Dalkey and Killiney Hill

Killiney Hill and Dalkey Hill are the seaward end of the same granite ridge, joined as public parkland since 1887 and reached in twenty minutes on foot from either DART station. The obelisk on the Killiney summit was put up in 1742 by a local landowner, John Mapas, explicitly to provide paid work during the famine that followed the freezing winter of 1740 - one of the worst in Irish history - and a plaque records that intention. From the top the view runs south along Killiney Bay to Bray Head and the Wicklow mountains, which the Victorians decided resembled the Bay of Naples, giving the surrounding roads their Italian names. Dalkey Hill has the remains of a quarry that supplied granite for Dun Laoghaire harbour, worked by a funicular railway down to the sea. Both hills are steep, and the paths are rooty and slippery in wet weather.

What you actually see

• The obelisk - built in 1742 as famine relief work.
• The bay view - Killiney Bay south to Bray Head and the Wicklow hills.
• The Dalkey quarry - granite worked here for Dun Laoghaire harbour.
• The Italian naming - roads named after a supposed likeness to Naples.

When to go

April to October, though the view is clearest on cold bright winter days. Weekend afternoons are busy. The climb from either station is short but steep.

Honest expectations

Steep paths, rooty and slippery when wet. The car park is small; the DART and a walk uphill is easier. Quarry faces on Dalkey Hill are used by climbers and are dangerous to scramble on.

Nearby

Dalkey village and Dalkey Island are below; the Forty Foot is at Sandycove.