Date: December 17-23  

“My children really enjoyed emailing their santa letters on the cool workstations at Blackrock Castle. The resounding request was to go back to see Santa at BCO this year!” – Claire

Visit Santa in his beautiful Victorian Christmas Grotto at BCO!    December 17 – 23

Cosmic Christmas at CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory celebrates the festive season with a twist! Suspend your disbelief and visit Santa and his cosmic crew on December 17 – 23 from 11:00 – 18:00 for a natural and traditional take on this most wonderful time of the year…

UPDATE: Santa has been so busy at the North Pole that he can only be at Blackrock Castle Observatory to greet youngsters between 2-5 on Tuesday and Wednesday,  but he reckons he will have almost all his work done by Thursday and Friday, so will join us from 12-6 then.

Cosmic Christmas package : €10 per child

  • Meet Father Christmas in his Victorian grotto
  • Get an astro gift bag
  • Visit our Cosmos at the Castle exhibition
  • Photo and souvenir card (extra supplement of €5)
  • Bring your own camera!

During your visit to CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory, you can watch Christmas movies in our theatre and email your letter to the North Pole! Write your message at our interactive kiosk and we’ll send it at your command via our radio telescope and beam it towards Lapland so that Santa Claus can read your message straight away!

Christmas Snow Workshops

December 27 – January 8 from 14:00 – 15:30


Before school begins again, CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory combines Christmas and science for fun and educational workshops to teach you how to make snow globes and other out of this world Christmas goodies!

Drop-in workshops cost €5 per child.


Evening Tours with Lady Castle


A guided and personal tour of the Tower & Dungeon with Lady Castle – €15/person.

For groups of 15-25 people, guided stargazing can be arranged at a cost of €50 per group.

Christmas Astro Gifts!

Remember our gift shop is stocked with great astronomy and science titles, toys and telescopes. How about some Astronaut Ice Cream; the perfect stocking filler for your little astro-nerd?!