Overview
Tearaght – An Tiaracht, “the westerly” – is the most westerly island in Ireland and in the British Isles, a bare twin-peaked rock about 5 km off the tip of the Dingle Peninsula and the outermost of the Blasket Islands. It’s roughly a kilometre long and half that wide, its two peaks (254 m and 116 m) joined by a narrow neck that the sea has bored clean through, leaving a natural tunnel. That double summit is what you pick out on the horizon from Slea Head.
If you only do one thing here, it’s the boat tour – and you can’t do anything else, since landing is banned.
The lighthouse
Inishtearaght light was first lit on 1 May 1870 and for years counted as the westernmost building in Europe. The tower is a stubby 17 m, but it stands so high on the rock that the light sits 84 m above the sea, throwing a beam 19 nautical miles out. Keepers lived out here through Atlantic gales and long stretches cut off from the mainland until the station was automated in 1988; the Commissioners of Irish Lights now run it, servicing it by helicopter.
The odd engineering detail is the funicular. Built in 1913 to haul supplies up from the landing, its track climbs at a gradient of nearly 1.88 to 1 – the steepest funicular in Europe. It ran first on an air winch, then a Lister diesel from 1980, and has since been left to rust. You can still see the line scarring the cliff.
Wildlife and the national park
Tearaght has been uninhabited since 1991, and the cliffs belong to the birds. It holds internationally important breeding colonies of Manx shearwater and European storm-petrel; puffins and other auks nest here too, in numbers that rise and fall year to year. Leach’s storm-petrels have been recorded, though nobody has yet confirmed them breeding. Grey seals haul out on the skerries below, and common dolphins and the odd pod of pilot whales work the deep water offshore.
Since April 2024 the island has sat inside Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara, the Kerry Seas National Park – Ireland’s eighth and largest, covering more than 70,000 acres of land and sea. Protecting those feeding grounds is part of why landing on Tearaght is strictly prohibited: the only way to see it is from the water.
The boat tour
AquaTerra runs the established trip, the Inishtearaght Lighthouse & Blasket Islands tour, aboard the Skellig Bounty. It’s a shared three-hour sailing, capped at 12 people, for ages 10 and up, departing from Cahersiveen Marina and from Knightstown on Valentia Island and passing the Great Blasket on the way out. The crew talk through the keepers’ history and point out the seabirds and seals as they go.
One honest caveat: this is open Atlantic, and the boat only sails when the sea allows. Dates are released through the season as the weather firms up, so build in a spare day.
Practical information
- Cost: €80 per person, booked ahead – spaces are limited and dates weather-dependent.
- Access: boarding is by steps and the boat isn’t wheelchair accessible; lifejackets are provided. Arrive 30 minutes early with your booking confirmation.
- What to bring: layers, non-slip shoes and a windproof – the Atlantic is cool and blowy even in July. A camera earns its place here.
- Getting there: Cahersiveen is an easy drive from Killarney or Tralee; Valentia is reached by the causeway or the Knightstown ferry. Free parking at both marinas.
- Best time: May to August for the calmest seas and the peak seabird season.
Clear, calm days out here are not guaranteed. When a sailing is confirmed, take it.