Good evening. My wife and I are going to Ireland and we plan on doing some hiking. We will arrive in Dublin on May 31 and leave out June 8 from Dublin. We are not advanced hikers. We enjoy more of a long day walk 4-6 hours at most. Nothing too risky/strenuous.
We plan on renting a car and driving around to various spots.
We have previously been to the Cliffs of Moher, The Dingle Loop area, Galloway, as well as Cashel.
Some hikes we were looking at are: The Spinic (White Loop) in Glendalough, Great Sugar Loaf in Wicklow, Scilly Walk in Kinsale, Old Head of Kinsale Loop, Ballycotton Cliff Walk, Torc Mountain, Gap of Dunloe, Croagh Patrick, Diamond Hill in Connemara, Westport Quay, and Great Western Greenway.
Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
8849 posts
Irelands such a beautiful (and not very flat) place that any hiking will be rewarding. We’ve done lots of hiking over multiple trips, but none of the hikes you mention. There’s so much available, and I know that we’ve just barely scratched the surface.
Three years ago, we visited Kinsale as a daytrip from Macroom, west of Cork. We enjoyed the town walking tour recommended by Rick Steves https://www.historicstrollkinsale.com/ , and if we didn’t already have lodging booked everywhere rlse, Kinsake would’ve been nice, and presumably a good base for some of the hikes you mention.
Closer to Macroom, we discovered the Gougane Barra after spotting a sign along the road. It’s a very special place, with hikes ranging from an easy stroll to serious mountaineering. Having a car will help you getting there. There’s even a lodge at the beginning, but as we were staying in Macroom, we didn’t investigate that lodging.
A lot of what you mention looks to be in the south. If you were to venture north of Galway for the last four on your list, consider going a bit farther northwest, to Achill Island. It’s connected to the mainland by a bridge, and we found lots of good, moderate hiking opportunities. If you go, you’ll practically have the place to yourselves, as it seems to be really off the beaten tourist path.
Posted by
Northern Minnesota
1030 posts
We did a tour in 2019 that featured a couple hikes a day. This was a good hike with a lot of stairs, but plenty of places to stop and take a little break.
Our group stopped at Croagh Patrick for less than a hour. We hiked up a short distance, but there was a lot of loose rock. The climb to the top looked intimidating to me.
One of my favorite hikes of our trip was the Cliff Walk in Howth (not scary and quite easy). It's overlooks the Irish Sea.
Posted by
Midway, UT
3238 posts
We've always had good luck with the All Trails app and website while hiking in Ireland. Their descriptions of the various hikes - including degree of difficulty, general trail conditions, etc. have always been accurate, and we've always found the user reviews to be helpful in previewing our own excursions.
Might add that they also provide detailed driving directions to some of the remote trailheads which can be quite helpful.
Posted by
CT
148 posts
We have hiked a few of those trails. Both the Spinc Loop trail and Torc Mountain involve pretty hefty climbs. Sold under-foot, but very good cardio! Spinc Loop, especially, has something like 200 steps up, and then at the top, there are railroad ties to walk on. (But the views at the top were very rewarding!) There’s not much of a view on Torc Mountain because of all the trees.
The Scilly Walk in Kinsale, as I recall, was flat, and had nice views of the water. But i wonder if Kinsale is too far for you to go during your short stay?
Maybe stay closer to Dublin. At Glendalough, you could walk through the monastic site, and around the lake, which is very nice and pretty flat. It would take maybe 2 leisurely hours. You could extend that on other trails, and turn back if it gets to be too much of a climb.
the cliff walk at Howth is a good suggestion. The town is pretty, is close to Dublin, the walk is not hard, and it’s very scenic.
Enjoy your trip!