Portlaw

Ireland

Portlaw lies 15 kilometres northwest of Waterford city along the River Suir, a former cotton mill town that's kept its 19th-century planned village look. From Waterford, take the N25 west to the R680 straight into town. Dublin drivers come down the M9 through Kilkenny, then pick up the N24 and R680. It's the gateway to the Waterford Greenway, making it popular with cyclists, and those neat terraced rows of workers' housing from the mill days still define the village centre.