Motorhome Parking RathmullAn: Where We Actually Stayed
Summary
Where we actually parked in Rathmullan, the four generators that ruined our sleep, and the quieter free alternative we found the next morning.
Four generators. That’s what greeted us at 9am in Rathmullan, after a night that had already involved cars doing slow laps around the car park until 1am and a handful of idlers who couldn’t be bothered turning their engines off. Three coffee pod vans and a clothing trailer, all firing up their generators within minutes of each other, like someone had set an alarm. If you’re looking into motorhome parking Rathmullan, that’s the bit nobody puts in the brochure.
Sleeping 
Scenic 
Food 
Dogs 
Transport 
Bins 
Water 
Bogs 
Heads up: Working village car park, expect overnight traffic and early generator noise from market traders.The Pier Car Park: Convenient, Free, and Loud
The pier car park is the obvious spot. It’s right on the water, it’s free, and it’s where most motorhomers end up because it’s the first thing you see coming into the village.
- Coordinates: 55.095471, -7.532161
- Cost: Free
- Surface: Tarmac, flat, easy access
- Noise: Significant. See above.
The location is hard to beat on paper. Lough Swilly right outside your window, the village a short walk away, no barriers or restrictions. In practice, it’s a working car park in a village that doesn’t sleep much, and you’ll know all about it by morning.
A Quieter Alternative, If You Know Where to Look
We only found this one the next morning, walking Milo before the coffee pods finished setting up. A short distance from the pier sits a field that hosts Rathmullan Celtic FC. There’s a board on the gate advertising it for motorhome parking at €10 a night, and everyone just lines up along the sideline facing the lough.
The view is the catch. Shrubbery along the boundary blocks most of it, so you’re paying for proximity to the water rather than an actual look at it. Still, it’s tucked away from the road, away from the late night car laps, and well away from anything with a generator attached.
If quiet matters more to you than a free pitch, this is the one to head for.
Eating Local: The Beachcomber Bar
We try to support local where we can, so we ate at the Beachcomber Bar. I’ll be straight with you, the food wasn’t great. We had the southern fried pork ribs, which is a strange combination to begin with, battering a rib and frying it until it’s gone past well done into evidence-destroying territory. Hard to say what was actually in there by the end of it.
Worth a mention for honesty’s sake, not for a recommendation.
The Weather Had Other Ideas
We’d planned to walk the beach after eating, but Donegal had other plans and sent a deluge instead. Lough Swilly stayed firmly unexplored on foot that day. Worth bearing in mind if a beach walk is part of your plan, this stretch of coast doesn’t always cooperate.
Should You Park Up in RathmullAn?
Yes, with your eyes open. The pier car park works if convenience matters most and you can sleep through anything short of an actual jet engine. The Celtic FC field is the better bet if you value an unbroken night more than a lough view, and it’s only €10 for the privilege of silence.
Rathmullan was stop one heading down the Wild Atlantic Way as we work through the DNNI Park-Up Map, and Lough Swilly won’t be the last crossing we cover. If idling engines and generator chaos are starting to sound familiar, you’ll want to read about the idling engines we dealt with in Portrush and the coffee wagon saga from Swan Park, Buncrana. Apparently it’s a theme.
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