Visit Skellig Islands.

Facing the raging Atlantic, the Skellig Islands are located in County Kerry, not far from Portmagee Bay (12km). Numbering 2 (Skellig Michael and Little Skellig), these islands are simply breathtaking in their beauty and have a strong monastic history (one of the islands was occupied by numerous monks), making them one of Ireland’s most beautiful archipelagos. Life here is delightfully wild, and a little hiking will give you access to countless archaeological remains, in the company of fabulous bird species!

Visit Skellig Islands

Skellig Michael

The steps up to Skellig Michael are pretty steep! shutterupeire

Skellig Michael is the largest and wildest of the Skellig islands, known for its impressive black rocky peak at 218 metres. Once occupied, the remains of 6th-century monastic life can still be seen today. Here you’ll find the ruins of St Fionan’s monastery, where priests and monks devoted themselves to religion while leading a life of the most demanding of actetes. The precariousness of life there was nevertheless difficult, and the violence of nature placed them in particularly harsh conditions (wind and cold are very present on this island).

Here you can admire the marvellously intact buildings where the monks used to live. These are bories (stone huts) facing the ocean. Recent archaeological excavations have revealed numerous finds of ancient objects used in the daily life of the monastery.

Writings tell us that every morning, the monks would rise at dawn to catch a few fish for their livelihood. They then spent the rest of the day tending their vegetable gardens, studying the sacred texts and praying, in order to devote themselves 100% to their religious and cultural life.

However, life on the island was so hard that the monks left Skellig Michael in the 13th century, abandoning their churches and huts to settle on the Irish coast. A few monks made pilgrimages there every year, but the island was never inhabited again. As a result, many species of birds decided to make their home here. There are now over 23,000 birds, including gannets. In fact, it’s the second largest colony in the world!

Little Skellig

Little Skellig is smaller than Michael Skellig, and boasts exceptional flora and fauna. Also made up of Guillemots, Gannets and Puffins, it takes the form of a dark black rock, inaccessible to man. Some gannet populations are so numerous, in fact, that they sometimes completely cover the rock and its sides, giving it an astonishing white color.

Unlike Michael Skellig, Little Skellig has never been inhabited: its geology and wild nature make it unsuitable for human habitation.