Connemara

Tue 1/9/26

Today we would be driving 145 km from our apartment in Lisdoonvarna to Connemara National Park to do the Diamond Hill hike. It took us 2.5 hours of driving to reach there. The beautiful views of the lakes near to the national park more than made up the long journey there. We would only stop for pictures on the way back after completing the hike.

lake view otw Connemara national park

lake view otw Connemara national park

We reached the car park (free of charge) at 11am and started the hike to the Upper Diamond Hill Red route (3.5km loop). The upper trail goes up to the summit of Diamond Hill, with views  of the Twelve Bens mountain range and Kylemore Abbey at the top. However it was very windy and cloudy today, so we only got the views of the Kylemore, Bunnaboghee, Touther, Maladrolaun lakes and the Atlantic ocean from Big Rock viewpoint via the Lower Diamond Hill (Blue Route).  There were wildflowers also along the route. We had a lunch stop of our packed sandwich at the Big Rock viewpoint while enjoying the views. 

at the start of the trail

view of the bay from the lower Diamond hill trail

view of Kylemore lake 

 upper Diamond hill trail

at the top of Diamond hill

view from Upper Diamond hill trail

going down from the Upper Diamond hill trail

Diamond hill

surrounded by wildflowers

We finished our hike at 2.30pm (including stops), covering a distance of 8.14km with 481m elevation gain. After going to the restroom, we drove to Kylemore Abbey & Victorian Walled Garden nearby. We only took pictures from outside and then enjoyed scones with coffee latte at the restaurant there. 

Diamond hill Lower and Upper loop trail

Kylemore abbey

enjoying latte and scone 

Before going back to our apartment in Lisdoonvarna, we stopped by the Kylemore and Inagh lakes to take pictures of the beautiful views with a group of sheep by the roadside. You could also choose to feed the sheep at a stall near Inagh lake. 

sheep by the Inagh lake

Inagh lake

We had another stop at a beautiful park at Oughterard Park on the way back with the calming Rivervista. 

Oughterard Park

Oughterard Park

Last photo stop of the day was Dunguaire castle by the Kinvarra bay. We only took pictures from the outside as the castle is currently closed. There is a free car park nearby for the castle visit. 

Dunguaire castle

Next, we stopped by Corkscrew hill view point near our apartment. We finally reached our apartment at close to 7pm and called it a day. We had our self prepared dinner at the apartment.

Corkscrew hill viewpoint