About Gleninchaquin Waterfall
Gleninchaquin Waterfall is perhaps the most impressive waterfall on the inland part of the Ring of Beara Peninsula in the southwest of Ireland.
Perhaps fittingly, it’s claimed to be one of the country’s tallest as the River Geartha dropped 140m while draining the Cumeentadhg Lake.
If true, this height figure would make the Gleninchaquin Waterfall even taller than the Powerscourt Waterfall.
The waterfall certainly looked very impressive when we approached the private Gleninchaquin Park.
It also looked impressive when we saw the waterfall from the nearby Uragh Stone Circle.
From up close, we could better appreciate its segmented state (which was how we saw it during our mid-July 2024 visit).
During that visit, we also managed to minimize looking against the morning sun when we got within the cliff’s shadows.
That said, I’ve seen pictures in the literature when it had a thicker appearance due to higher flow (probably earlier in the season or in a wetter year).
In any case, our visit was a pretty straightforward one as we started from the private car park after paying the owner in cash 7 euros per person or 20 euros total for a family.
From there, we then went on a signed path that pretty much followed a road that went around some sheep pasture while also skirting alongside a tributary of the River Geartha.
Thus, after about 600m (1.2km round-trip) of following the road (keeping right at the forks of the road) and eventually trail, we ultimately got to the base of the Gleninchaquin Waterfall.
Once there, the trail continued to go over a bridge spanning the river and then climb up towards the top of the falls and beyond, but we were content with just being around the waterfall before turning back.
Although it appeared that there used to be a more direct path cutting right through the pasture (and even signage suggesting that you could complete a short loop hike), that path was closed as of our visit.
Thus, when all was said and done, we returned the way we came spending about an hour away from the car.
When we first showed up, it was shortly after the place opened (from 10am to 5pm) so we were the first people there on a Saturday.
However, when we came back, there were already 4 more car loads of visitors so this place seemed pretty popular despite the tricky single-lane road it took to get here (see directions below).
Authorities
The Gleninchaquin Waterfall is Gleninchaquin Park in the Ring of Beara near the town of Kenmare in County Kerry, Ireland. The park is privately owned and thus is managed by the owners of the farm encompassing it. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Gleninchaquin Park website.
The Gleninchaquin Waterfall was located in the Ring of Beara near the town of Kenmare.
Since that town was where we stayed while exploring both this peninsula and the Ring of Kerry, I’ll describe the driving directions from there.
From the one-way triangular centre in Kenmare, we made successive turns until we headed south on the N71.
After about 900m (going over the Our Lady’s Bridge across the head of Kenmare Bay), we then turned right to follow the R571 Road.
We then followed the R571 Road for about 12km before turning left onto a signed but easy-to-miss single-lane road for Gleninchaquin Park as well as Uragh Stone Circle.
Then, we followed this somewhat tricky single-lane road for 7km to the Gleninchaquin Park.
I say tricky because there are tall hedges and trucks do share this road (I even had to back up for a ways to the nearest layby to let one pass in one instance).
Note that roughly half-way down this single-lane road, there’s a turnoff for the Uragh Stone Circle, which offers an alternate view of the Gleninchaquin Waterfall while also experiencing the mysterious stone circle itself.
That was a 400m detour to a separate car park, which had an honor-system drop box asking for 5 euros per person.
In any case, this 21km drive took us a little over a half-hour.
For context, Kenmare is about 27km (about 30 minutes drive) north of Glengarriff, about 43km (over 30 minutes drive) south of Killarney, 106km (about 2 hours drive) southeast of Dingle, 119km (about 2 hours drive) south of Tarbert, 83km (about 90 minutes drive) east of Portmagee, 96km (about 90 minutes drive) west of Cork, about 140km (over 2 hours drive) southwest of Limerick, and 353km (about 4 hours drive) southwest of Dublin.
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Longer 360 degree sweep encompassing the waterfall and its surroundings as filmed from within the cliff shadow
Honed in on some sun-amplified mist before panning from the bottom up for both waterfall segments
360 degree sweep from the bridge area encompassing the surroundings around the falls as well as looking against the sun at the falls itself
Elevated 360 degree sweep of the Uragh Stone Circle and the Gleninchaquin Waterfall
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