Skellig Michael — not just one of the greatest islands in Ireland but one of the greatest in the world

The 2024 season for travelling to Skellig finishes at the end of this month — but you can always plan your visit for next year if you don't make it this September

Islands of Ireland: Skellig Michael became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan

The idea was audacious: build a place to worship god on an island 12 kilometres out to sea — far from the cloying demands of civilisation. And so, in the sixth century a few monks loaded their boats (made from animal skins stretched across wooden frames and sealed with tar) with supplies and crossed to this pyramid of rock among the clouds.

The monks embraced the ethereal and the earthly in their construction of the monastery (reputedly founded by St Finian) comprising their six indestructible beehive cells, Church of St Michael, two oratories, two wells, and graveyard, over the centuries. Small in scale but vast in scope, the monastery, perched on the edge of a cliff, and the island were abandoned in the late 12th century.