Loop Head

Loop Head is the thin end of County Clare, a peninsula with the Shannon estuary on one side and open Atlantic on the other, ending at a working lighthouse on flat clifftop grass. The cliffs are lower than those at Moher, but you can walk their edge for kilometres without a barrier, a ticket or a queue. Just before the light, a deep chasm separates a grass-topped island from the mainland, close enough to see the nesting birds on it. Bottlenose dolphins live in the estuary year round and are often visible from the headland or from boats out of Carrigaholt. The peninsula itself is farmed, quiet and wind-flattened.

What you actually see

• The lighthouse - the working tower on the point, open for tours in season.
• The chasm - the sea-cut gap separating an island from the headland.
• Estuary dolphins - the resident bottlenose group in the mouth of the Shannon.
• The cliff walk - open unfenced walking along the northern edge.

When to go

May to September for seabirds on the ledges, dolphin trips out of Carrigaholt and access to the lighthouse tower. Evenings are best, since the head faces west and the light works in your favour late in the day. Winter here is raw and often closed in, though the road stays open and you will have the place to yourself.

Honest expectations

Everything is exposed and unfenced, including edges you would not go near in wind, and there is no shelter if the weather turns. Facilities on the point are minimal. Dolphin sightings from land are not reliable, and boat trips cancel in swell. The drive out is long for what is a headland and a lighthouse, which suits some visitors and disappoints others.

Nearby

Kilkee is half an hour east; Carrigaholt sits on the estuary side.