Ireland’s spectacular Wild Atlantic Way has been named by Lonely Planet as one of the top five places in the world to star gaze.
With little light pollution, the night skies along the Wild Atlantic Way are illuminated with astral wonders making thousands of twinkling stars visible to the naked eye.
These dark skies have made the region a top spot for stargazers with Lonely Planet ranking them alongside New Zealand, Namibia, Jordan and southwestern USA.
Although many places along the Wild Atlantic Way have a low level of light pollution, the locations that will give you the best chance of seeing the majesty of the Milky Way are Kerry International Dark Sky Reserve and Mayo Dark Sky Park.
The County Kerry reserve has Gold Tier status, awarded by the International Dark Sky Association, and covers most of the beautiful Iveragh Peninsula. It’s free to access so you can star gaze at your leisure. If you want a bit of guidance, you can book a Sky Tour, which will point out the key sights and also gives you the chance to view stars through a telescope or high-powered binoculars.
Mayo Dark Sky Park stretches between Nephin Mountain Range and the Atlantic coast covering an area of 150 square km. Also a Gold Tier reserve, the park encompasses Ballycroy National Park and the Wild Nephin National Park and has three main viewing points.
Ballycroy Visitor Centre has an interpretive exhibition and from it you can follow a 2km looped walk to the elevated plateau of Cleary’s Hill. The second viewing point is Claggan Mountain Coastal Trail which follows a boardwalk that affords gorgeous views in the daytime and wonderful stargazing opportunities at night.
Brogan Carroll Bothy is the third viewing point. Located at the edge of Wild Nephin National Park, this is the darkest site in Mayo Dark Sky Park and is also the starting point for a number of scenic forest trails.
Mayo Dark Sky Park runs regular events but the big one is the annual Dark Sky Festival (3–5 November 2023). In November the skies are dark from 6pm, the weather can be mild, and there are some beautiful stars, constellations and planets to be seen, including Orion, Cassiopeia, double star Albireo and the beautiful Pleiades star cluster.
The Dark Sky Festival features talks by experts from around the world in fields such as astronomy, conservation and ecology. There are also guided walks, workshops and musical performances. The full programme will be announced in the coming months.
The island of Ireland has a third dark sky reserve in County Tyrone. The OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory offers pristine skies outdoors while in the observatory an interactive exhibition links the astronomical and archaeological heritage of the region and features holographic installations and virtual reality headsets.
