Small Skellig

Skellig Ring


Small Skellig is long, low and craggy: from a distance it looks as if it's shrouded in a swirling snowstorm. Close up you realise you're looking at a colony of over 23,000 pairs of breeding gannets, the second-largest breeding colony in the world. Most boats circle the island so you can see the gannets and you may see basking seals as well. Small Skellig is a bird sanctuary; no landing is permitted.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Skellig Ring attractions

1. Skellig Michael

1.45 MILES

The jagged, 217m-high rock of Skellig Michael (Michael's Rock; like St Michael's Mount in Cornwall and Mont St Michel in Normandy) is the larger of the…

2. Kerry's Most Spectacular Cliffs

8.22 MILES

Its hyperbolic name – and recreated dry-stone clochán with fake birds perched on top – aside, the view is indeed spectacular from this privately owned…

3. Skelligs Chocolate

8.71 MILES

At these gleaming open-plan premises, you can get an overview of chocolate production and taste the wares too. Samples are free, and chocolates are sold…

4. Telegraph Field

9.22 MILES

Valentia Island was chosen as the eastern terminus of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, from Heart's Content, Newfoundland. A monument at Telegraph…

5. Skellig Experience

9.6 MILES

Immediately across the bridge from Portmagee, this distinctive building with a turf-covered roof contains exhibitions on the life of the Skellig Michael…

6. Ballinskelligs Priory

10.41 MILES

The sea and salty air are eating away at the atmospheric ruins of this medieval priory, a monastic settlement that was probably built by the Skellig…

7. Ballinskelligs Castle

10.55 MILES

Directly opposite the Ballinskelligs Beach car park are the last crumbling remnants of the 16th-century castle stronghold of the McCarthys, built on the…

8. Cill Rialaig Arts Centre

10.96 MILES

At the northern end of Ballinskelligs on the site of a village abandoned during the Famine, this contemporary art gallery with a circular, thatched roof…

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