SLIABH LIAG DONEGAL ~ Hints, Tips and Height

Sliabh Liag, a stunning part of County Donegal, are the highest accessible sea cliffs in Europe.  They stand magnificently above the crashing Atlantic Ocean 1,972 feet below.  For more on height comparisons scroll down.

You can stand on the viewing platform and just take in the pure, fresh sea air and absorb the ever changing colours of the cliffs before you.  In wet weather you will even see small waterfalls tumbling down the cliffs at various points. 

The colours of the rock formations and growths of different plants on the cliffs are an artist or photographers dream and I often think that some of our Donegal weavers get their ideas for colours from these cliffs.

If you take the highly recommended boat tour from nearby Teelin and you look carefully, you can see some of the fencing around the edge of the cliffs way above you.  The fencing looks so thin from the boat that it could easily be dental floss.  Equally when you are viewing the ocean from the cliffs, the tour boats look like the tiniest of toys bobbing around in the ocean.

The arrow shows the Sliabh Liag Boat Tours boat taken from the cliffs above.

THE HEIGHT AND HOW IT COMPARES ...

As to the height of the cliffs and to give you comparisons, Sliabh Liag stand at 1,972 feet / 601 meters and are taller than all these:

The Cliffs of Moher, another of Ireland’s famous attractions, stand at 702 feet / 214 meters making them just over a third of the size of Sliabh Liag.  And other notable places/buildings to compare with …

The Eiffel Tower in France stands at 984 feet / 300 meters.

The White Cliffs of Dover, 350 feet / 110 meters.

The Statue of Liberty, from ground to tip, 305 feet / 92.99 meters.

The Empire State Building, 1250 feet / 381 meters.  (1,454 feet/443 meters to tip).

So you can now get some perspective on how high Sliabh Liag actually is. 

Very high!  In fact they are the exact same height as the fourth tallest building in the world, The Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower in Saudia Arabia.

Regardless of the height, it is still a place even those with concerns about heights can visit as there are fences at the edge and paths laid out.  But as with all high places great care must be taken and common sense comes in handy too.

One of the paths at Sliabh Liag.

People making their way to very top and to One Man's Pass.  Remember, cloud can form rapidly at such a height and can be a great danger.  

​You can park your car in the public car parks below for only €5 (as of May 2022) or you can drive (carefully and slowly) along the fairly narrow road to the parking spot near the top of the cliffs and walk around taking in the scenery from there.    We would point out here that you need to be fairly proficient in parking to park at this top end of the cliffs as it can get a little packed and manoeuvring about can be difficult.

​More about Sliabh Liag.

A WARNING ~ Please read.
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One final thing, if you take your dog with you NEVER, EVER take off its lead.  Why?  Because your dog, no matter how adorable, can scare one of the sheep always grazing there.  This can cause the sheep to run away and perhaps slip and tumble off the cliffs. 

If the sheep just died there and then that would be bad enough but no, many of them land on a ledge or unapproachable rocks below.  And because they can’t be rescued, they die there, slowly of starvation. 

​And if that doesn’t touch you, remember it could be your dog who slips and falls to die in that same, horrific way.  So NEVER take the lead off your dog/s there.