The Dingle Peninsula, Dingle Town, and the Wild Atlantic Way

The town of Dingle looks over Dingle Bay onto the Blasket Islands.  We visited this quaint coastal town on our drive on the Dingle Peninsula.   Dingle is a big Irish vacation destination.  The quaint village has become a restaurant haven and as the Irish refer to it as a cuisine capital.  There are plenty of pubs, like the Dingle Pub and Murphy’s Pub that offer traditional Irish music.  The town is known for keeping with the Irish culture with the Gaelic language being spoken throughout the town.

One main attraction to Dingle is Fungie the Dolphin.  Years ago the dolphin came into Dingle Bay and never left.  He has become the unofficial mascot of Dingle and has brought tourism into Dingle.  Many Irish came flocking to Dingle to see Fungie the Dolphin.   You are guaranteed to see him if you go out on a boat tour if you do not see him you get your money back. 

The Dingle Peninsula is part of the Wild Atlantic Way.  This scenic drive is along the Irish Atlantic Coastline beginning from south of Cork along the Southern coast of Ireland up to the western Atlantic side of Ireland to the Northern coast of Ireland near Londonderry.  The Wild Atlantic Way is the longest signed coastal route in the world at 1700 miles, with cliffs, beaches, quaint villages and all the charm of Ireland. 

As we drove along the beautiful coastline, we stopped in many scenic viewing areas.  One of the travel agents with us had a drone with him and took this great video along the coast beginning at Ross Castle in Killarney and at one of our stops which was the most westerly point of the country of Ireland.  Here is the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/UkSucsvxvak

Along this coastal route, you can also see another land mass which is the Ring of Kerry, another great scenic drive in Ireland.  There are several islands out in the distance, and one, in particular, has grown in popularity over the last few years.   It is Skellig Michael Island; this island is where the last Star Wars movie was made.   Another unusual sight along this route are compounds of rocks along the side of the road that look like bee hives,  These are clochans, and they date back to the 7th or 8th century.  These structures were believed to be merely intended for storage or agricultural use and are made of stacked stones.

Whichever coastal road you take in Ireland, whether it be the Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula or the entire route of the Wild Atlantic Way, you will sure to be please with the spectacular scenery and the warm hospitality of the Irish.