Brandon, Cé Bhréanainn, Co. Kerry

Cé Bhréanainn · Co. Kerry

A pier, a pub, and Ireland's holy mountain rising 952m straight out the back door.

Brandon is a village of about a hundred and fifty people on the north shore of Brandon Bay, at the very foot of the mountain it is named for. Or that names it. Saint Brendan the Navigator gave his name to both, in the 6th century, before sailing west in a leather boat. The mountain is 952 metres of Old Red Sandstone going almost straight up out of the back of the village. On a clear day, the summit is the second-highest point in Ireland. On most days, the summit is in cloud and the village is in horizontal rain.

The geography is nearly all of it. There is one road in - the R560 around from Castlegregory, or down from the Conor Pass and through Cloghane. There is one pier, where a few small boats still go out. There is the Brandon Inn, known locally as Tigh Bhric, which has been the village pub for generations. And there is the mountain. Everything else - the strand, the cliffs at Brandon Point, the Saint's Road ending at the foot of the climb - is what people come for.

Don't come for things to do indoors. Come for a long walk on the strand with the mountain on your shoulder, a pint in Tigh Bhric where the talk will half be in Irish, the cliff out at Brandon Point looking across at the Blaskets, and - if the weather and your legs hold - the climb itself. Cloghane next door has a few more rooms and a few more pubs. Brandon has the saint and the silence.

Population

~150

Walk score

One street, one pier, one mountain behind it

Coords

52.2681° N, 10.1614° W

01 / 08

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The mountain

Cnoc Bhréanainn - highest outside the Reeks.

Mount Brandon stands 952 metres directly behind the village. Eighth highest in Ireland on the Arderin list, but the highest Irish mountain outside the MacGillycuddy's Reeks. The pilgrim path goes up the east side from Cloghane; the Saint's Road comes in from the west.

Walks & outings → 02 The saint

Saint Brendan sailed from here. Allegedly to America.

Brendan the Navigator was born in Kerry around 484 AD. The story says he fasted on the summit, was visited by an angel, saw a great land to the west, and set off in a leather and timber curragh in the 6th century. The Vikings disagreed about who got there first. Tim Severin sailed a replica leather boat across in 1976 to prove it could be done.

Stories & lore → 03 The bay

North-shore Atlantic, looking out at the Blaskets.

Brandon Bay swings west to Brandon Point five kilometres out - a cliff headland that looks across to Slea Head and the Blasket Islands sitting offshore like an unfinished sentence. The pier in the village is small, working, and frequently empty.

Walks & outings →

02 / 08

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Brandon Inn (Tigh Bhric)

Local, Gaeltacht, generational

Village pub

The pub of the village. Run by the Bric family for generations and known to everyone here by the Irish name. The talk at the bar is half Irish, half English, and you'll catch a bit of both if you sit long enough. Hours are when they're open. Phone ahead off-season if you're banking on a meal.

03 / 08

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Brandon House Hotel	Small hotel up the road	Up the road on the way out toward the mountain. The only hotel in the immediate area. Useful if you want to climb early - you can be at the Faha trailhead in fifteen minutes. Check it's open before you book; it's seasonal in some years.
B&Bs around Brandon and Cloghane	Bed & breakfast	A handful of family-run B&Bs scattered between Brandon and Cloghane along the bay. Most are open spring through autumn for the walking season. Cloghane has marginally more choice; Brandon has the shorter walk to Tigh Bhric.
Self-catering cottages	Cottages on the bay road	Cottages along the road between Brandon and Cloghane, most facing the bay. Climbers and pilgrims book them in summer; the rest of the year they sit empty. Wake up to whichever weather the mountain has decided on.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

A 6th-century voyage to America

Brendan and the leather boat

Saint Brendan the Navigator was born somewhere near Tralee in 484 AD. The Navigatio Sancti Brendani - written down four centuries after the fact - says he fasted on the summit of this mountain, was visited by an angel, and saw a great land to the west. Then he had a curragh built of timber and tanned leather, picked seventeen monks, and sailed off into the Atlantic looking for the Isle of the Blessed. He may have reached Iceland. He may have reached Newfoundland. In 1976 the explorer Tim Severin built a replica leather boat called Brendan and sailed it from Kerry to Newfoundland to prove the trip was at least possible. Whether the original Brendan got there is a matter of faith. The boat-shape of the route is not.

