Kilmurvey Craft Village is a small cluster of shops at the foot of Dún Aonghasa, and almost everyone who visits does so either side of the walk up to the fort. It sits next to Kilmurvey House and a few minutes from the only Blue Flag beach on Inis Mór, so it works less as a destination than as the thing you fold into a Dún Aonghasa morning. Entry is free, and it shares a free car park with the fort’s visitor centre right next door.
Set your expectations to match. This is a handful of makers and shops, not a large market, and several trade only in the warmer months. Come in July and most doors are open; come in February and you may find the shutters down.
The shops
The stock is what the Aran Islands are known for: hand-knitted wool, including the cable-and-diamond jumpers the islands gave their name to, alongside pottery, textiles and jewellery. Reviewers single out Lia Árann for its neolithic-inspired jewellery, printed shirts and wall hangings – the sort of thing you won’t find in every souvenir shop on the mainland. A small bakery sells bread, cakes and scones, handy before or after the climb to the fort.
In summer the village puts on craft demonstrations and the occasional hands-on session – knitting, stone carving – with informal music evenings turning up when they turn up. None of it runs to a fixed timetable, so check the notice board when you arrive rather than planning around it.
Around the village
The reason most people are here is fifteen minutes up the path: Dún Aonghasa, the semicircular stone fort on the cliff edge. Its visitor centre, at the edge of the craft village, reopened in May 2026 after a €1.6m refurbishment, so the older warnings about temporary toilets and building works no longer apply – there’s a new exhibition and proper facilities.
Kilmurvey Beach, the only Blue Flag beach on Inis Mór, is a five-minute walk away: white sand, sheltered, and calm enough for a swim on a still day. Keep going a few kilometres west and you reach Na Seacht dTeampaill, the Seven Churches, an early monastic site.
Getting there
Ferries land at Kilronan, over on the other side of the island, from Rossaveal in County Galway and Doolin in County Clare. Kilmurvey is about 7 km from the pier – too far to walk on a day trip, so hire a bike in Kilronan, take the island shuttle bus, or book a pony and trap. Cars are few on Inis Mór; most people arrive on two wheels or on foot from the fort.
The whole island is a Gaeltacht, so you’ll hear Irish spoken around the shops, and this stretch of coast is where Robert Flaherty shot much of Man of Aran in the 1930s.