Most visitors agree that the jewel in the crown is Skellig Michael. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this is the jagged and inhospitable rock where monks carved hundreds of steps into the precipitous rock and built their beehive huts in the 12th or 13th Century. It is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Another must-visit is Dún Aonghusa (Dun Aengus), one of three impressive forts found on Inishmore or Árainn (Aran Islands) which are on the World Heritage tentative list. Around 2,000 years old, this semi-circular stone fort clings to the island’s 300-foot cliffs as the Atlantic pounds below.
But there are many more impressive sites worth discovering. To name but a few, why not visit the ancient mass rock on Inishfree, the medieval wall paintings adorning the Cistercian Abbey ruins on Clare Island or the star-shaped Cromwell’s Barracks on Inishbofin in Galway? Or for something completely different what about checking out the ancient tetrapod trackways on Valentia Island. They’re only 385 million years old!
And if you’d like to make your experience a hands-on one, you can even join in and dig with the Achill Archaeological Field School.