Meet your guide at the main gate on The Parade. Kilkenny Castle has stood on this site since 1195 when William Marshal, the knight widely regarded as the finest in Europe at that time, built the first stone fortress here. Your guide covers Marshal's story and why the castle's position above the River Nore made Kilkenny one of medieval Ireland's most significant towns.

From the castle your guide will take you along Parliament Street and into the heart of the Medieval Mile. Your guide points out the streetscape features that survive from the 13th and 14th centuries: the plot widths, the lane patterns, the building lines. This section of Kilkenny rewards looking up and looking down at the same time. St. Mary's Medieval Mile Museum was built as St. Mary's Church in the 13th century by William Marshal (he built a lot of Kilkenny). This is now one of Ireland's leading medieval museums. The building itself is as significant as its contents: the tomb effigies, the architectural detail, and the scale of the nave give a concrete sense of how seriously medieval Kilkenny took its own importance. Your guide covers what life here looked like between the 12th and 16th centuries.

Built in 1594 by merchant John Rothe Fitz Piers, this is the best surviving example of a Tudor merchant townhouse in Ireland. The series of interconnected courtyards behind the street frontage shows how prosperous trading families organised their household and their business on the same site. The garden to the rear has been restored to a 16th-century plan.

Alice Kyteler was the first person in Ireland condemned for witchcraft, in 1324. She owned an inn on this site. Your guide tells the full story: the four husbands, the accusation, the flight to England, and what was actually happening politically behind the charge. The story is well-known in Kilkenny and rarely told as well as it deserves to be. Kyteler's Inn is still a working bar and worth a visit after the tour.

The cathedral is the second longest in Ireland and was built on the site of a 6th-century monastic settlement founded by St. Canice, after whom Kilkenny is named. The round tower alongside it dates to the 9th century. Climbing the tower is optional and costs a small extra fee; it takes around 20 minutes and gives views across the full city. The tour ends here. The city centre is a 10-minute walk south.