The scenery in the North West of Ireland is wild and rugged and beautiful. Get inspired for outdoor adventures exploring Ireland in Connemara National Park and Killary Harbour, including hiking, gorge walking, cliff jumping and generally getting wet and muddy.
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This is the second half of the week I spent in Ireland – the first 4 days I spent in and around the Dingle Peninsula and Gap of Dunloe. Read my Dingle blog for travel tips there! And make sure you check out this great travel guide for your trip to Ireland (affiliate).
Where to stay near Connemara National Park
I stayed just outside the village of Cong in a really cute little apartment. It was a great location for spending a few days exploring the region.
Hiring a car in Ireland
As I discuss in my blog on the Dingle Peninsula, hiring a car is a definite must in Ireland. It gives you so much more freedom to explore the wilderness than relying on very limited public transport in the area. There are lots of companies offering car rental from the airport. Just remember that Ireland drives on the left, like the UK, which might be a shock if you’re coming from mainland Europe or the USA!
Killary Harbour outdoor adventure
Day 1 in this area was…amazing but crazy. I’m always into some outdoor adventure, so I’d researched a place called the Killary Adventure Company and originally I booked to do kayaking and gorge walking. But the torrential rain meant the kayaking got replaced with their ‘turf challenge’. Although I think it would be better described as their ‘mud challenge’. The pictures describe it better than I can…
And guess who let go of the rope at the wrong time and ended up literally underwater in that muddy bog…
The cliff jumping helped me clean up a bit though…
And the gorge walking involved climbing up a very strong waterfall hanging onto ropes…
The bruises and aches and pains took a while to go after that! But it was amazing. The scenery around Killary Harbour was lovely too.
Connemara National Park
Another day of amazing outdoor adventure in Connemara, Ireland. What better way to end an amazing trip to Ireland than climbing a mountain in Connemara National Park?
There are plenty of hiking options from Connemara National Park Visitor Centre and they’re all well marked. One of the most popular, which is the one I did, is a 3km circular route and I extended it up to the top of the mountain. The views were just amazing.
Decent walking boots were definitely helpful here – the ground was a bit marshy at times, and also near the top the path involved climbing over quite a few rocks so it was good to have decent footwear. And of course a rain coat as well whenever you’re doing any hiking in Ireland.
On one side of the mountain was my first real encounter with Irish midges. I think it was when it had just stopped raining and I was sheltered from the wind so they were swarming around a bit. But it wasn’t too bad and I don’t think I got bitten at all, so I’d recommend not letting tales of Irish midges put you off.
But being submerged in a cloud in torrential rain just added to the experience, and it was magical seeing the views re-emerge as the cloud cleared.
The Connemara mountains felt very different to the mountains of Killarney and the Dingle Peninsula – more barren and remote but in a really nice way, and the whole area felt a lot less tourist-y. Hard to say which I preferred, I thought it was great to see both and have the variety. It was a great end to an amazing week.
Remember to check out my blog on the Dingle Peninsula to get inspired for more trips to Ireland, as well as this great travel guide to help plan your trip (affiliate). Or head to my blog on Dublin for some fun in the vibrant, friendly capital city.
Wow! Th cliff jumping must have been crazy.
Such wonderful camera work in a decidedly beautiful locale! It is so fun to see your trips!
Thank you! There were so many beautiful views to take photos of.
Im considering foregoing the Big Sur leg of our trip in lieu of the Northern Coast all the way up to the far north redwoods and back, but hope that Im not making a big mistake, knowing that we may not make our way to California ever again.
I had this content saved some time before but my computer crashed. I have since gotten a new one and it took me a while to come across this! I also in fact like the design though.
OMG, the turf challenge sounds like a thing I need to do!
Planning on the summer getting out there for a bit of a staycation. See so many beautiful spots and can’t wait for the chance to get there.
Thanks for sharing and providing some inspiration
This looks like a beautiful area of Ireland to get out and explore – even in the wet weather!
Renting a car is definitely a good call. That mud challenge looks ridiculous but fun at the same time!
Oh how beautiful! Ireland is such a breathtaking country and so many people don’t realize that there is so much adventure there. Great article! 🙂