Bunglass Cliffs/Donegal

I could be mistaken but I believe they are the same as Slieve League. The cliffs are Bunglass Cliffs but the area is known as Slieve League or Slieve Mountain. They are about twice the height of the Cliffs of Moher an have about a tenth of the visitors.

There is also a boat trip that departs from Teelin that gives you a seaside view.
If you do a search you will find a lot of info.

Pat, have you been? Have you been to the Cliffs of Moher? If you've been to both, would you recommend one over the other? I liked the idea of staying in Galway and doing a tour of Connemara and then a tour of Cliffs of Moher and possibly Aran Islands over a period of a few days. I felt like we'd hit a few areas with one base area (Galway)... If we had more time, I'd hit Slieve League in addition to our other destinations... Thanks for clarifying!

I love Co. Donegal. My Irish relations and friends agree w/me that it is the best kpy secret in all of Ireland. We try to keep it close to our chests! LOL!!!

Pat is right they are the Slieve League... they are the highest Forjds in all of Europe. Including Scandinavia. Your friend was probably thinking about Bunglass Point; which is a part of the Slieve League.

The N17 - going North out of Galway; the BEST road in all of Ireland. At least that was agreed upon at my local pub last night... sorry.. I digress... Take the N17 to Sligo and then continue on N15 North.. still great road... to Donegal Town... and go west on R263... You will see the signs to Teelin.

To go this far and back to Galway in one day so plan on staying in Co. Donegal for at least one night.

Now saying that I have a friend who gave me a bit of info on a hostel/b&b actually in a cave in GlenColmcille. I cant seem to locate the info for it, however, if you google:glencolmcille you will get multiple sites including local theatre site. Wounldn't it be too cool to be in the area and see local theatre? Also, check out: http://www.donegaldirect.com.

The Cliffs of Moher are more easily accessable(sp) and now with all of the changes safety is not an issue. The Slieve League is a different story. You need to be careful. Listen to the locals and what they tell you and you will be okay.

My dream is to take a boat ride to see the League from below, however, it all depends on the weather and the Ocean... they both have to be agreeable to one another for a good and safe trip. I haven't been lucky to have both the weather and the sea to cooperate w/one another on my treks into Co Donegal. Maybe you will have an excellent day to take a boat ride.

have fun.

Amy, That is a hard call, I would pick Slieve League because I do not like the herds of tourists at the Cliffs of Moher and other attractions in the West of Ireland, but then that is just my opinion. I know other people would disagree.

I am very partial to Donegal and it's incredible scenery and at least it seems to me to be more laid back than the more "touristy" parts of Ireland. Most of the tourists I have met there have been from Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK.

There are some great little towns strung out along the coast all the way from Donegal Town up to Gweedore.

Thanks everyone for your input. After all this advice, I think I may change our itinerary to do Slieve League area instead of the Galway area. Usually when we do European trips, it's not very relaxing, per se. Although we have a wonderful time, we're trying to sightsee like crazy. I have a feeling if we go to Slieve League, this part of the trip may be relaxing because we'll just be hiking and enjoying the scenery. I really wanted to enjoy a quintessential Irish town, and this may be it!
We've only been to mainland Europe, and it seems from reading about Ireland and Scotland, that the culture is a bit different. Does anybody have any input on the differences between mainland Europe and the UK and Ireland? We cannot WAIT!

Amy: Dont totally rule out Galway. You will love the town and the area. Even if you were only going to be in Ireland for one week. That is pleanty of time to see Galway City, Connemara, and Co Donegal and everything in between. Instead of doing the Aran Islands you could do Clare Island in Clew Bay off the coast of Co. Mayo. It is the inspiration of the Saw Doctors (irish rock band) from Tuam (pronounced: Chewm) in Co. Galway. If your decision is to tour Co Donegal then you may want to take a trip out to Tory Island.

Alrighty. I need peoples' opinions on where to stay in County Donegal. I want to stay somewhere beautiful, but also somewhere that is NOT remote. We want to stay in a town that has lots of good restaurants and pubs. Is Donegal Town the most populated city in the county? Or is there a coastal town that has tons of great scenery along with good shopping/pubs/food? ANY advice would be great. It seems that info is limited on County Donegal. Including Rick's book!

Amy: Hi. Its me again! I understand the lack of info in Co Donegal. Donegal town is the largest city, however, all small towns will have pubs and entertainment. check out these sites: www.donegal.ie/
-click on donegal tourism icon
&

www.countydonegal.com/

good luck

Amy, have you checked out www.discoverireland.com? You can select the county you wish to know about, and the type of information wanted (accomodations, activities, etc.) There is a fairly extensive list of B&Bs there.

Yes, I've been to all those websites. It's how I was able to see where the cliffs were in relation to all the towns in County Donegal. But those websites are tourism websites, and I want fellow travelers to tell me where THEY/YOU have stayed so I know what towns are the favorites. The city I live in has a website, and it also has a bunch of hotels listed, but that certainly doesn't make it an interesting place to travel to... There are lists of hotels online for every city in the world, but that doesn't make it a traveler's dream. :) I'm getting frustrated because although this sounds like a pretty unspoiled area of Ireland, it's been very difficult obtaining information. I'm considering the Galway area again just because there is such a wealth of info on the area... I'd hate to get to Donegal, and find ourselves in a desolate, boring town when we could have had tons of tours/sightseeing in the Galway region.

