Tours of Dingle Wild Atlantic Ireland

Day tour to Dingle by Mark and Joyce both in our late 30’s.
We went on a Self Drive tour of Dingle with an excellent Map and information on our tour given to us be the lady at out hotel. Firstly I would like to comment on the fantastically presented Map and the information, which is so relevant to the tour.
We left our hotel after breakfast well prepared, usual clothes a raincoat in case, camera, swimsuit, towels and a packed lunch for our picnic at beach recommended to us. Leaving Killarney we passed a Monument of a priest with a slogan “God has no Country” that will be one for the girls at the reception when we get back. We did stop and visited a beautiful Cathedral leaving before heading off to Milltown, Castlemaine and on to Inch beach which was recommended for Surfing Lessons, were a little on the older side late 30’s for Surfing but we said we would give it a go. We were also told the waves would be perfect for beginners and so they were and thank God the wet suits did the business. Joyce had surfed in Australia so she was first to get up on the board, I kept falling off and eventually got up and it was the most amazing experience and would recommend to more people. We promised to come back to Inch beach again not before we had a good walk on this most beautiful beach.

We were hungry now so we decided to find this great beach used in the Hollywood Movie “Ryan’s Daughter” and tuck into our Packed Lunch. It was about a 35 minute drive passing Dingle Town, Ventry and on the spot described to us. Wow Wow Wow this was some spot we took a load of photographs, the sun was out and we had a great Picnic looking out at the Atlantic Ocean, beautiful Islands and turquoise Water and big Waves. The beach is called coumeenole and Ireland’s most westerly beach.
Coumeenole Beach Dingle  52° 6’32.20″N  /   10°27’48.74″W

It was hard to leave this beautiful beach and next we stopped at Dunquin where there is a magnificent pier descending down into the Atlantic Ocean like a mini Great wall of China, Traditional boats can be seen here called “Currach’s” made of Canvas and oils. You can get a boat trip to the Great Blasket Island here but because of our surfing lessons and very long lunch stop we will leave it to our next visit. Now we have to find the Old School House featured in “Ryan’s Daughter” said to be in a very scenic place overlooking the Ocean from high over the cliffs.

Old School House from Ryan’s Daughter  52° 8’11.49″N  /   10°28’4.83″W

 We walked about 500 meters to get to it; it is falling down but non-the less worth a visit. When we go home we will watch the movie a classic in its time.

On recommendation we went on to visit the following attractions, Clogher Strand  52° 9’24.49″N  /   10°27’34.51″W another very scenic beach and takes huge waves, we saw photo’s of it in our hotel in the Winter and they were massive. Riasc Ring Forts   52°10’3.36″N  /   10°23’14.10″W was our next stop and then we stopped at the Gallarus Oratory  52°10’25.36″N  /   10°21’13.26″W and Kilmalkedar Church and Graveyard  52°11’4.38″N  /   10°20’15.28″W

We made our way back to Dingle and wanted to visit Ocean World and it was a fantastic experience, Sharks, Turtles and a huge array of fish to be seen in many different display tanks we were in there for a good while, Kids would love it even more there were kids in a Hurricane experience and a games room having a great time.

We gave a walk around Dingle and looked at the Shops and got some gifts to bring home, we left a trip to see Fungie the wild Dolphin for another time as we wanted to head back to the Hotel to enjoy the facilities, we were going to let our surfing muscles relax in the outdoor Hot tub it looked fantastic. We passed Inch beach on the way back and came back the way we went.

Overall it was the most magnificent day and experience we ever had, we discussed it over dinner at our hotel and the next day we asked the concierge what can we could add while including our highlights on a future trip on the dingle drive.

Here are some more spots worth seeing and you will come across much more on your travels :

Annascaul and Tom Crean’s Pub once home to the famous Polar Explorer.

Dunbeg Fort / Beehive Huts

Dingle Peninsula Museum

The Blasket center

Louis Mulcahy Pottery

Conor Pass

Blenerville Windmill

We didn’t stay on the Dingle Peninsula but in Killarney at the Lake Hotel, friendly staff, unbeatable location not to pricy with easy access to the best Kerry has to offer. We asked if we could write a review we were so happy with our hotel and the advice we were given.