Inch Beach
An Inse · Co. Kerry
Inch is not a beach you glimpse from the road and forget: a five-kilometre spit of golden sand reaching clean across Dingle Bay towards the mountains of the Iveragh Peninsula, with surf rolling in along its whole western edge. It has been drawing filmmakers, surfers and Sunday walkers for generations.
Surf and sand
The long, gently shelving beach break makes Inch one of the best places in Ireland to learn to surf, and surf schools operate from the beach through the season with board and wetsuit hire. When the surf drops, the same geography makes for one of the country's great flat-out beach walks — out along the spit with water on both sides, mountains ahead and behind, and sanderlings scattering along the tideline.
The dune system behind the strand is internationally important for its wildlife and worth a wander in itself; the sheltered eastern side of the spit looks across Castlemaine Harbour, a major reserve for wintering wildfowl.
A cinematic strand
Inch's scale and light made it a natural film set: it appeared in The Playboy of the Western World (1962) and most famously in David Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970), which put the Dingle Peninsula on the international tourist map almost single-handedly.
Getting there and tips
Inch is on the R561 coast road between Castlemaine and Annascaul, about 25 minutes east of Dingle town. Cars are permitted onto the hard sand near the entrance, but the tide comes in fast over flat sand and vehicles are regularly caught out — park on the upper beach or at the car park and walk. Swim only when lifeguards are on duty and mind the currents near the tip of the spit.
Where it is
52.1395°N, 10.0906°W
Nearby stops
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