Achill IslandIreland's largest island is joined to the mainland by a road bridge at Achill Sound.Guide
Ireland's islands you can reach in a day
Twelve islands off the Irish coast work as a day out, and three of them do not even need a boat. The one rule that matters more than any timetable: a sailing is a weather decision taken on the morning, so keep an island for the flexible day of a trip and never for the fixed one.
The three you can drive or walk to
Achill Island is the largest island off Ireland and it is joined to the mainland by a bridge at Achill Sound, so there is no boat and no season. It is big enough to be a week rather than a day: Keem Bay at the end of the cliff road, Keel Beach for the long flat sand, Minaun Cliffs above them, and a deserted village on the slope of Slievemore.
Coney Island is reached at low tide across a strand marked by fourteen pillars, and people drive it, which is a thing you should only do behind somebody who knows the tide. Dursey Island Cable Car at the end of the Beara peninsula is the only cable car in Ireland and it crosses a sound with a tide race under it. It takes six people at a time.
The Aran Islands
Inis Mor is the one most people mean and the reason is Dun Aonghasa, a prehistoric stone fort on the lip of a hundred metre cliff with no rail and no fuss. The island is about 12km long, the roads are walls and bare rock, and bicycles are the sensible way round it.
Inis Oirr is the smallest of the three and the easiest to do properly in a day: a shipwreck on the strand, a castle on the hill in the middle and a walk round the whole thing. Sailings run from Rossaveal and from Doolin in Clare, and the Doolin boats are the shorter crossing and the first to be cancelled in a swell.
Off Mayo and Donegal
Clare Island sits in the mouth of Clew Bay and was Grace O'Malley's, and her tower and the abbey with its medieval roof paintings are both on it. The crossing from Roonagh takes about twenty minutes.
Arranmore is the biggest inhabited island off Donegal, has a lighthouse at the north end and a loop road you can walk in a day. Toraigh (Tory Island) is fourteen kilometres out, which is far enough that the crossing is a real one and far enough that people get stuck there, which the islanders treat as a normal part of life rather than an emergency.
Off Cork and the Shannon
Spike Island in Cork harbour was a monastery, then a fortress, then the largest prison in the world in the 1850s, and the tour is the prison. It is a short hop from Cobh and it is the most reliable island on this list because the harbour is sheltered.
Glengarriff and Garnish Island is a garden island in Bantry Bay, planted in the 1910s on what was bare rock, and the boat out passes a colony of seals. Scattery Island in the Shannon estuary has a round tower and six churches and nobody living on it since 1978. Holy Island (Inis Cealtra) in Lough Derg is the freshwater one, with a round tower and several church ruins.
Skellig Michael, which is the exception
Skellig Michael is twelve kilometres off the Kerry coast, rises 218 metres out of the Atlantic and has a sixth century monastery of beehive huts near the top, reached by six hundred stone steps with no handrail. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is the best thing on this page.
It is also the one to be realistic about. Landings run a short season, the number of people allowed on the island each day is capped, and the boats are cancelled often. Do not build a holiday around it. The eco tours that circle the island without landing sail more often and still show you the thing.
What to expect when you land
Most of these are small. Inis Oirr has a few hundred people on it, Clare Island about a hundred and fifty, Toraigh (Tory Island) fewer again. That means one or two places to eat, no cash machine on several of them, and a shop that keeps island hours rather than town hours.
It also means the island is the thing rather than what is on it. On Arranmore and Achill Island the day is a road, a headland and a beach. On Scattery Island and Holy Island (Inis Cealtra) it is a round tower, some churches and nobody at all. Bring lunch, and bring more than you think you need.
The rule about sailings
Every crossing on this page except Achill, Coney Island and Dursey depends on a boat, and every boat depends on the wind and the swell rather than the rain. A bright still day in February will sail. A warm day in July with a big westerly swell will not.
So: ring the operator on the morning, not the week before. Ask about the return as well as the outward sailing, because the two are not always the same decision. And take a coat even in good weather, because every one of these is colder and windier than the pier you left from.
Questions people ask
Which Irish island is best for a day trip?
Inis Oirr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, if you want to see the whole of somewhere in one day rather than a corner of it. Inis Mor is the better island but it is big enough that a day is a compromise. Spike Island in Cork harbour is the most reliable, because the harbour is sheltered and the crossing is short.
Do you need to book Irish island ferries in advance?
Booking is sensible in July and August and rarely necessary otherwise, but booking does not protect you from the weather. Skellig Michael is the exception: landings are capped and booked well ahead, and still cancelled often.
Can you visit an Irish island without a boat?
Three of the ones here. Achill in Mayo is joined by a bridge, Coney Island in Sligo is reached across a tidal strand, and Dursey Island in Cork is reached by cable car.
The places in this guide
18 places, each with a page of its own.
Achill IslandIreland's largest island is joined to the mainland by a road bridge at Achill Sound.
Keem BayKeem is a horseshoe of beach at the west end of Achill, down a cliff road out of Keel.
Keel BeachKeel runs long on Achill, with the Minaun cliffs behind it.
Coney IslandYou reach the island in Sligo Bay at low tide, along a sand road marked out with pillars.
Dursey Island Cable CarA cable car that takes six people at a time across the sound to Dursey Island, at the western end of the Beara peninsula.
Inis MorLargest of the three Aran Islands, with stone walls, a fort on the cliff and a ferry from Rossaveal.
Dun AonghasaThe stone fort sits on the edge of a sea cliff, with nothing between you and the drop.
Inis OirrThe smallest of the three Aran Islands, with a tower house on a rock above the village and a wrecked cargo ship on the east shore.
Clare IslandClare Island sits at the mouth of Clew Bay, with a lighthouse on it and Granuaile's tower over the harbour.
ArranmorePeople live on it, off the west coast, and the northern side is high cliff. The ferry runs from Burtonport.More guides
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