- Where
- Atlantic Ocean, 11.6 km west of
the Iveragh Peninsula, County Kerry - Coordinates
- 51.7711° N
10.5406° W - Area
- About 22 hectares
(Wikipedia) - Highest point
- 218 m, the south peak
- Monastery
- Founded 6th–8th century
occupied until c. 1200 - Protected
- UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1996
- Getting there
- Permitted landing boats from the Kerry coast
in season, weather allowing - Best visited
- Mid-May to September (the landing season)
The boat rose and fell beside a wet rock ledge until someone said now, and I stepped across. Then stairs of flat grey stone, up and up, with puffins standing beside them like doormen. High up, in the wind, a cluster of stone huts shaped like beehives, cool and dim inside. I took my hat off at the low door and kept silent for some time.
The short answer
Skellig Michael, Sceilg Mhichíl in Irish and also called Great Skellig, is a twin-peaked island of rock 11.6 kilometres west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. Wikipedia gives it an area of about 22 hectares and a highest point of 218 metres, on the south peak; the north-east peak, at 185 metres, carries the monastery. Its name joins the archangel Michael to the Irish sceilig, a splinter or steep piece of rock. Its smaller twin, Little Skellig, is about a mile nearer the coast and cannot be landed on. Nobody lives on Skellig Michael; apart from its lighthouses, the island belongs to the state and is in the care of the Office of Public Works (OPW).
Why it's worth knowing
A monastery that kept its roofs. Monks founded a monastery on Skellig Michael sometime between the sixth and eighth centuries, Wikipedia records, and it was occupied until the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. On a terraced shelf about 180 metres above the sea stand two oratories, a cemetery, crosses and cross-slabs, six domed beehive cells of the clochán type (one of them fallen) and a later medieval church. The cells and oratories are dry-built: flat stones laid without mortar, each course stepped a little inward until the walls close overhead. Because the island was so hard to reach, Wikipedia notes, the site survived in unusually good condition. UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 1996, and the International Council on Monuments and Sites called it a “unique example of an early religious settlement”.
A landing that decides the visit. The island has three landing coves, and the main one, Blind Man’s Cove, is exposed to Atlantic swell. The Office of Public Works allows landings only in a summer season, by boats it permits: in 2018 it advertised up to 15 permits, each for a boat carrying up to 12 visitors a day, for a ceiling of 180 visitors a day, the OPW said in indexed text. Even in season the sea decides. The OPW opened the 2026 season on 9 May and closed it early, from 21 September, because of weather and sea conditions, with landings finished until the 2027 season, Irish trade press reported from its notice.
The field notes
Stairways built by the monks
Each landing cove leads to a long flight of steps, the east, south and north steps, built by the first generations of monks, Wikipedia records; their lowest sections were cut into the rock and, above the reach of the waves, give way to dry-stone masonry. Visitors today climb the south steps to Christ’s Saddle, the hollow between the two peaks, and then up to the monastery: 618 steps in all, by the OPW’s Heritage Ireland page in indexed text, which Wikipedia rounds to 600. The steps are old, steep and unprotected, and the OPW does not allow climbing in wet or windy weather. Rockfalls have closed the island for weeks in past seasons, and the OPW has fitted around 100 metres of crash deck over the path to protect visitors from falling stone, Irish press has reported.
Raided, then left
The Annals of the Four Masters record a Viking raid in 823, when “Skellig was plundered by the heathen” and its abbot, Eitgal, was carried off and died of hunger, and a second raid in 838. The dedication to St Michael is recorded by 1044, and possibly dates to about 950, when a new church was added. The community moved to the mainland, to Ballinskelligs, perhaps because of a colder, stormier climate, raids and changes in the Irish Church, Wikipedia records; it was a place of pilgrimage by the early sixteenth century. Lighthouses were completed on the Atlantic side in 1826, and the OPW took the monastery into guardianship in 1880. The island appears in two Star Wars films, released in 2015 and 2017.
Puffins on the stairs
The Skelligs have been a Special Protection Area for birds since 1986. Skellig Michael’s cliffs and slopes hold puffins, which nest in burrows beside the paths in summer, as well as fulmars, Manx shearwaters, storm petrels, kittiwakes, guillemots and nesting peregrine falcons, and grey seals haul out on its ledges, Wikipedia records. Little Skellig, which cannot be landed on, holds the largest gannet colony in Ireland, by BirdLife International’s account as Wikipedia cites it, with more than 35,000 breeding pairs.
Skellig Michael from the sea, its two peaks over the swell.
Photograph: Jerzy Strzelecki · Skellig Michael03(js) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped
A stone path winding up a green saddle toward the summit crag, August 2014.
Photograph: Ronan Mac Giollapharaic · CC BY-SA 4.0
The cliffs and a lighthouse, from a boat, April 2014.
