The King of Tory will greet you off the boat if you sail the 11km from the North Donegal mainland to Tory Island, where you can enjoy the magnificent rugged scenery that inspired Derek Hill and the Tory Island primitive painters.
Ireland is an island with literally hundreds of off-shore islands, which range from Inis Mór, the largest and most populated of the Aran Islands off Galway Bay, to Skellig Beag, off Kerry, a large rock populated by birds and Dursey Island off West Cork, accessed by the only operating cable car in Ireland.
Robert Flaherty shot the iconic documentary Man of Aran on the Aran Islands and the Nobel Prize Winner Heinrich Böll wrote An Irish Journal about his summers spent on Achill Island. Ireland’s islands remain places where you can experience Irish language, music, and dancing in all their vibrancy.
But don’t just go for the day! With archaeological and historic sites, loop walks and water sports, cookery and yoga schools and a range of places to eat and stay, Ireland’s off-shore islands offer the perfect opportunity to get away from it all.