Skellig Michael

Fri 28/8/26

Skellig Michael island

Early morning rise today. At 6.30am, I checked my email and also received an SMS that our landing tour to Skellig Michael island would proceed today. The tour costs EUR 270 or RM 1298 for 2 adults. After a self prepared breakfast in our self catering studio apartment, we checked out at 8.30am to drive about 20 mins to the Glen Pier or Skellig Falcon boat tour agency in Googlemaps.

the view to Glen pier

Glen pier

off to Skellig Michael

The boat trip to Skellig Michael island took about an hour with a stop near Little Skellig Michael island which had thousands of northen gannets flying and nesting, but unfortunately no puffins as it was already out of season. 

Little Skellig with the gannets

another view of Little Skellig

Little Skellig

goodbye Little Skellig

We landed on Greater Skellig Michael island at 10.30am and were given 2.5 hours on the island, i.e. we should be ready back at the pier at 1pm to make our way back to the mainland.

approaching Greater Skellig

there is a trail on Greater Skellig but not open to public

Greater Skellig

unique rock formation

landed at Greater Skellig

We were greeted by the Office of Public Works (OPW) officers for a short briefing before making our way up the 618 stone steps of stairs, carved directly out of the rock by early Christian monks centuries ago to the top of the island where the beehive huts, built using drystone or circular stone cells (called clocháns) without mortar, is located. 

let's go up

stone stairs

The views from and on the island, a massive vertical rock formation, Devonian Old Red Sandstone formed 360 to 380 million years ago, rising 218 meters above the Atlantic Ocean is beautiful. 

Skellig rock formation

the other side is not accesible

Greater Skellig rock formation

stairs by the edge of the cliff. Little Skellig in the background

After arriving at the top at the beehive huts, there was another briefing by the OPW officer on the history of the Christian monks who live in isolation there and some background on how the island was formed. We were also told if we wanted to eat our packed food, we should do it a bit further from the beehive hut to avoid the seagulls.

Skellig Michael island was also a filming location for the Star Wars : The Force Awakens movie. 

beehive huts on Skellig Michael

beehive hut

drystones or circular stone cells

Little Skellig visible from the top of Greater Skellig

About 30 minutes to 1pm, we made our way back down to the pier to wait for our boat for the return trip. There is no access to other parts of the island, and there were quite a few tour companies running today, so 2.5 hours is more than enough to cover the accessible areas for photography and self packed lunch. There are no shops on the island, only toilets near the pier.

more views of Skellig Michael

We then made our way back at 1pm. After reaching back Glen pier, we drove to the Kerry cliffs that we missed yesterday due to closing time. The entrance cost EUR 5 per person. There is an entrance fee due to it location is situated in a private owned land. I am curios why cliffs are privately owned. 

goodbye Greater Skellig Michael

Kerry Cliffs

The Kerry cliffs rise over 305 meters above the Atlantic Ocean and is higher than the famous Cliffs of Moher. It was formed about 400 million years ago in an ancient desert environment, featuring striking layers of Old Red Sandstone.

Kerry cliffs

Kerry cliffs

Kerry cliffs

After about an hour at Kerry cliffs, we drove to Killarney where we will based for the next 2 nights. On the way to Killarney, we stopped at 2 spots to take pictures, at Mountain Stage viewpoint of Dingle bay and River Caragh viewpoint.

view of Dingle bay

view of Dingle bay

River Caragh viewpoint

We arrived at our spacious accommodation Killarney Haven apartment (EUR 300 or RM 1453 for 2 nights) at 5.30pm, and were welcomed by an elderly man, Donal who insisted to bring up our luggage over the flight of stairs to the second floor, but of course we only allowed him to bring the lighter groceries bag. 

Killarney Haven apartment

We did our laundry tonight at the apartment's laundry room with washer and dryer (no additional charge). On hindsight, we should not have brought so many clothes as I already knew the apartment had laundry facilities. We also cooked our own dinner at the self catering apartment.