Photograph: Nirav Raval · CC BY-SA 4.0
An Atlantic puffin on the rocks of Skellig Michael, July 2023.
Photograph: NoNameIsLeft · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Book the boat early, then keep the following day free as well. The sea gives the final answer, and it often answers no.
- Climb slowly, with both hands free and your eyes on the next step. The view will keep until you reach it.
- The small stone crosses inside the monks’ enclosure mark graves. Stand quietly among them, and leave everything as it lay.
- Make the list’s new entries on the crossing back, if the boat permits. Mine came home in a hand that nobody, their author included, can read.
- Let the puffins have the path whenever they want it. It is their doorstep, and they are busy.
A beehive cell. One of the six dry-stone cells of the monastery on Skellig Michael, built on a terraced shelf about 180 metres above the sea by the monks who lived there from the early middle ages to about 1200: flat stones laid without mortar, each course stepped a little inward until the walls close into a dome, with stones left jutting from the outside that Wikipedia suggests anchored a covering of thatch. They still stand where the monks built them. It is seen from its doorway, in the landing season, when the sea allows.
Tally, in the marginI stood inside one and looked up for the beams, and was slow to see that there were none. Every stone simply leans a little on the one below, and has gone on doing so all this while without any fuss at all.
Getting there
How to get there. By boat from the Iveragh Peninsula, on the Ring of Kerry. Landing tours leave from Portmagee and from Ballinskelligs and Valentia Island, among other harbours, in boats run by operators who hold the Office of Public Works’ landing permits; operators put the crossing at about 45 minutes to an hour and the time ashore at about two and a half hours. The boats are small, and the landing is onto a pier under a sheer cliff. Boats that do not land, on “eco tours”, circle both islands.
When to go. Mid-May to September, the landing season, weather allowing; nobody lands outside it. In 2026 the OPW opened the island on 9 May and closed it early, from 21 September, for weather and sea conditions. Days that look calm on the mainland can still be too rough to land, so allow spare days in Kerry.
What to arrange ahead. A landing tour with a permitted operator, booked well ahead because each boat carries up to 12 visitors a day; the OPW asks visitors to watch its safety video before booking. Bring waterproofs, food and water, and footwear with grip. The climb suits only those who are steady on steep, unguarded steps.
Safety. The State Department has Ireland at Level 1, exercise normal precautions (advisory dated 20 March 2026 in its feed, read 5 October 2026), noting petty crime in tourist areas and demonstrations that can disrupt transport. The hazards here are the place’s own: a rough crossing, a landing in swell, steep steps with no rails, falling rock and Atlantic weather that can change while you are on the island.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Skellig Michael?
Skellig Michael (Sceilg Mhichíl) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean 11.6 kilometres west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. It covers about 22 hectares and rises to 218 metres; its smaller twin, Little Skellig, lies nearer the coast.
How do you get to Skellig Michael?
By a landing tour on a boat permitted by Ireland’s Office of Public Works, from Portmagee, Ballinskelligs, Valentia Island or other Kerry harbours, in the summer season and only when the sea allows a landing. Operators put the crossing at about 45 minutes to an hour; each permitted boat carries up to 12 visitors a day.
When can you land on Skellig Michael?
Only in the summer landing season set by the Office of Public Works, roughly mid-May to September, and only in suitable weather. In 2026 the OPW opened Skellig Michael on 9 May and ended the season early, from 21 September, because of weather and sea conditions.
How many steps are there on Skellig Michael?
The climb from the landing to the monastery on Skellig Michael is 618 steps, according to the Office of Public Works’ Heritage Ireland page; Wikipedia gives about 600. The steps are steep and unprotected, and climbing is not allowed in wet or windy weather.
Who built the monastery on Skellig Michael?
Monks of the early Irish church founded the monastery on Skellig Michael sometime between the sixth and eighth centuries. Tradition credits St Fionán, which historians doubt. The community lived there until the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, then moved to Ballinskelligs on the mainland.
What are the beehive huts on Skellig Michael?
They are six dry-stone cells of the clochán type, one of them fallen, built on a terraced shelf about 180 metres above the sea on Skellig Michael. Their flat stones are laid without mortar, each course stepped inward until the walls meet in a dome, a method known as corbelling.
Is Skellig Michael a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Yes. UNESCO inscribed Skellig Michael on the World Heritage List in 1996. The International Council on Monuments and Sites described it as a “unique example of an early religious settlement”, preserved by its remote and exposed position.
Can you visit Little Skellig?
No. Little Skellig, the smaller of the two Skellig islands, cannot be landed on. It holds the largest gannet colony in Ireland, by BirdLife International’s account, with more than 35,000 breeding pairs by Wikipedia’s count, and boat tours that do not land on Skellig Michael circle it.