Donegal · Easy · There and back

Malin Head: Banba's Crown and Hell's Hole

A short walk on Ireland's most northerly headland: up to the tower at Banba's Crown and along the cliff path to the chasm of Hell's Hole.

Distance
1.4 km (0.9 mi)
Ascent
40 m
Time
About 30 min
High point
61 m
Grade
Easy

Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), checked by Global Adventurer.

0 km1 km61 m24 m
Move along the height chart to see each point on the map.
Malin Head: Banba's Crown and Hell's Hole
N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The walk

From the main car park below Banba's Crown, by the toilets and map board, walk up to the old signal tower at the road end on the tip of Malin Head. Take the cliff path west, below the tower and above the sea, to Hell's Hole, a deep chasm in the cliffs where the path ends. Return the same way along the cliff path, then take the short link path straight down to the car park.

It is 1.4 km there and back with 40 m of ascent; allow about half an hour. The grade is Easy: a short stretch of road up to the tower, then a built path that gets rockier near Hell's Hole.

This is the Malin Head Trail, a public trail managed by Donegal County Council, with brown fingerposts. The cliff edges are unfenced and the headland takes strong winds: keep children close and dogs on leads. The path is slippery when wet. The Wee House of Malin, a hermit's cave and ruined church, is not on this trail: it is a few kilometres away by road.

The car park is free. TFI Local Link route 954 runs daily between Carndonagh, Malin and Malin Head, with seven return journeys from Monday to Saturday and six on Sunday.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.

Good to know

  • Banba's Crown is the tip of Malin Head, the most northerly point of the island of Ireland, named after Banba, a mythical queen and spirit of Ireland.
  • The tower was built in the early 1800s as an Admiralty lookout and later used by Lloyd's of London as a signal station for passing ships.
  • Below the tower, white stones spell 'EIRE 80', a Second World War sign marking neutral Ireland for aircraft.
  • On clear days you can see Inishtrahull lighthouse offshore, and sometimes the hills of Islay and Jura in Scotland.

Getting there

Start: Malin Head car park · Free parking. 55.38040, -7.37563

Directions to the start

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Places to stay nearby

Rooms in and around Donegal: Booking.com → Expedia → Hotels.com →

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Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line and figures come from OpenStreetMap and our own checks; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.