Amy, What time of the year are you going to Ireland? To the best of my knowledge you will not find the organized tours in Donegal such as you will in Galway and the west. You may find something out of Letterkenny or Donegal Town at the height of the tourist season but not in the off season. What one person finds interesting another could find totally boring. I am happy finding a pub with good conversation and/or music but you might not like it at all. Ardara to me is a great little town.
Donegal will appeal more to the independent traveler, the person who can entertain themselves and not to someone who wants a large crowd and wants to go someplace just because everyone else does.

You don't get a lot of personal recommendations on that part of Ireland because it's not as visited. You asked originally for information about that area of Ireland, and people have offered that to you in the form of websites (which is where most of us get our information when planning a trip). Sorry it's not the exact form of info you were looking for, but on their first (or second) trip to Ireland most people hit the more popular, touristed areas and might not have the experience to share with you. It's considered a "well-kept secret" for a reason -- people haven't found out about it yet. If you get there and don't like it, go back to Galway. As Pat said, no one else can really decide for you if something is boring. And I could tell you I stayed in the best place on the planet, but you might hate it. But when you ask for information and people give what suggestions they can for finding that information, it's not very gracious of you to complain about what they have told you. We were only trying to help. For what it's worth, Donegal and that part of the west coast is my next planned destination in Ireland. I don't know much about it other than what I have read online, but on my several trips there, I have yet to see a part of Ireland that I would consider desolate (except in the stunningly beautiful way of Connemara) or boring.

Amy, As others have said, the Galway area is great, and Galway City has everything you want or need in a city. It's a great base for exploring the area.

I've been to the Cliffs of Moher, but not Slieve League so can't compare them. But depending on the season of your trip, you may or may not encounter crowds at the Cliffs of Moher. We were there in late May/early June 2 years ago and it wasn't crowded at all. So I certainly wouldn't shy away from a trip to that area.

That said, Co. Donegal is high on my list for my next trip to Ireland. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice.

Have a great trip!

Amy: Check out Gillaroo lodge B&B @ www.iol.ie or google Gillaroo lodge B&B, Bundoran, Ireland.

Their email address is: [email protected]

I have stayed at this B&B twice. It is a good spot to tour Donegal. Bundoran is actually an "irish" holiday town during the summer. This is where the Irish go to get away. There are alot of Surfing competions also on the beach @ Bundoran. It is not too far from Ballyshannon, Bellek and takes no time to get to Donegal town(Dun na nGall: "Port of the Foriegners" the land of my forefather: Red Hugh O'Donnell). Bundoran sits on N15 which is the road that will take you right up to Donegal town and it is a good road. The best roads in Ireland are N17, N18 and N15; which do all connect to each other.

FYI: Cool thing in Bundoran is the 'Wishing Chair' and the "Fairey Bridge". I had tried to locate them on my first foray into Donegal but could not locate them. On the left hand side of the road as you are leaving Bundoran and going north is a KFC... Yep a Kentucy Fried Chicken. On my second trip into Donegal w/my mam we actually stopped to eat at the KFC and as we sat eating I noticed a sign outside the KFC that said Fairey Bridge. so when we finished eating we went to check out the sign that also mentioned the wishing chair and the arrow directed toward the beach. I took photos of my mom on the Fairey Bridge, but I was not brave enough (Im afraid of heights) the Wishing chair was okay. The view was fantastic. So if you want to check out the 'wishing chair' and the 'fairey bridge' make the left at the KFC and drive toward the beach there are pleanty of areas to park your car.

I hope this is what you were looking for!

PS: You have to check out TG4 (Tna G) the irish/galic TV channel, they do have english subtitles. I've watched TG4 in other parts of Ireland but for some reason in Donegal it seems different. LOL!

Okay, I will apologize if I came off as complaining. I was trying to be as clear as possible as to what information I was looking for, and if it came off as rude, that was not my intention. If no one on this site has ever stayed in Donegal County, that's fine, but I wanted to ask that if anyone had actually stayed in the county, could they tell me what town and give me a description of what the town was like. We're a group of younger travelers and were hoping there would be semi-decent nightlife. I thank all of you for the websites, and I've been on all of them extensively, and it helped me as far as learning the lay of the land and to find accomodations. But something that only other travelers and Rick Steves's books explain is the atmosphere. So I just wanted some input on that. I'm planning a trip for a small group, and beautiful scenery may not be enough for others in the group. For some reason, I feel guilty saying that. We will be traveling there the end of next August. It's not an option to get there, decide we don't like it, and head to a different city as I'd like to have accomodations and transportation worked out well in advance. Mike, Nancy, Pat, Claregirl, thank you for your input, I look into everything that you're telling me. I truly do appreciate any and all advice.

Oh Claregirl, we must have been writing our responses at the same time, because I JUST saw your response. I have my stove alarm beeping because dinner is ready, but I will look into that information later. THANKS!!!!

The nightlife of small Irish towns is in the pubs. Again, it's hard to know what you consider "semi-decent nightlife". Galway is a university town, so there might be more options for types of things to do at night there. And even if you don't plan to do it, you DO still have the option to move to another location if you don't like where you are. I wouldn't waste valuable vacation time staying someplace just because I didn't want to bother finding something else. Even plans made well in advance can be changed.