Why the Beara Peninsula is Ireland's best-kept walking secret

Most visitors to the south-west of Ireland head for the Ring of Kerry. It's beautiful, and in high summer it's busy. Just to the south, straddling the border of Cork and Kerry, sits the Beara Peninsula — wilder, quieter and, for walkers, arguably the better choice.

Mountains that run straight into the sea

Beara is shaped by the Caha and Slieve Miskish mountains, which run down the spine of the peninsula and drop towards the Atlantic on either side. Hungry Hill, the highest of the Caha range, looks over Bantry Bay. The result is walking where you're rarely far from either a ridge or the ocean, and often both.

Villages with character, not coach parks

Eyeries and Allihies are known for their brightly painted houses. Castletownbere is a working fishing port. Allihies has a long copper-mining history, and the old engine houses still stand on the hillside above the village. Glengarriff, at the eastern end, has a sheltered, almost sub-tropical feel thanks to the Gulf Stream.

A trail that asks for respect

The Beara Way is a long-distance waymarked trail around the peninsula, and sections of it are genuinely remote. Paths can be rough, boggy and exposed to the weather. That's part of the appeal — and the reason we walk it with experienced local support.

Why we chose it

We wanted a part of Ireland that still feels like a discovery, where the landscape is the headline and the evenings are warm, generous and unhurried. Beara gives us exactly that.