Donegal guide

August 21, 2022

Donegal - A weekend guide to a beautiful and rugged Irish county

a remote rugged landscape for nature lovers

Donegal, a remote county located on Ireland’s west coast, is arguably the most beautiful area in the entire country. Although you need to cover a few extra miles to get here, we think you should add it to your Ireland bucket list. That is, if you’re chasing insane cliffs, rugged coastlines and pristine beaches. 

We’re Australian expats living in Dublin, here to inspire you to travel to Ireland after falling in love with our new home. In this post we share everything you need to know about spending a weekend in Donegal. If you’re looking for a full road trip guide to Ireland, we have a detailed 7 day itinerary and a Wild Atlantic Way road trip guide, featuring all of our favourite spots. We also have location guides for the Aran Islands, Sligo, and Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. 

Read also: Looking to extend your time along the Wild Atlantic Way? See our guide to camping and cycling on the Aran Islands, our blog on Connemara and Kylemore Lodge and our unique 7 day road trip guide to Ireland. 

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Man standing on cliff tops with ocean and cliffs in background

In this article

Why visit Donegal?

Donegal’s towering cliffs and pristine beaches make this rather isolated area in Ireland one of our favourite places so far. It does take some time to get up there, but the plus side is that it won’t be too busy. We went to one of the most popular walks on a beautiful day (read: not raining, not windy) and still had the place to ourselves for most of the time. Even if you’re not blessed with good weather, there are still plenty of worthy photo stops along the moody coastline, including endless beaches, cute little fishing towns and folk villages spread across stretches of incredible landscapes, and the greenest farmland you’ll ever lay eyes on.  

When should you visit Donegal?

We traveled to Donegal in March, over a weekend with a sunny weather forecast of 14 degrees celsius, which was fantastic for that time of year. We severely underestimated the wind chill however. The wind was so strong at Malin Head that we couldn’t even sit outside for a picnic lunch. BUT! This part of Ireland is so rugged and beautiful, and all of the highlights we list are easily accessible even in bad weather, so you can’t go wrong.

Summer really would be ideal for this part of Ireland. We think you can get away with a lot in Ireland even with the rain, and even in winter, but this area made us immediately want to come back during summer. Ideally with a campervan! Some of the beaches in Donegal are not to be missed!  

If you are visiting Donegal in winter however, head to Malin Head for your chance to see the Northern Lights if there is a good forecast.

How long do you need in Donegal?

Donegal covers a large area and this guide doesn’t even include everything we wanted to do in two days, we simply ran out of time. Two days felt way too rushed. Three days would be best, and consider adding more time if you want to do some lengthy hikes or in summer if you want to spend some time at the beach.

How to get to and around Donegal?

To get to and around Donegal, you really need your own transport. This is a fairly remote part of Ireland and public transport will realistically only get you to Donegal Town. Even day tours are pretty limited and expensive (around €200-€300), and you need to make your way to Donegal or Sligo for the pick up anyway. 

If driving from Dublin, it is going to be a 3 hour drive to Donegal Town and closer to 3 and a half hours if you start from the north and work your way down the list of our suggested highlights. Traveling from Galway won’t save you much time as it will still take 4 hours to get to Malin Head. If you are doing the Wild Atlantic Way and want to include Donegal, we suggest making this your first destination.

Cost breakdown

Car hire was more expensive than usual given we went away over a long weekend but you should expect to pay slightly more for accommodation in Donegal compared to other areas in Ireland. The supply of Airbnb’s was low, at least if you’re booking out of season. 

This certainly wasn’t a budget trip. We ate out for dinner and lunch, which added up and could have been avoided by planning ahead. If you’re traveling during summer, consider hiring a campervan with kitchen facilities to save a bit of money. We’ve seen them for as low as €141.67 per day. 

ActivityCost
Accommodation€231
Car€260
Food€130
Fuel and tolls€87
Parking€10
Total€718

Where to stay in Donegal

We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb in Towney that overlooked the inlet. Next time we would consider hiring a campervan, especially in summer or autumn. Donegal Town or Killybegs would also be good choices with a fair amount of accommodation options. Killybegs is a charming fishing port with plenty of gorgeous seaside restaurants so we would suggest this if campervans aren’t your thing. 

This traditional barn converted to a one bedroom apartment complete with a fire is only a 7 minute drive from Killybegs, and would be perfect for a couples getaway.

Where to eat and drink in Donegal

After visiting Slieve League be sure to stop in at The Rusty Mackerel. The food was fantastic and the personalised print on the Guiness was unexpected!

If you’re planning on going into Killybegs for dinner we highly suggest that you book ahead if you are going to be there over a weekend. We tried to get into several places which had no availability for walk-ins. We weren’t expecting this little town to be as busy as it was. As a last resort we went to the Tara Hotel which we would not recommend. It was fairly expensive, and the burger was probably the driest I’d ever had.

