Overview
Lough Dan (Irish: Loch Deán) is a boomerang-shaped ribbon lake set deep in the Wicklow Mountains, at the foot of Luggala and Knocknacloghoge. It lies 200 metres above sea level and covers about 1.03 square kilometres, fed by the River Cloghoge from the north-east and the Inchavore River from the north-west, then draining south by the River Avonmore. Dark, still water, dense conifer plantation, blanket bog and rough peaks make it one of the wildest-looking corners of the county.
It is also, in practice, closed to visitors. The shore is surrounded by private land belonging to the Luggala Estate and neighbouring farms, and there is no public right of way and no maintained public access to the water.
History and connections
For decades Lough Dan has been bound up with the Guinness estate at Luggala. Its surroundings have doubled for the screen too, standing in for exterior scenes in the 2009 Irish post-apocalyptic film One Hundred Mornings. It has a scouting heritage too – the Scouting Ireland national campsite sits beside the lake, and hosted the Lough Dan ‘97 jamboree, cut short by heavy rain and flooding. That campsite is private, though: it opens to scout, guide, Gaisce and school groups, not to the general public for a day by the water.
The lie of the land here is glacial. During the Last Glacial Maximum, roughly 25,000 to 22,000 years ago, a large glacier flowing off the Wicklow Ice Dome filled this valley and gouged out the trough the lake now sits in.
The valley was closed off in 2020 after a run of littering and anti-social behaviour, much of it from campers leaving gear and rubbish behind. Pressure on the land here has continued since, and the landowners have been clear that they are not offering public access.
Access
There is no public right of way to Lough Dan, and we no longer publish walking routes to its shore.
Walking routes down to the shore circulate widely on hiking sites and mapping apps. Every one of them crosses private farmland or estate ground, walking them without the landowner’s permission is trespass, and the volume of people doing so has become a serious problem for the farms in the valley.
The valley is also a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area under EU law. Blanket bog, oak woodland and ground-nesting birds are all easily damaged by foot traffic, and the designation exists to limit exactly that. In this part of the Wicklow Mountains, public access is confined to land managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service where access is specifically provided — the NPWS lists its waymarked trails at nationalparks.ie.
If you want a walk in this landscape, Glendalough has a full network of waymarked trails on public ground, and the Wicklow Way crosses the open hillside east of the lake on its waymarked line, with the classic view down Lough Dan’s length from above.
Can you swim in Lough Dan?
No. Nothing in Irish law bans lake swimming, but there is no public right of way to this shore, so there is no legitimate route to the water. The same applies to Coon Beach, the freshwater strand on the north-western shore, and to Lough Tay next door. For open water in Wicklow that is reachable from public ground, Lough Bray is the usual answer; swimming in Ireland’s lakes sets out the access position and which Irish lakes are monitored bathing waters.
Wildlife and nature
The land around the lake mixes commercial conifer with native patches of birch and oak. Spring flushes the forest floor and bog with bilberry, heather and bog cotton; autumn turns it bronze and russet. The open water and damp margins draw dragonflies, damselflies and the odd wading bird, and birdwatchers may pick out meadow pipits, skylarks and raptors like kestrels or peregrines over the higher ground. The lake holds wild brown trout, and fishing is by arrangement only: permits and boats are managed through Lough Dan House, which is the one legitimate, managed route onto the water. The nearby River Avonmore and its tributaries hold wild brown trout too. Arctic char were recorded here after the last ice age but are now thought locally extinct.
Nearby, on public ground
The lake is closed to visitors, but the surrounding area has plenty that is not:
- Lough Tay – the classic Wicklow view, from roadside viewpoints on the R759. The shore there is private too, but the viewpoints are not.
- Sally Gap – the drive over the Military Road, one of the best in Leinster.
- Lough Bray – another ribbon lake, with a short walk in from the Military Road.
- Glendalough – waymarked trails, two lakes and a monastic site, all open to the public.
- Ballinastoe MBT – the mountain-bike trail centre off the R759.