Scenic Point in County Donegal

Glenveagh National Park covers more than 16,000 hectares of wild mountains, blanket bogs, rivers and woodland in the heart of County Donegal, making it Ireland's second largest national park. The park takes its name from the Irish Gleann Bheatha, meaning Glen of the Birches, and the landscape lives up to that wild poetry at every turn. Its remote location within the Derryveagh Mountains, combined with Donegal's famously dramatic weather, creates a Highland atmosphere that feels genuinely untouched by the modern world. The parkland includes the two highest peaks in Donegal, Errigal and Slieve Snacht, as well as the dramatically named Poisoned Glen, a glacially carved valley shadowed by quartzite cliffs. Glaciation shaped almost every feature of this landscape over thousands of years, and the resulting terrain of steep glens, lakeshore cliffs and exposed moorland remains one of the most rewarding mountain environments in the country for serious hillwalkers. At the heart of the park stands Glenveagh Castle, a castellated granite mansion built between 1867 and 1873 by Captain John George Adair in the style of a Scottish Baronial highland retreat. Adair's story is one of the more troubling in the history of the park. In 1861 he evicted 244 tenants from their smallholdings on his land during what became known as the Derryveagh Evictions, clearing the hillsides to improve the view from his new estate. The castle passed through several hands and was eventually donated to the Irish state in 1979 by American owner Henry McIlhenny, who had used it as a glamorous retreat and reportedly hosted guests including Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo. Today, self-guided tours of the castle allow visitors to see its luxuriously furnished rooms and learn about this complex history. The gardens surrounding the castle were originally developed by Cornelia Adair, John's widow, and later refined by McIlhenny into one of Ireland's most remarkable horticultural collections. Exotic plants from around the world thrive in the shelter of the valley, contrasting dramatically with the rugged moorland beyond the garden walls. The walled garden, the Italian terrace garden and the Belgian walk all provide seasonal highlights throughout the year. Wildlife is one of Glenveagh's greatest draws. The park is home to Ireland's largest herd of red deer, which can sometimes be spotted grazing in open clearings particularly during the autumn rutting season. Golden eagles were successfully reintroduced to the park beginning in 2000, reversing a local extinction that had lasted nearly a century. Patient birdwatchers may also spot peregrine falcons, red-throated divers and a range of moorland species. The park's visitor centre near the main car park contains free exhibitions about the park's history, wildlife and conservation programmes. A shuttle bus service runs between the visitor centre and the castle, or visitors can walk the scenic 3.5-kilometre lakeshore trail along Lough Veagh, one of the most beautiful walks in Ireland. The park is open year-round with free access to the grounds; castle tours carry a modest admission fee.

Malin Head is the most northerly point of the Irish mainland, a dramatic cliff-edged promontory of Donegal quartzite at the tip of the Inishowen Peninsula whose combination of the geographical extremity, the extraordinary Atlantic scenery and the views of four countries simultaneously visible on clear days — Scotland, England, Ireland and the Isle of Man — creates one of the most compelling journey-end destinations on the Wild Atlantic Way. The signal tower at Malin Head, built during the Napoleonic Wars, was subsequently used as a Lloyds signal station and then as a meteorological observation post. The Met Éireann weather station here is part of the international weather reporting network, and the daily shipping forecast that includes Malin in its list of sea areas is one of the most familiar references to this remote headland in the wider world. The views across the sea to the Scottish islands, particularly Islay and the distinctive profile of the Paps of Jura on clear days, demonstrate the closeness of the cultural and geographical relationship between the northwest of Ireland and the southwest of Scotland that has shaped both coastlines throughout recorded history.

The Slieve League cliffs on the south Donegal coast of Ireland are among the highest sea cliffs in Europe, a great wall of quartzite and sandstone rising nearly 600 metres from the Atlantic Ocean in a cliff face of extraordinary scale and drama that dwarfs the more famous Cliffs of Moher and provides one of the most awe-inspiring natural spectacles on the Irish coast. The cliffs are accessible from the car park at Bunglass on the Slieve League peninsula and a dramatic coastal walk along the ridge above the cliff edge provides progressively expanding views of the full extent of the cliffs. The One Man's Pass, a narrow ridge with steep drops on both sides between Bunglass and the main summit of Slieve League, provides the most direct approach to the full height of the cliff face, its name reflecting the width at the narrowest section where two people cannot pass side by side. The exposure on both sides of this ridge, with the cliff edge to the south and steep ground to the north, gives it a genuinely vertiginous character that requires head for heights and appropriate footwear. Those who complete the crossing are rewarded with the finest possible perspective on the cliff face and the Atlantic below. The Donegal landscape surrounding Slieve League is one of the most unspoiled in Ireland, the combination of the mountain peninsula, the small fishing harbours of the south Donegal coast and the wild Atlantic Drive that traverses this section of the county creating a scenic touring experience of considerable quality. The evening light on the cliff face, particularly in the long summer evenings of northwest Ireland when the sun sets over the Atlantic horizon, creates a colour display on the quartzite rock that rewards any delay in returning to the car park.