Mullaghmore Head

Mullaghmore is a low headland reaching into Donegal Bay, with a sheltered harbour and a Blue Flag beach on one side and a rock shelf taking the full swell on the other. Classiebawn Castle, a Victorian house built for Lord Palmerston, stands on the rising ground behind and gives the headland its recognisable outline. Offshore lies a reef that produces one of the largest surfable waves in Europe in the right winter conditions - tow-in surfing on waves reported over fifteen metres - and it draws international big-wave surfers on the handful of days a year it works. For everyone else it is a beach and a coast road loop with views to Benbulbin and Slieve League. The rock shelf below the road is a genuinely dangerous place in swell; people are swept off it, and standing there to photograph large waves has killed watchers as well as surfers elsewhere on this coast.

What you actually see

• The big-wave reef - offshore, working only in specific winter conditions.
• Classiebawn Castle - the Victorian house behind the headland.
• The harbour and beach - sheltered, Blue Flag, on the eastern side.
• The view - Benbulbin inland, Slieve League across Donegal Bay.

When to go

May to September for the beach, with lifeguards in high summer. Big-wave conditions occur a few days a year between October and March and are not predictable far ahead.

Honest expectations

The rock shelf is swept by waves in swell and is dangerous to stand on - watching from the road is the sensible option. The castle is private with no public access. Rips run off the beach outside the guarded area.

Nearby

Streedagh Beach and Grange are south; Bundoran and Donegal are north.