They join at a single point called the Meeting of the Waters, and on a high ridge overlooking this splendid setting is Ladies View – a vantage point that offers the perfect panorama. Killarney is home to Ireland’s highest peak, Carrauntoohil, but the park’s star attraction is the lakes in the valley at the foot of the mountains: Leane, Muckross and the Upper Lake are each peppered with small islands. Beyond the park’s main trailhead is the more comedic setting of the house from Channel 4’s Father Ted series.īut by avoiding peak times and visiting in late spring or early autumn, visitors can enjoy the park while it’s ablaze with heathers, gorse, Kerry violets and bilberries, or the turning colours of oaks, alder and ash, without having to queue behind tour buses.

The mild climate means that plant life, from hardy gorse and hazel to rare species such as eyebright, bloody crane’s-bill and wild orchids – flora typical of diverse regions from the Mediterranean to the Alps – thrives here, much of it in the crevices in the vast limestone pavements.Įntry to the park is at the 16th-century Kilnaboy church, which has a rare Sheela-na-Gig, a lewd stone figure that stands like a pouting gargoyle over the ruin’s south wall entrance. Mullaghmore attracts experienced hikers, but other trails in this stark landscape, shaped millions of years earlier, are equally rewarding. In the sunshine, it’s near brilliant as the sun sets over Loch Gealain and ricochets off its still, crystal-clear surface, it flares up in hues of copper and coral. Its shades of pewter and pearl are whipped with smooth ringed contours that never fail to reflect the day’s mood. The park’s most significant landmark is Mullaghmore, a time-sculpted barren hill that lures visitors in search of a spiritual reboot. But this lunar landscape on Ireland’s Atlantic coast is also a living geological and cultural museum.

The Burren is a park within a park, part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Unesco global geopark.

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