The 24 places on this page fall into three corners of the county’s western half. Croagh Patrick stands over Clew Bay at Murrisk, 764 m of it, with a white chapel on the summit and a path that up to 30,000 pilgrims climb on the last Sunday in July. South of that, the ground rises again into Mweelrea, Connacht’s highest at 814 m, with Ben Bury on the same horseshoe ridge above Killary Harbour. The R335 through the Doolough valley runs between that massif and the Sheeffry Hills, past the stone cross remembering the Doolough Tragedy of 1849.
The rest is coastal. Downpatrick Head, out into the Atlantic north of Ballycastle, is the shortest walk of the lot, ending on open clifftop opposite the 45-metre Dún Briste stack, with a holy well and an EIRE 64 marker in the grass. Further west the Erris coast carries Erris Head, Carrowteige and Kilcommon, all Gaeltacht, all reached by waymarked cliff loops. On Achill, a service road takes you most of the way up Minaun for the view over Keel Strand, while Croaghaun’s 688 m cliffs cannot be seen from below at all.
The driving between these groups is long, and the weather decides the day. The unwaymarked summits want clear conditions; the clifftop loops hold up in most.
Ireland's holiest and most climbed mountain, 764 m above Clew Bay, with a summit chapel, prehistoric cairns and a July pilgrimage of up to 30,000 people.
Free, open at all hours, and a short walk onto a clifftop facing the 45-metre Dún Briste sea stack, a ruined church and a holy well.
Ireland's highest sea cliffs at 688 m, three times the Cliffs of Moher, and visible only from the summit above or a boat offshore.
Ireland's longest-running field school, built around the deserted famine village at Slievemore, with guided tours and site visits still arrangeable while courses are paused.
A flat-topped 795 m peak on the Mweelrea horseshoe, usually taken in on a long day from Delphi for the view over Killary.
24 of 24 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Murrisk, mayo
Rising 764 m over Clew Bay, Croagh Patrick is Ireland's holiest mountain and its most climbed. A white chapel sits on the summit above a landscape of pre-Christian cairns and Bronze Age carvings, and on the last Sunday in July up to 30,000 pilgrims make the climb, some barefoot, retracing Saint Patrick's 40-day fast.
Downpatrick Head, mayo
Downpatrick Head runs out into the Atlantic north of Ballycastle, and the 45-metre Dún Briste sea stack stands just off its tip, cut from the mainland by 1393 in the local legend. The clifftop carries a ruined church tied to St Patrick, a holy well, and a stone EIRE 64 marker from the war years. It is free, open all hours, and the walk is short.
Achill Island, mayo
Croaghaun, at the wild western end of Achill Island, holds Ireland's highest sea cliffs – 688 m of rock falling straight into the Atlantic, three times the height of the Cliffs of Moher. There's a catch: you can't see them from below. The only way to take them in is a steep, unmarked hike to the summit, or a boat trip offshore.
Dooagh, mayo
Founded in 1991 at Dooagh, the Achill Archaeological Field School is Ireland's longest-running field school, built around the excavation of the famine-era deserted village at Slievemore and sites spanning 5,000 years. Accredited courses will not run in summer 2026 while the school is for sale or lease, but guided tours and site visits may still be arranged.
Mweelrea Mountains, mayo
Ben Bury is the third-highest summit of the Mweelrea massif in County Mayo, a flat-topped 795m peak on the horseshoe ridge above Killary Harbour. Most walkers take it in as part of the 15km Mweelrea Horseshoe from Delphi, a 6 to 7 hour day with about 1,200m of ascent. The reward at the top is a 360-degree view over Ireland's only fjord and the Atlantic coast.
Blacksod Bay, mayo
Blacksod Bay is a sheltered inlet on the Erris coast of Mayo, framed by the dunes of the Mullet Peninsula. Its granite lighthouse is world-famous: the weather report sent from here on 3 June 1944 pushed the D-Day landings back a day. Guided tours now run through the former keeper's quarters, and the sheltered waters draw walkers, birdwatchers and boat trips to the islands.
Northwest County Mayo, mayo
Carrowteige anchors the Dún Chaocháin peninsula, where three waymarked coastal loops climb past the Annie Brady Bridge, sheer sea cliffs and the Children of Lir sculpture to Benwee Head, the headland's high point at 255m. It's a working Gaeltacht village where Irish is still the everyday language.
Doolough, mayo
Doolough is a remote valley in southwest Mayo where the R335 threads between Mweelrea, Connacht's highest mountain, and the Sheeffry Hills, past the dark water of Doo Lough. A plain stone cross beside the road remembers the Doolough Tragedy of 1849, when starving people were sent to Delphi Lodge and back during the Great Famine. It is one of Ireland's most affecting drives.
Mullet Peninsula, mayo
Erris Head is the northernmost tip of the Mullet Peninsula, circled by a 5km loop walk of about two hours. The north-facing cliffs are among the most exposed in Ireland, and along the way you pass a WWII coastguard lookout and the 'ÉIRE 62' marker cut into the ground during the war. Choughs and fulmars work the cliffs, and on a calm day seals and porpoises surface below.
Kilcommon, mayo
Kilcommon is a remote civil parish in the Erris Gaeltacht of north Mayo, spread across two peninsulas and 37 townlands. Its draw is the waymarked Benwee Head cliff walk, backed by promontory forts, blanket bog, a living Irish-speaking community and Ireland's only breeding red-necked phalaropes.
Minaun, mayo
Minaun rises to 466 m near Dooega on Achill Island, one of the island's highest points, and a steep mast-service road lets you drive most of the way up. From the top the view runs across Achill to Keel Strand, the Ashleam cliffs and Clare Island, and a short walk on leads to a Marian statue, funeral stones and the ruins of 19th-century cottages.
Mullet Peninsula, mayo
The Mullet is a long, low Gaeltacht peninsula off north-west Mayo, where Irish is still the everyday language. The draws are quiet strands, four lighthouses – Blacksod among them, of D-Day fame – and boat trips out to the deserted Inishkea islands.
mayo
Mweelrea rises 814 m above the northern shore of Killary Fjord, the highest mountain in Connacht. Its horseshoe of ridges gives some of the best hillwalking in Ireland, from the sane up-and-back off Silver Strand to the full six-hour circuit – but it is unwaymarked, cliff-ringed and best left for a clear day.
Slieve Carr, mayo
Slieve Carr is a 721m peak in Wild Nephin National Park, reckoned the most remote point on the Irish mainland. A burial cairn linked to a 5th-century king of Connacht sits on the summit, reached only by a long trek across some of the emptiest bog in the country.
Achill Island, mayo
Booley families kept the Deserted Village going long after the Famine, using its stone cottages as summer cattle-grazing shelters. That legacy sits on the south slope of Slievemore, Achill's second-highest mountain, where the ruins overlook the coast. For most visitors the village, not the summit, is the reason to come.
Mayo, mayo
The Wild Atlantic Way runs 2,500 km of signposted coast from Donegal to Cork, and Mayo holds 543 km of it – two of the route's fifteen signature stops, Ireland's only fjord, and the Neolithic field walls buried under the bog at Céide Fields.
Doohoma, mayo
Mweelrea Mountains, mayo
Carrownaglogh, mayo
Louisburgh, mayo
Newport, mayo
Clew Bay, mayo
South County Mayo, mayo
mayo
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