We really wanted to go to Andersons Boathouse Restaurant. It was PACKED! It also has great reviews and given that Killybegs is a fishing town, seafood should definitely be your first choice.

Highlights for a 2 day trip

There is so much to see in Donegal. So if you only have two days you will need to be picky about what you choose to see. The below suggested highlights start at Marlin Head which is the furthest point north on the list, heading south from there until you reach Slieve League.

Driving Route

Malin Head

Our first stop is Ireland’s most northerly point, Malin Head. Scenes from The Last Jedi were filmed here which has increased the popularity of the place, but you still won’t find too many people here. It’s only a short walk from the carpark along the cliffs. Unless the weather is really, really bad it won’t matter if visibility is a bit limited here.

After walking around Malin Head, grab a coffee or hot chocolate at Caffe Banba. 

Glenveagh National Park

The next stop is 1 and half hours drive south, to Glenveagh National Park. It’s free to get in and there are plenty of walks around the lake to stretch your legs that are low difficulty. There’s a shuttle bus that goes to the castle that you can buy tickets for once you arrive. There are also bike hires if you would prefer to cycle around the lake. We just did a short loop walk (Derrylahan) while we were there as we were tight on time, but found it so peaceful.

Maghera Strand

Stop at Assaranca Waterfall on your drive to Maghera, it’s right by the road and worth the photo op.

For the beach, you’ll need to park on the road and walk in. There’s no designated parking and it seems strange to park in front of someone’s home in such a quiet area, but we couldn’t see anywhere else to pull over. The walk to the beach from the road is very quick.

This beach was incredibly beautiful. We had a romantic idea of watching the sunset here, but the wind was blowing the sand so hard it was hurting our eyes and faces! There’s caves to explore here too if you head left once you reach the beach.

Drive through Glencolmcille

Glencolmcille is a folk village filled with replica thatched-roof traditional homes, which showcases how life was in the past in Ireland. It’s a small district and makes for a great rainy day activity as you can stay in your car.

Slieve League

We saved the best for last! The Slieve League cliffs are three times higher than the Cliffs of Moher and are the second highest in all of Ireland. If low clouds or fog are present, you will not be able to appreciate the full beauty of this place. Try and plan for a clearer day or at least high clouds.

Man standing on cliff tops with ocean and cliffs in background
Parking

You have to pay for parking, which will be a steep €5 for only 2 hours. This won’t be long enough if you want to do the walk, which we highly suggest you do. Ask for two tickets to cover you for around the 3 hours it will take to do the whole walk, leaving plenty of time for photo stops because you just won’t be able to help yourself. It’s that beautiful.

I had previously read that you could drive through the first set of gates and park at the top, but this wasn’t the case when we were there (unless accessibility is an issue, then they will let you drive through the gates right to the viewing platform). Perhaps in the peak season you’re able to drive to the top, but don’t count on it.
Best view

Tour buses do stop here (though we only saw 1 in the couple of hours we were there), but very few people seem to walk past the main viewpoint platform. The viewing platform itself has good accessibility, but to do the cliff walk you need to climb a lot of stairs.

If you aren’t keen on doing the full walk, we suggest that you at least walk part way up the first set of stairs if you can. The views from here are worth it, I promise. The full walk takes about 90 minutes one way, but note that you will need to walk from the carpark to the start of the hike which adds a bit of time. The steepest section is right at the beginning and it is more undulating after that. 

Woman walking on rocky path
Alternative access routes 

There is a back way to access the cliffs via The Pilgrim Path which starts just outside of Teelin. This walk is steep and boggy in parts but it will still take around 90 minutes one way and is 3km. Just note that you won’t get the same views over the cliffs for most of the walk. A third option is to approach by sea! This seasonal tour running between June and October will cost you €44 and departs from Killybegs. It only goes for 1 and half hours so the price seems quite expensive, but it offers a unique view of Slieve League that you wouldn’t get otherwise. 

Other notable stops

We didn’t get a chance to stop by the following places, but they are top of our list for the next time we’re in Donegal:

  • Dunree Head: gorgeous coastal landscape  
  • Errigal Mountain: good to look at, good to hike (if experienced) 
  • Dooey Beach: for sunset
  • Glenlough Bay: more insane rock formations in the ocean
  • An Port: there are some beautiful walks here

Thanks for stopping by!

We hope we’ve inspired you to plan a road trip to Donegal, a remote part of the Wild Atlantic Way that is certainly worth driving the extra mile for. 

If you have any questions, please let us know. To keep up with our weekly posts, please subscribe! 

Suggested: If you’re looking for a full road trip guide to Ireland, we have a detailed 7 day itinerary and a Wild Atlantic Way road trip guide, featuring all of our favourite spots. We also have location guides for the Aran Islands, Sligo, and Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. 

Extend your Wild Atlantic way trip?

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