Hook Lighthouse in Wexford is offering a weekend of free tours next month

The oldest operational lighthouse in the world is throwing open its doors for free.

In celebration of a recent honour at the World Tourism Awards, Hook Lighthouse is set to throw its doors open for a weekend of free tours in December. The 800-year-old Wexford attraction has enjoyed a busy 2018, scooping a host of awards including 'Ireland's #1 Hidden Gem' at the Irish Travel Awards in January. Earlier this month, it received a "highly commended" nod by the British Guild of Travel Writers. The weekend of free tours takes place on 8 and 9 December with places allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis from 10am to 5pm. “2018 has been a huge success for the lighthouse, not only have we had an increase in visitor numbers, especially from the international tourism market but we have received fantastic world-wide recognition for the Hook Lighthouse tour experiences," said Ann Waters, manager at Hook Lighthouse. "We are aware that many people from the locality and the region may have wanted to tour in the past and we want to throw the doors open for free as we would love for those people to come back and experience our new guided tour." Hook Lighthouse is currently commencing a three-year development plan in order to boost its visitor experience. For more information, you can visit the official website.