7-Day Challenging Hike

From your point of arrival, use the public transport information we provide to make the journey to Castletownbere.

A short ferry ride across the sheltered harbour will take you to Bere Island where walkers are spoilt for choice with routes of varying length and difficulty. You will find some of the highlights of the Beara Way here. From sites of rich military heritage from various eras to the spectacular scenery of the Slieve Miskish and Caha Mountains on the mainland.

A hike along century old country roads takes you past a Bronze Age stone circle and through some forestry before it climbs up into the Slieve Mishkish Mountains. You can catch a glimpse of the northern side of the peninsula before the trail climbs once more and then descends past an old disused copper mine into the brightly coloured village of Allihies. From here, a lovely mountain path brings you past more reminders of the local copper mining past and across the northern slopes of the Slieve Mishkish range. The trail now follows the side of the mountains for a bit, with great views over Coulagh Bay, before it descends towards the coast near the picturesque little village of Eyeries.

Today’s hike will lead through fields and valleys and across a number of hills. About half way you will visit the Gleninchaquin Valley with its waterfall and the mystical Uragh stone circle – an undoubted highlight of the entire Beara Way and, on a quiet day, possibly one of the most tranquil and beautiful places on Earth.  From here you climb to another mountain pass before descending towards the bustling market town of Kenmare.

You have a choice of two routes for the first half of today’s hike . Either follow an old boreen through the Dromoghty River Valley and across a mountain pass or follow minor roads through the pretty Sheen River Valley. Quiet roads then guide you to a remote, ancient pass between Esk and Barraboy Mountain. From there the route descend into the beautiful Glengarriff Forest Reserve – a woodland area rich in wildlife and packed with lots of different walking trails. These trails guide you to charming Glengarriff, situated on the shores of Bantry Bay, where the mountains meet the sea.