Irish County Highpoints

Ireland's county highpoints

Every one of Ireland's 32 counties has a highest point, and together they make a list that's more varied than it sounds. At the top is Carrauntoohil in Kerry, the roof of Ireland at 1,039 meters, usually climbed via the Devil's Ladder or the finer Coomloughra Horseshoe. Lugnaquilla in Wicklow tops Leinster, Slieve Donard in Down tops Ulster and Northern Ireland, and Mweelrea in Mayo tops Connacht — the four provincial tops, and the four hardest days on the list.

At the other end, Westmeath's Mullaghmeen Hill is a 258-metre forest walk, Kildare's Cupidstown Hill is a field with a trig pillar, and Meath's is a passage tomb at Loughcrew. The list is less about mountaineering than about seeing the whole island: the midlands tops are pleasant afternoons, and the northern ones — Errigal in Donegal, Sawel in the Sperrins, Trostan in the Antrim glens — are some of Ireland's best walking.

Shared summits and a famous cairn

Five summits sit on a county boundary and count for both sides: Galtymore (Limerick and Tipperary), Mount Leinster (Carlow and Wexford), Sawel (Derry and Tyrone), Cuilcagh (Cavan and Fermanagh), and Arderin (Laois and Offaly). Climb one, tick two. Leitrim's top is the odd one out — not a summit at all but a cairn on the southeast shoulder of Truskmore, a short stroll from the Sligo summit that's a different county top.

Heights and positions are from MountainViews, the Irish hill-walking database. Click a badge or its pin to mark a county top reached, again for want-to-climb. The counties themselves are on a separate map.

Getting started

Most Irish walkers start with the Wicklow and Dublin tops, which are an hour from the capital: Lugnaquilla is a five-hour day from Glen of Imaal, and Kippure is a road walk to a TV mast. The Mournes give Slieve Donard in an afternoon from Newcastle. Carrauntoohil deserves a full day and a settled forecast — the Reeks have claimed lives in bad weather. The midlands tops are a pleasant way to break a cross-country drive, and the Loughcrew cairns on Meath's summit are worth the stop on their own.