Donegal > Donegal Attractions

Advantages: Cheesy but sweet and informative
Disadvantages: Difficult to get to without a car

...country). The Isle of Doagh (pronounced 'doke' rather than 'dough'. My, but Irish is a tricky language) is where you're headed for. With Carndonagh (a town where they actually encourage you to bring dogs into the bank, as the bank manager, by his own admission, gets 'bored with looking at all the money. And, well, dogs are fun, aren't they? The way they run after tennis balls is gas.') as your starting point, take the road for Malin. At the roundabout ...
...picnic and eating it on Doagh strand, which is accessible from the car park (although it's a steep and rocky path, so care is needed). The beach is impeccably clean, has lots of soft sand and is sheltered enough for swimming if you're brave or insane. If the weather is rubbish (which it will be. It's Ireland, after all) it's a short drive to Ballyliffin where there's a reasonable selection of eateries. Ireland is a peculiar society in the sense ... Read review

Advantages: A noble and comparatively straightforward peak
Disadvantages: Clear weather desirable

...honestly claim to be beautiful: Errigal, with its steep sides shrouded in quartzite screes tapering to a narrow summit ridge, is one of the few. Particularly when seen end-on (from the south east but especially from the north-west, where it rises straight up from the plain in almost Tolkeinesque fashion), in terms of aesthetics it bows to none. The name translates to 'oratory', and indeed the summit would be a tremendous place from which to deliver ...
...drive from Donegal town to Errigal, on the N15 alongside Lough Eske, that my hire car, fed up from the constant headbutting that 14 days on the Irish road network gives you, finally decided to give a physical form to its emotional suffering and shredded the right front tyre in a quite grisly fashion. After an extended rummage for the spare and the jack, my protracted changing of the tyre precisely coincided with a short, torrential shower...bloody ... Read review

Advantages: An astonishing depiction of the force of nature.
Disadvantages: None. Unless you're a useless driver.

...south Donegal. From inland, Slieve League is steep but lumpy: while obviously the highest thing in the neighbourhood, it won't attract a second glance from those dull folk whose eyes aren't habitually lifted to the hills. But there's a saying that most mountains have a good side and a not so good side...well, Slieve League's Good Side is a plunge of almost 2000ft from its summit directly into the sea. It is a quite joyously majestic sight, and is ...
...to mere mortals that renders Slieve League special. Mind you, it's still, by the standards of the British Isles, a little bit of an adventure to get there, despite it being possible to basically drive all the way. Donegal forms the top left corner of Ireland, and can be accessed either by air (there is a small airport near Gweedore in the north-west of the county) or road (for instance, Dublin is three hours drive from Donegal town). Once you're ... Read review