Overview
Doohoma is a small Gaeltacht village on a narrow peninsula reaching into Blacksod Bay on the north-west coast of County Mayo. Drive out through it to Doohoma Head (An Ceann Ramhar) and you get a long, largely empty strand with the open Atlantic on one side and views across to Achill Island and the Mullet Peninsula. It’s a Wild Atlantic Way signature discovery point, and the honest reason to make the detour is the beach: a wide, quiet stretch of sand that rarely draws a crowd. Come for a walk, a swim if you’re hardy, or the surf.
The strand and the surf
The main draw is the beach itself, several kilometres of sand that The Irish Times once put on a list of the best places in Ireland to go wild. At low tide it opens right out, and families work the lower shore for winkles, mussels and limpets. The Atlantic delivers a steady beach break with both rights and lefts, usually around a metre and holding higher on a good swell; it suits intermediate surfers better than nervous beginners. The calmer flat water inside Blacksod Bay is the spot for kite-surfing, sailing and stand-up paddle-boarding.
The golf course
There’s a nine-hole course out on the headland, volunteer-run and unfussy, playing along the same clifftop line as the beach with the Achill view thrown in. It’s the kind of place you play for the setting rather than the scorecard. Ring ahead or ask locally about green fees and access before you turn up with clubs.
A hard history
Erris took the Famine hard, and Doohoma with it; emigration became a way of life, and each June whole households once travelled north to lift potatoes in Scotland. These seasonal workers, the tattie hokers, were so numerous that boats moored off Doohoma Head to carry them across the Minch. The self-reliance shows elsewhere too: when the authorities wouldn’t fund a road to the local cemetery, over a hundred villagers cut one themselves in 1967, and it wasn’t tarred until 1989. The revenue cutter Harlequin was wrecked off this coast in December 1823, and a ferry ran from nearby Tallaghan Bawn across to Ballycroy right through the 19th and into the 20th century, carrying trade and taking people to races, dances and funerals. The village church here is dedicated to Pope Pius X.
By the 2022 census the resident population was 110, down slightly from 112 in 2016, though a scattering of returning families has kept it from fading altogether.
Nearby
- Geesala – The narrow neck of the peninsula, and the setting J.M. Synge drew on for The Playboy of the Western World. The annual Geesala Festival’s horse and dog racing on Doolough Strand is the big event of the local summer.
- The islands – Inishkea and Duvillaun lie off to the west of Doohoma Head; local boat owners will run you out by arrangement.
- Ballycroy (Wild Nephin) National Park – Roughly half an hour inland, protecting blanket bog and forest trails. Its visitor centre opens daily, 10am–5.30pm, through the summer.
- Achill Island – A drive over the bridge brings you to Ireland’s largest island, and Keem Bay.
Practical information
The approach is by the L1206 local road, about 10km off the main regional route through Geesala. There’s parking by the strand, and the social heart of the village is its two pubs, the Sea Rod Inn (Barrett’s) and Trá Buí (Holmes’s), both of which do food and stock provisions; the Sea Rod Inn also has ensuite rooms and a licensed bar. Surf and beach conditions are most reliable from late spring into early autumn, though winter swells bring out experienced boarders. Check the tide tables before you set out: low tide roughly doubles the shore you can walk, and it’s when the shellfishing is best.