Munster’s best beaches
A sunny day can bring so much bustle to Baltimore, it’s hard to believe total seclusion is only 10 minutes away by ferry. Sherkin Island is home to barely 100 souls, so you’ll have acres of room to spread your towel on one of its sandy beaches. Silver Strand, squirrelled away down one of the island’s fuchsia-strewn boreens, is a sandy sweep peering out over twinkling waters towards Cape Clear. Back in the day, locals used to row between the two islands to attend dances in the derelict barn on Sherkin. Today, the only feet likely to be dancing on Silver Strand are your own.
Details: From Baltimore, take the Sherkin Island Ferry (sherkinferry.com; €10/€4 return). Silver Strand is roughly one kilometre from the harbour, turning right after the Franciscan Friary.
There’s no shortage of secret coves along the Copper Coast. Stradbally is one of the standouts, however — a long, leafy, V-shaped nook a short walk from the pretty village that provides its name. The cove has been carved out by the trickling River Tay, and is as remarkable for its brown sugary sands as the forests of sessile oak, ash, hazel and alder that surround it. Birdsong caps it all off, and there are a couple of curios worth exploring — the remains of an old limekiln, for example, and a stone picnic table. Look out to sea, and you may even see the odd dolphin.
Details: Stradbally is around 16km from Dungarvan, heading east. The cove is signposted south of the village — if parking at the beach is an issue, you can walk from there.
For such a famous coastline, sandy beaches are relatively thin on the ground in Co Clare. Fanore, Lahinch and Kilkee are all deserving of their Blue Flags, but you have to look beyond the eco-label to dodge the summer crowds. And Glasheen Beach does take some looking for. Fronting onto the Shannon Estuary on Loop Head, the small beach is a short spin from Carrigaholt village, and one of the most remote and unspoilt along the rugged west coast. Grassy-fringed cliffs and soft brown sand contrast with the foamy surf, but the real treat here is its splendid isolation.
Directions: From Carrigaholt, follow the R487 east towards Doonaha and Querrin. A crossroads just before Doonaha takes you down to the coast. See loopheadclare.com.
Cork’s Seven Heads Peninsula is one of the southwest’s great hidden gems, but even amongst the spectacular scenery Dunworley stands out. There’s no beach at high tide, when you’ll sometimes find devoted punters squashing up onto the grassy cliffs during summer, but it’s a different story when the water peels back. Then, a sandy cove dotted with caves, rock pools and barnacle-studded crops is revealed.
For the full Seven Heads experience, preface a visit with the nearby looped walk, and finish with a cuppa in Courtmacsherry.
Details: From Clonakilty, take the R600 through Courtmacsherry for the full scenic drive. Otherwise, follow the signs through Ring village, a 30-minute drive. See sevenheadspeninsula.ie.
To the best of my knowledge, Nun’s Beach is inaccessible by land. Located just a short stroll along the cliff walk from Ballybunion’s promontory castle, walkers come at it from above, and in many ways, the so-near-yet-so-far aspect of the beach is what’s most attractive about it.
If it all leaves you gagging for a swim, head back to the sandy north or south beaches in the town itself. They’re as inviting (and accessible).
Details: From the north beach, follow the cliff trail for a kilometre or so around the coast. Nun’s Beach is just in front of the convent.
See discoverireland.ie/Ballybunion.
Sprinkled with thatched cottages and seafood restaurants, the harbour town of Dunmore East is no secret to day-trippers. Less well-known is that a half-dozen or so beaches are scattered around the former packet station. As well as the sandy, cliff-bracketed beaches in the heart of the town, you’ll find the leafy and pebbled Ladies’ Cove below the castle, and Portally, a tiny inlet that suits snorkelling on a bright day, is a few kilometres along the cliff walk. Cull your appetite afterwards with fish n’ chips at O’Shea’s (€7.50).
Details: Ladies’ Cove is accessed via a laneway and steps beside the castle tower, and Portally is about 3km west along the cliff walk. See waterford-dunmore.com.
Perched on the edge of Europe off the Dingle Peninsula, these rugged rocks are today unpopulated, but old cottage ruins hark back to the harsh island life depicted by Peig Sayers and Muiris Ó Suilleabháín (the last of the islanders left in 1953). A day-trip to Great Blasket Island is doable by ferry, where you’ll practically have the pristine Trá Bán to yourself.
Details: The ferry port of Dún Chaoin, located at Slea Head, is 15km from Dingle and roughly 80km from Killarney by road. Sailings take about 20 minutes. See blasketislands.ie.
At the very tip of the Beara Peninsula, you’ll find Garnish beach is cut into the coast just 1.5 miles from Dursey Island.
The stony strand (it gets sandy at water level) is the only one to hold a Green Coast Award on the peninsula, but it still comes as a surprise to find wheelchair-accessible loos along the seashore at such a south-western extremity.
The Beara Way goes past the old post office nearby, and if you have more time to kill on the peninsula, the small and intimate Scart beach on Bere Island is worth the 10-minute ferry ride from Castletownbere.
Details: From Aillihies, take the R575 southwest, turning off for Dursey Island. Garinish beach is about 10km from Allihies village. See bearatourism.com.
Tramore is the best-known beach along the Copper Coast, but you don’t have to venture far out of town to find a stretch of seaside without all the chippers, amusement parks and amateur surfers. Garrus beach is about 5km west of Tramore on the coast road, a sandy secret spotted with sea stacks and rocks where snorkelers can see bass and pollock. It’s surprisingly little known outside the resort town.
Details: Starting from Tramore, take the coast road past Newtown Cove and the famous Metal Man. Garrus Beach is signposted about 5km into the journey.
This small beach was one of the locations in David Lean’s Ryan’s Daughter, filmed on the Dingle Peninsula in 1969. The hills rising either side of the cove are spotted with old stone walls, sheep, cottages and fields, and the flat sands mean the waves wash back to leave a shiny film of water in which fine weather is reflected. The white surf, caramel sands, black rocks, green grass and turquoise water can be dramatic.
Details: From Dingle, follow the R559 west through Ventry towards Slea Head. Coumeenoole Strand is 18km from the town, at the southwestern tip of the peninsula.
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