Cosán na Naomh and the last Sunday of July

The pilgrim mountain

Mount Brandon is one of the three great pilgrim mountains of Ireland, with Croagh Patrick in Mayo and Slieve Donard in Down. The pattern day pilgrimage falls on the last Sunday in July - the old festival of Lughnasa, the Celtic harvest festival, which the church absorbed and the local people kept walking. The summit holds the remains of a small stone oratory called Séipéilín Bréanainn. Pilgrims still climb on the day, in all weathers. The route up from Faha Ridge above Cloghane is the steep one. The route up from Ballybrack on the west side - the Saint's Road - is the older one.

Cosán na Naomh, eighteen kilometres of pilgrim path

The Saint's Road

Cosán na Naomh - the Saint's Road - is the medieval pilgrim path that runs from Ventry Strand on the south side of the peninsula across to Mount Brandon on the north. Eighteen kilometres, waymarked now, ending at the foot of the climb at Ballybrack on the west flank. Small white crosses mark it. The walk takes a day. The climb on top of it is another half-day. Done in one go it is the full pilgrimage; done in stages it is one of the better long walks in the country. The road to Brandon is the road's last destination.

A bay that runs from a holy mountain to a surf school

Brandon Bay

Brandon Bay is a long curve of Atlantic running from Brandon Point in the west to the Maharees Peninsula in the east. The west end - the village end - is quiet, deep, looked over by the mountain. The east end is the kitesurfing capital of Ireland and gets the European tour stops. Same bay. Same wind. The middle is fifteen kilometres of strand with almost nobody on it. Walk a stretch of it from the pier at Brandon and you will not meet a coach.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Mount Brandon - Faha Ridge route The pilgrim path. Start at the Faha car park above Cloghane, climb up past the paternoster lakes in the glaciated corrie, traverse the ridge, summit at the oratory ruins. Steep in places. Glorious on a clear day, a serious mistake in cloud without map and compass. Don't underestimate it.

12 km returndistance

5-6 hourstime

Mount Brandon - Saint's Road / west side The shorter, gentler route up. Starts at Ballybrack on the west flank, follows the old pilgrim path waymarked with white crosses. Easier underfoot than the Faha side, but still 952 metres of climb. The route generations of barefoot pilgrims took.

8 km returndistance

3-4 hourstime

Brandon Point cliffs Walk or drive west out of the village to Brandon Point. Cliffs of red sandstone dropping into the Atlantic and a view straight across to Slea Head and the Blasket Islands. On a clear evening the light goes the whole way out the bay. Empty most of the year.

5 km out and back from the villagedistance

1.5-2 hourstime

Brandon Bay strand The strand runs east from the pier toward Cloghane and on toward Stradbally. Flat, firm sand at low tide, the mountain over your right shoulder, the bay on your left. Walk until you can't see the village, then turn around. You will meet nobody.

However long you havedistance

However long you havetime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The mountain becomes climbable from about April. Days lengthen, lambs in the fields, the bay quiet. Best month for the Saint's Road walk.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings on the strand. Pattern Day pilgrimage on the last Sunday in July - the village fills for a day and empties again. Book a bed if you want to be here for it.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The locals' season. Storms rolling in off the Atlantic, the mountain in and out of cloud all day, sessions back to themselves in Tigh Bhric.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Dark by four. Most accommodation closed. The mountain is for experienced winter hill-walkers only. The pub may be the only thing open in the village.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Mount Brandon in cloud, on either route

The Faha ridge has cliffs to its north and the western scramble has navigation traps. People die on this mountain in poor visibility. If the summit is in cloud and you don't have map, compass and the skill to use both, walk the strand instead.

The western scramble route without proper hill skills

There's a direct scramble route up the west face that looks like a shortcut on the map. It isn't. Steep, exposed, no clear path. Take the Saint's Road from Ballybrack or the Faha route from Cloghane. Both get you to the same summit.

Driving the Conor Pass in a campervan in fog

The pass over from Dingle is the spectacular way in, but it's a single-track road clinging to a cliff. In bad weather and a wide vehicle, you and the oncoming traffic will both regret it. Go round via Castlegregory.

Expecting nightlife

There is one pub. It does what a village pub does. If you want sessions and choice, Dingle is an hour away.

Getting there.

By car

From Castlegregory it's 25 minutes west on the R560 around the north shore of the bay. From Dingle it's 40-60 minutes over the Conor Pass on a fine day, then down through Cloghane to Brandon. The Conor Pass is single-track in places - small car, dry weather, no rush.

By bus

Local Link 275A connects Tralee with Cloghane and onward stops on a limited timetable. Brandon itself is sparsely served. Plan a car or a long walk from Cloghane.

By train

No train. Nearest station is Tralee. Then car or local bus.

By air

Kerry Airport (KIR) is about 1h 15m by car. Shannon is 2h 30m. Cork is 2h 30m.