Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry is one of the finest and most varied coastal landscapes in Ireland, a mountainous finger of land projecting westward into the Atlantic whose combination of the great mountain of Mount Brandon, the spectacular sea cliffs of Slea Head, the archaeological richness of the Fahan group of early Christian monuments and the character of the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht community centred on Dingle town creates a destination of extraordinary variety and natural and cultural beauty. The peninsula is the most westerly point of the European mainland and the westernmost Irish-speaking community in Europe.
The Dingle town itself, the largest settlement on the peninsula, combines excellent seafood restaurants, traditional pubs and music with a genuinely functioning fishing port in a combination that has made it one of the most popular visitor destinations in Kerry while retaining more authentic character than many comparable tourist towns. The famous dolphin Fungi who lived in Dingle Bay for over three decades provided an additional attraction to the many visitors who took boat trips to see him.
The Slea Head Drive around the western end of the peninsula traverses the greatest concentration of early Christian monuments in Ireland, including the Gallarus Oratory, the most perfectly preserved early Christian stone church in the world, the Fahan beehive huts and the Kilmalkedar church complex, in a landscape of dramatic coastal scenery that represents the western edge of European civilisation in one of its most ancient and most authentically preserved forms.