South West Ireland
Cork | Kerry
Return To Main Map | Home

The five west-pointing fingers (the five peninsulas of County Kerry and West Cork) contain nearly half the mountains of Ireland. Pride of place must go to the Iveragh Peninsula; here are the Macgillycuddy's Reeks, with the highest mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohill (1039 metres high) and half a dozen more nearly as high, all offering fine walking for the experienced. Further west is a wilderness mountain area of crags and lakes, glacial cirques and waterfalls.

The Dingle Peninsula, the northernmost, has Mount Brandon, held by many to be the most beautiful mountain in these islands. There is an easy way up from the west, but to climb it from any other direction is a great walking challenge. Plenty of other mountains form a long backbone that the experienced walker can walk, perhaps, in two days. As you move south, the mountains get smaller, but the third peninsula, Beara, offers almost as much mountain walking as its two more famous neighbors. South again is the small Sheep's Head Peninsula, known only to a few discerning visitors, who keep quiet about its small-scale delights of seascape and hill. Finally there is the Mizen Head Peninsula, less mountainous but still worth a walker's interest for its variety of hill and coast. The Southwest is proud to have four Waymarked Ways, each taking a circular route round a peninsula. The Kerry (Iveragh) and Dingle Ways have long been popular with walkers from mainland Europe, but more recently Ways have been opened round both Beara and Sheep's Head.