Waterford Walls Street Art Festival and why you should be going

One of Ireland’s oldest cities, Waterford is welcoming back the annual International Street Art festival, Waterford Walls to the city. 

Waterford Walls Festival And Why You Should Be Going

Presented by the Walls Project, the Irish street art festival will welcome international and national street artists to Waterford, who will transform the city over the duration of the festival into Ireland’s largest and most accessible outdoor gallery.

With local planning permissions for murals hindering the efforts to develop street art in other Irish cities, the Waterford street art collection continues to grow with each new edition of the festival, making it the must-visit Irish city for street art enthusiasts.


Waterford street art mural festival in Ireland

Irish Street Art In Waterford, Ireland

Exploring the murals of Waterford Walls in the city are easily accessible by foot with the main focus of the festival murals located within the boundaries of the city. 

There are a number of pieces painted on walls a little further outside the city on the other side of the harbor and we took a short taxi ride last year to photograph these locations.

Printed festival maps will be available from the Waterford Walls Festival HQ, as well as other key city locations. 

The map will guide you around the city, allowing you to see the new works and possibly some of the artists at work on those murals. A digital copy of the new map is also on the Waterford Walls website here should you want to plan your route out in advance.


Waterford street art mural festival in Ireland

Waterford Walls Greenway Art Bus Trail

Alongside the mural works within the city center, there are a number of works located on the Waterford Greenway that we have yet to see. The Waterford Greenway is a 46 km cycling and walking trail along an old railway line that runs between Waterford and Dungarvan.


Waterford street art festival, photorealistic portrait of a woman by street artist Smug

Pictured above is one of two impressive long-running works by Glasgow-based Australian street artist Smug.

Waterford Walls Street Art Festival Artists

For each new edition of the Irish street art festival, Waterford Walls have invited both national and international street artists to Waterford who have created works on walls and buildings across the city adding to the murals from the previous editions of the festival.

Some of the artist's works that you can expect to see on the streets of Waterford include:

Curtis Helton (UK) / Shane O’Driscol (IRE) /  Russ (FR) / Aches (IRE) / Maser (IRE) / Magda Karol (IRE) / Garreth Joyce (IRE) / Sign Of Power (IRE) /  Birdo (CA) / Nean (BEL) / Beerens (FR) / Maker & Land (ESP) / Dima (BLR)  / Dan Kitchener (UK)  / Sophie Mess (UK) / Sonny (SA) / Adore (FR) /  
Lula Goce (SP) / Omin (IRE) / Zabou (FR) / MadC (GER) / 


Waterford street art festival, summer sunset over the river

Getting to Waterford, Ireland

With frequent flights departing from UK airports to Dublin Airport, traveling to Waterford from the UK is extremely easy. From Dublin, you can choose to either hire a car and drive to Waterford or like us take the two-hour train journey from Dublin’s Heuston Station along the east coast to Waterford’s Plunkett Station with the national rail company Iarnród Éireann.

A return train fare to Waterford from Dublin is on average around 30Euro per person. For those of you traveling on a budget, there are also a number of buses servicing Waterford from Dublin with prices starting at 19 euros for a return fare.

Waterford Street Art Gallery

Take a look below at a selection of the Waterford street art and mural photographs we took during our previous city visits. This is just a small selection of the street art you can expect to see on your visit to the city. 



Irish street art in Waterford, Ireland

Waterford street art festival,mural by London based street artist Mr.Cenz

London Graffiti artist Mr. Cenz

London based graffiti artists Mr. Cenz, a regular on the streets of East London was one of the 2018 invited artists working their magic on the city's walls.




Irish street art in Waterford, Ireland

Berlin-based Irish street artist Humble Writerz aka Mark Finn at work on his mural for a previous edition of the Waterford Walls Street A

Mural featuring a kneeling Boy spray painting by French street artist Mantra

Artwork by French street artist Mantra, painted for the 2018 edition of the Waterford Walls Festival.

Waterford street art festival, smiling boy mural by Irish artist Caoilfhionn Hanton

Irish street artist Caoilfhionn Hanton

Pictured above is the work of Irish street artist Caoilfhionn Hanton. Based in Waterford she has painted at murals at a number of previous editions of the festival.

Waterford street art festival mural by French street artist Ador

French Street Artist Ador

Painted back in 2017 and still looking fresh the work of French street artist Ador is instantly recognizable for his signature kooky cartoon-style characters.

Waterford street art festival mural by Irish artist Omin

Irish Street Artist Omin

Irish artist Omin has painted at three previous editions of the Waterford Walls festival and was back for another year adding this new mural to the city's walls.


Flying owl mural by Dubai based street artist Fats Patrol for Waterford street art festival

Dubai based street artist Fats Patrol

Dubai based Indo-Canadian street artist Fats Patrol sat in front of her completed mural painted for the 2018 edition of the festival.

Waterford Street Art paste-up mural by Irish artist Joe Caslin

Irish artist Joe Caslin pictured below having completed his large scale paper-based work above.

Portrait of by Irish artist Joe Caslin working on his mural for Waterford street art festival

Ireland's Waterford Walls Street Art Festival

Waterford street art festival mural by artist Aches

Waterford street art festival

Waterford street art festival, vibrant mural by Dan Kitchener

London Street Art Dan Kitchener

Another regular on the city streets of East London, Essex based street artist Dan Kitchener stops to pose for a photograph on completion of his large scale mural in Waterford painted in the city back in 2018.

Portrait of artist Dan Kitchener in front of his finished mural at Waterford street art festival

Irish Street Art in Waterford - Shane Sutton

Pictured above is one of two spacemen-themed murals to be seen in Waterford painted by Irish artist Shane Sutton. 

Ireland's Waterford Walls Street Art Festival And Why You Should Be Going

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