Fodor's Expert Review Achill Island

Achill Island is only 20 feet from the mainland and has been connected by a bridge since 1887, the latest (2008) being a €5 million swing bridge, known locally as "our Calatrava-style bridge." At 147 square km (57 square miles), Achill is Ireland’s largest offshore island, with a population of 2,700. In summer, it attracts camper vans and families from the mainland who enjoy the wild open spaces of its unspoiled bogs with miles and miles of long empty beaches. The island is abundant with flora, especially wild heather and, in May and June, rhododendrons, while fuchsia blooms later in the summer.

The best introduction to Achill is to follow signs for the 20-km (12-mile) Atlantic Drive. The road runs through Keel, which has a 3-km-long (2-mile-long) beach with spectacular rock formations in the eastern cliffs. Dugort, on the north shore, is a small village with a beautiful golden strand. Above it is the 2,204-foot Slievemore, the island’s highest summit. At its base is the Deserted Village, a settlement of 80 ruined one-room stone houses, abandoned since the 1845 famine. At the far westerly corner of the island are the 2,257-foot-high Croaghan Sea Cliffs, the third highest in Europe---and Keem Beach, a magnificent bone-white sandy bay beneath the shoulders of two enormous lush mountains.