The oar of the currach, the canvas-covered wooden frame, the 6 metres long, the 4 oarsmen, and the boat that was the only link between the Great Blasket and the mainland for the 150 years until the evacuation, is the symbol of the Blasket Islands. The Blasket Islands are the 6 islands off the Dingle Peninsula in the County Kerry (the Great Blasket, the largest, the 460 hectares, the Inishvickillane, the Inishnafarroge, the Inishtooskert, the “Sleeping Giant,” the Tearaght Island, the most westerly island of the Ireland and the Europe, and the Beginish. The Great Blasket was the inhabited until the 1953, the 22 remaining residents were the evacuated by the Irish government after the decades of the decline, the emigration, and the dying of the young people (the writer Peig Sayers, the Tomás Ó Criomhthain, the “The Islandman”, the most important Irish-language literature of the 20th century, and the Blasket is the essential Irish cultural pilgrimage). Here is your guide.

Visiting Ireland’s Abandoned Blasket Islands

• The Great Blasket, the essential visit: The Great Blasket is the 5 km long, the 1.5 km wide, and the visit is the most evocative island experience in the Ireland. The ferry from the Dunquin Harbour (the County Kerry, the 20-minute crossing, the €40 return with the Great Blasket Island Ferry, the peak season is the May–September and the weather-dependent: the crossing is the cancelled on the 40% of the days in the July, and the essential strategy: the book the flexible itinerary, the 3 potential days to allow for the weather. The essential check: the Blasket Island Ferry Facebook page, the 7am update on the crossing status), the arrival: the slipway at the Trá Bán, the White Strand, the sand, the green, and the sense that the arrival in the 1950 was the same. The walk: the village of the abandoned houses (the 25 houses, the roofless, the stone, the paths that were the walked for the 400 years, the house of the Peig Sayers, the house of the Tomás Ó Criomhthain, the plaques, the Irish text), the An Blascaod Mór walk, the highest point on the island: the Croagh, the 290 metres, the 45 minutes, the view of the Dingle Peninsula, the Skellig Michael, and the Tearaght, and the best view in the County Kerry. The essential: the 2.5 hours on the island, the ferry schedule gives the enough time for the walk and the reflection. The essential: the bring the food and the water, the island has the no facilities, the no toilet, the no shelter, and the no shop. The coffee stall at the Dunquin Harbour is the only pre-departure sustenance. More Ireland →
• The Blasket Centre and the Dingle, the essential context: The Blasket Centre (the Ionad an Bhlascaoid Mhóir), the Dunmore Head: the award-winning museum on the mainland, the 3 km from the ferry departure, the €5, and the essential: the visit the Blasket Centre before the crossing, the context of the island life, the language, the literature, the emigration, and the most moving museum in the Ireland. The glass wall, the view of the Great Blasket from the museum, the essential photograph. The essential Dingle Peninsula, the Slea Head Drive: the circular route, the 47 km from the Dingle Town, the essential stops: the Dunmore Head (the most westerly point of the Irish mainland), the Coumeenoole Beach (the most beautiful beach on the Slea Head, the film location for the “Ryan’s Daughter”), the Gallarus Oratory (the 8th-century, the dry-stone, the boat-shape, the corbelled roof, the most perfectly preserved early-Christian church in the Ireland. The free), the Fahan Beehive Huts (the 6th-century, the clochán, the dry-stone huts, and the most accessible prehistoric settlement on the Slea Head). The essential Dingle accommodation: the Pax House Guesthouse (the 5-star, the view of the harbour, the €200/night, the best guesthouse in the Ireland), the Dingle Skellig Hotel (the 4-star, the €150/night), the budget: the Rainbow Hostel (the €25/night)