Clifden Forum: Connermera or Dingle for light hiking

We've only been to the Dingle Peninsula once so can't comment in a compare and contrast way from a personal point of view but there's certainly plenty of hiking to be done from Clifden - read this article for an insiders tale:

away.com/tripideas/clifden-county-galway-hik…

There's lots of walking on the flat (eg. Roundstone Bog) and gently sloping roads (you can walk the Sky Road) and coastal hikes to places like Mannin Bay that can be done from the town itself and there's a lot of mountain hiking in the Twelve Pins/Bens and Maum Turks ranges that can be accessed by an organised hike from the Connemara Walking Centre in Clifden. The resident host of the centre is field archeologist and historian Michael Gibbons (brother of Mary who organises tours from Dublin) and his guided walks and hikes are excellent:

www.connemara.net/words/article.php?id=075

http://www.newgrangetours.com/

Connemara Walking Centre

Archaeological and heritage walks, tours for groups and private bookings.

Michael Gibbons, Island House, Market Street, Clifden

Tel:095 21379

walkwest@indigo.ie

"Dingle has the edge when it comes to dramatic scenery" well we'd actually disagree with that but then again one person's idea of dramatic scenery isn't going to be the same as the other ;-)

Thanks, Any suggestions on medium level hikes 3-5 hours in either Clifden area or Dingle?

This link for Roundstone nr Clifden gives some walks

roundstone-connemara.com/activities/roundsto…

There are a number of walking trails:

Cosan na Naomh (The Saints path) is a lovely walk from Ventry beach to the foot of Mount Brandon

heritagecouncil.ie/recreation/…

The Dingle Way goes right round the peninsula. Here's an overview.

http://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/dingleway.html

You can also take a ferry to the uninhabited Great Blasket island, andhike the island

Dingle can be broken up into parts of the Dingle way or would you prefer loop walks?

I have to agree with Ragoora - I also prefer Connemara. I certainly enjoyed visiting Dingle....but it didn't take my breath away, or linger in the memory, like Connemara does.

plenty of hiking and walking trails in Connemara - its a very large area so any area you would pick would have its own magic and trails. Both Dingle and Connemara are beautiful - either place is great, but Connemara has a bit of magic about it (imo)

3-5 hour hikes isn't something that we're able to do (yet) but have a look at some of these websites for ideas about hiking in Connemara from some commercial and non-commercial sites - the first two are particularly good:

sleepzone.ie/Walking__Hiking_in_Connemara/De…

pilotguides.com/destination_guide/europe/ire…

connemara-trails.com/connemara-walking-trail…

www.killary.com/tours/selfguidedwalking.htm

joycesireland.co.uk/women-into-the-west.asp

:-)