Headland · Co. Kerry
The westernmost tip of the Dingle Peninsula’s headland road — Devonian old red sandstone cliffs, the full view of the Blasket Islands, and the drive that carries Ventry and the oratory on the way.
Slea Head (Ceann Sléibhe in Irish) is a promontory on the westernmost part of the Dingle Peninsula, in southwest County Kerry, Ireland. It can be reached by the R559 road, with the nearest villages being Ballyickeen and Coumeenoole. The headland itself, together with the larger part of Mount Eagle’s southern slopes, is formed from steeply dipping beds of the pebbly sandstones and conglomerates of the Slea Head Formation — Devonian beds, traditionally called the old red sandstone, which dip out of the hillside in the layered cliff face that gives the headland its look.
Slea Head is a well-known landmark and viewpoint with a full view of the Blasket Islands, which lie out west of the headland across the water. To its northwest is Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland. On 11 March 1982, the Spanish container ship Ranga was wrecked at Dunmore Head, close to Slea Head, after losing power in a storm — one of the reasons the headland is known well beyond the peninsula.
The Slea Head Drive is one of the Dingle Peninsula’s most scenic routes. En route are several landmarks: Ventry Beach, with a pre-historic fort and beehive huts; the Dingle Famine Cottage; views of the Blasket Islands; Coumenole Beach; and Gallarus Oratory. The loop road returns towards Dingle, which is the shape of the day: out to the headland, back through the oratory country, home by the light.
The headland is a short drive from Dingle along the R559; the nearest villages are Ballyickeen and Coumeenoole. The view of the Blaskets is the point of the trip, and it works best in the morning when the light comes across the water.
Where to stay
Dingle is the base; the R559 takes you out to Slea Head and back through the oratory country in a morning.
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The aquarium in Dingle town — penguins, sharks, Asian otters and rays under a glass dome on the main street, the classic rainy-day stop on the Iveragh and one of the best places in the country to do with kids.
A small, steep island off the Iveragh Peninsula, home to an early Christian monastery of beehive huts — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the great places in the country.
Two small islands off the Dingle Peninsula, home to a community until 1953 — now a nature reserve and one of the most important seabird colonies in Europe.
The principal settlement of the Iveragh Peninsula — “Little Sadhbh’s stone ringfort” — on the lower River Ferta, fifty kilometres west of Killarney, with the ringforts of Cahergall and Leacanabuaile in the townland.