooking the river.