A Day on Inisheer: Exploring Ireland with Kids and Teens

Going to Inisheer or Inis Oírr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, was not in our plans originally. But we found ourselves in Connemara with a free day, looked into the logistics, and decided it was a reasonable day trip. Also, we’d missed out on seeing the Cliffs of Moher the day we drove up from Killarney, owing to one of the few rainy days on our trip, and word was we could get a good view of them from the island.

Making plans: The first order of business was deciding which of the Aran Islands to visit. There are three choices, all just off the western coast near Galway. The largest and most visited island is Inis Mòr. It has a lot to recommend it, including a lot of very cool looking assorted ancient ruins. Ultimately, though, we decided it was a little too overwhelming for a day trip. The next biggest island is Inis Meián. This is the island with the smallest population and it seemed to have less to offer for kids than the others. There was a lot of talk of buying sweaters when I read about things to do there.

And so we settled on Inish Oír. It’s the smallest island–only about 2 by 3 km–so we figured it would be easy to get around on foot. And it sounded like it had nice beaches and enough to see to keep us busy for a few hours.

There are a few different ways to get to the Aran Islands: you can fly via a very small plane (no thank you for me):

You can take a ferry from Doolin, or you can take a ferry from Rossaveel, about 45 minutes west of Galway. If you’re staying in Galway, you can get a shuttle out to Rossaveel to take the ferry, but it was just a 30 minute drive from where we were staying in Oughterard, so we drove straight there.

The trip to Inish Oír from Rossaveel is around an hour and includes a stop at Inish Meián first (and a stop there on the way back, too). If you catch a ferry from Dooley, you can make it to Inish Oír in just 25 minutes (but that ferry is seasonal and I’ve read it’s also more frequently canceled due to bad weather). My biggest worry about going to the island was the boat ride out there (I do not care for boats), and my worry was well founded, even though it was a fairly calm day. I think it’s just a pretty rocky ride most of the time. Something about currents and the North Atlantic being an unforgiving hellscape or something. So if you’re prone to seasickness or just scared of sinking to the bottom of the ocean, then be prepared. The boat itself is nice, with comfortable seats and a small snack bar.

On the Island:

We arrived around lunchtime and had several hours before we needed to be back at the boat. So our first order of business was finding something to eat. There aren’t a ton of choices; we ended up at Tigh Ruari’s, a short walk from the ferry. It was very welcoming with friendly service, but the food was unremarkable and sold for island prices. In retrospect, we probably would have done better packing sandwiches, particularly since our time on the island was limited.

After lunch, we made our way up to our first planned stop, O’Brien’s Castle. But first we stopped at a playground with castle views:

It’s a decent climb up to the castle, as you can see from those playground shots. Which brings up the question of getting around on the island. We walked everywhere we went, and this was doable, as it’s a small island. But taking a pony and trap tour is also very popular; we saw them all over the island. Sometimes they had a dog along to help them out:

Bike rentals are another popular option. I personally, wouldn’t have wanted to tackle those hills on a bike, but I’m a pretty wimpy bicyclist.

And so we climbed on foot to O’Brien’s Castle and checked out the ruins and views:

Unfortunately, there were some low stone doorways up there, and my nephew Benjamin smacked his head pretty hard on one of them:

He was okay, but his head was not feeling great, so that half of our group decided to head back to town and beach and take it easy for awhile while we did more walking.

Our eventual goal was the wreck of the Plassey, but it was a bit of a hike to get there. We stopped and said hello to some cows:

and walked and walked and walked the narrow island roads for a long time (according to google maps, it was actually only a little over a mile from the castle to the shipwreck, but it seemed long. We might not have found the most direct route):

And then we finally made it!

The Plassey wrecked off the coast of Inisheer during a storm in 1960, and local fishermen rescued everyone aboard. It later washed onto the shore, and it’s been there ever since.

There were quite a few people out there with us, and several of them were actually going inside the shipwreck. I felt like those people were poor decision makers. We admired it from the outside, and I took this very funny picture of Milo’s tiny hand. He doesn’t really have a tiny hand; that’s my wide-angle lens:

And then it was time to start the trek back to the ferry (about a mile and a half).

I would get lost if I tried to drive on Inisheer:

We bought some fudge and then met back up with Amy, Craig, and family at the beach:

While we waited for the ferry to leave, I contemplated this sign on the dock. I’m not sure I would be able to heed its advice and refrain from playing with dolphins if the opportunity presented itself:

Fortunately, no dolphins approached me and attempted to trick me into interacting with them on the bumpy ride back.

So Inisheer is an absolutely lovely place with a good bit to see (there are things we didn’t get to but would have liked to, like St. Caomhan’s Church)….but it’s also takes a lot of time and trouble (and money) get there for a short trip: would we do it again? Honestly I’m not sure…I’m certainly glad we saw it, but there was a lot of Connemara we didn’t get to that we could have reached more easily. We also could have done a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher with the time we had. And I think Inisheer is likely a place better appreciated when one has time to linger. So I think I’d probably choose something different if I had it do over again unless we could spend the night. Maybe. It’s hard to say, because look:

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