Enjoy holiday highlights at Ireland’s Great Lighthouses
Experience the thrill of life on the edge with a guided tour or a stay in one of Ireland’s Great Lighthouses.
Loop Head Lighthouse, Loop Head Peninsula, Co Clare
Guiding sailors to safety over hundreds of years, Ireland’s lighthouses have many dramatic tales to tell. Guided tours give fascinating insights into their maritime history while those that offer accommodation options allow visitors the chance to experience a unique stay in stunning cliff-top locations with breath-taking seascape views.
Standing at the tip of a peninsula on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, Loop Head lighthouse dates back to 1670 when it was simply a coal-burning brazier on a platform. Interactive exhibits reveal the history of the lighthouse and a guided tour of the tower, built in 1802, takes you up to the 23m-high balcony. From here you can enjoy spectacular panoramic views and with luck you might glimpse passing whales, dolphins and seals. You can also stay in the cosy lightkeeper’s cottage to enjoy the Atlantic views and explore the surrounding sights which include the geological marvel that is the Bridges of Ross.
The island’s most northerly lighthouse is on Rathin Island off the Causeway Coast. Known for its unique ‘upside down’ construction, Rathlin West Light is built into the cliff face with the beacon at its base. You can take a tour of the lighthouse, which still plays an important role in maritime safety. Rathlin Island is also famous for its significant seabird colonies that include guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars and puffins. Waymarked trails criss-cross the unspoilt island and glamping pods provide great accommodation with uninterrupted views over the Atlantic Ocean.
Ballycotton Sea Adventures, Ballycotton, Co Cork
Like many of the island’s lighthouses, Ballycotton was built after a ship was wrecked nearby. Sitting on a tiny island off the coast of east County Cork, it was first lit in 1851 and is one of only two black lighthouses in Ireland. The lighthouse is only accessible by boat and you can book a tour with Ballycotton Sea Adventures. The tour takes you across to the island where you can walk to the summit before climbing to the lighthouse’s red lantern balcony to enjoy great views.
Dating from 1817 and voted one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the world, Fanad Head stands on the peninsula between Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay in Ireland’s rugged north-west. A guided tour of the lighthouse tells of love, loss and the resilience of the people who worked there through the years. A stay in one of the three lightkeepers’ houses will let you explore the area, enjoy walks on its sandy beaches, charter a fishing trip or even enjoy a round of golf in nearby Portsalon Golf Course.
Unlike the island’s other tower-style lighthouses, Blacksod looks like a tiny castle. It is built from local granite and sits at the end of a pier. As well as its role in sea safety, the building is also a helicopter refuelling station and has been used as a post office and weather station. Guided tours explain the history of the lighthouse including its role in providing weather updates for the D-Day landings in World War II. After visiting the lighthouse, explore more of the spectacular Mayo landscape including the 6,000-year-old Neolithic site of Céide Fields.
A stay in a lightkeeper’s house at Blackhead lighthouse overlooking Belfast Lough offers peace and quiet and wonderful views while being close to all the beautiful Causeway Coastal Route has to offer. The houses contain interesting fragments of lighthouse paraphernalia, including the whistle pipe system used to wake up the next watch. Nearby is the Gobbins Cliff Path, said to be the most dramatic coastal walk in Europe. A short drive south will take you to Belfast while further on up the coast is the famous Giant’s Causeway.
Valentia Island Cromwell Lighthouse
This lighthouse has a dramatic setting on the site of a seventeenth-century fort which was built to guard the entrance to Valentia Harbour against invaders. The views over the ocean from the top of the lighthouse are stunning. At ground level near the lighthouse, you can see the fossilised footprints of a tetrapod that stepped from water onto land here over 300 million years ago. The Valentia Transatlantic Cable Station is nearby and tells the fascinating story of the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable between Valentia Island and Newfoundland, Canada which revolutionised global communications.
Click here for videos of the great lighthouses of the island of Ireland.