"Oilean Acla -- Oilean Draíochta " a Achill Island Travel Page by RhineRoll

As I am writing this, my visit to Achill Island is only a week old and I am still overwhelmed with impressions from the island, the sky and the sea.

Let's start with some general information:
Achill Island is Ireland's largest off shore island. It is part of County Mayo at the very northwest end of scenic Clew Bay. A popular, though not (yet) overcrowded holiday destination, Achill Island offers great beaches and excellent coastal scenery. The island's principal settlements, Keel and Dooagh are wound up like a snake along the Island's main road from Achill Sound to Keem Bay. The infrastructure is sufficient for holidaymaking, but when the weather going gets tough, there's not a whole lot to do besides staying inside a (hopefully) cosy cottage or pub.
I was a bit wary about too many fellow Germans visiting the Island but that wasn't the case at all -- most people come from within Ireland (mostly Dubliners, it seems), being followed by the Brits and the French.

Access to Achill Island is via a small bridge across Achill Sound which also is the name of the adjacent settlement, one of the two commercial centres of Achill (the other one being Keel/Dooagh). In theory, this is a turning bridge, but it doesn't look like it's being turned very often!!!

It takes about an hour to get to Achill Island by car from Castlebar, Mayo's county seat. Westport is about the same distance. Galway in the south is roughly 120 km or a two hours drive away. Well, if you are a picture taking maniac like myself it's going to take A LOT longer!!! ;-)

The north eastern corner of Achill is a Gaeltacht (an area where Irish is considered the first language). The Gaeltacht extends itself across the sound to the very wild and bog-dominated landscape of Erris and the Belmullet peninsula which is sealed off from the rest of Mayo by the Nephin Beg range and which is considered one of the few remaining stretches of authentic unspoilt Ireland, whatever that may mean. It's not necessary to know any Gaelic, but a good bilingual map will certainly come in handy!