The Wild Atlantic Way is Ireland’s longest signposted coastal route, but it isn’t an old road with a new name. It’s a tourism brand built on roads that already existed, launched by Fáilte Ireland in 2014. This is the Wild Atlantic Way history in full: how it came together, how long the route actually is, and what the 15 Signature Discovery Points are.
The Wild Atlantic Way History: At a Glance
- Officially launched 27 February 2014, developed and run by Fáilte Ireland, Ireland’s national tourism authority.
- Runs 2,500km (1,553 miles) from the Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal, to Kinsale, County Cork, through nine counties.
- The road predates the brand by centuries; Fáilte Ireland’s work was linking, signposting and marketing an existing network of coastal roads as one route.
- 157 Discovery Points in total, 15 officially designated Signature Discovery Points.
- Credited with roughly 35,000 additional tourism jobs and an estimated €3 billion a year in tourism revenue for the western counties.
Table of Contents
- What Is the Wild Atlantic Way?
- When and How the Wild Atlantic Way Was Built
- How Long Is the Wild Atlantic Way?
- The Wild Atlantic Way Discovery Points
- Other Wild Atlantic Way Landmarks Worth Knowing About
- What Impact Has the Wild Atlantic Way Had?
- Is the Wild Atlantic Way Still Being Developed?
- How to Actually Drive the Wild Atlantic Way
- Planning Your Own Trip
- FAQs
What Is the Wild Atlantic Way?
The Wild Atlantic Way is a signposted touring route along Ireland’s west coast, developed by Fáilte Ireland and officially launched in February 2014. It isn’t a single road built for tourism; it’s an existing network of coastal roads, connected and branded so visitors follow one continuous route instead of piecing a journey together county by county.
Before 2014, drivers could still follow the west coast, but there was no shared signage, no single map, and no identity tying Donegal to Cork together as one journey. Fáilte Ireland’s job was to formalise that route and market the stretch as a single, ownable brand.
The name does two things at once. “Wild” points to the exposed Atlantic coastline and the weather that shapes it. “Atlantic Way” borrows the format of established coastal driving routes elsewhere, giving international visitors a recognisable category: a long-form coastal road trip, in the mould of California’s Pacific Coast Highway.
When and How the Wild Atlantic Way Was Built
The Wild Atlantic Way launched as a branded route in 2014, but Fáilte Ireland didn’t construct new roads: it packaged existing ones into one journey.
When Was the Wild Atlantic Way Built and Launched?
The roads existed long before 2014, but the branded route officially launched on 27 February 2014, by Michael Ring, Ireland’s Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, at the time. Fáilte Ireland backed it with an initial investment of around €10 million, covering route mapping, Discovery Point infrastructure, and the marketing campaign that introduced the brand internationally.
The launch came at a point when Ireland’s tourism industry needed a clear story to tell. The west coast had the scenery but lacked a single, exportable identity. The Wild Atlantic Way gave the region that: one name, one route, one map.
How the Wild Atlantic Way Route Was Built From What Was Already There
This is the part most visitors get wrong: the Wild Atlantic Way is not a purpose-built scenic road. It runs along the same national and regional roads that connected coastal villages and towns for generations, long before anyone called them a “Way.”
The signage itself is easy to spot: a blue background with a white squiggled line standing in for the letters “WAW,” meant to echo Atlantic waves and the shape of the coastline. Those signs, plus viewing platforms, car parks and information panels at the most significant stops, are what Fáilte Ireland actually added. The roads stayed the same.
That distinction matters for planning a trip. The Wild Atlantic Way isn’t a closed attraction with fixed opening hours; it’s public road, narrow and single-track in places, and slow going in poor weather.
How Long Is the Wild Atlantic Way?
Wild Atlantic Way length: 2,500km (1,553 miles), running from the Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal, to Kinsale, County Cork; the longest defined coastal touring route in the world.
Some route guides put the figure closer to 2,600km depending on which connecting roads are counted; 2,500km is the figure Fáilte Ireland itself uses, and it’s the one on the official Wild Atlantic Way map.
The Wild Atlantic Way counties are nine in total: Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick, Kerry, and Cork. The Wild Atlantic Way route itself is split into five broad sections, each with a distinct character:
| Section | Counties | What Defines It |
| Northern Headlands | Donegal | Cliffs, Malin Head, and Ireland’s most remote peninsulas |
| Surf Coast | Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo | Atlantic swell, Achill Island, Céide Fields |
| Bay Coast | Galway, Clare | Connemara, the Burren, Cliffs of Moher |
| Cliff Coast | Kerry | Dingle Peninsula, Ring of Kerry, the Skelligs |
| Southern Peninsulas | Cork | Beara, Mizen Head, Kinsale |
Rarely does anyone drive the full 2,500km in a single trip. Most visitors, including guests on our own Wild Atlantic Way tour, pick one or two sections and go deep instead: a Wild Atlantic Way road trip in miniature. Our Ireland tours from Galway cover the Bay Coast section specifically, if that’s the stretch you’re weighing up.
The Wild Atlantic Way Discovery Points
Along the route, 157 Discovery Points mark notable stops. Of those, Fáilte Ireland has designated 15 as Wild Atlantic Way Signature Discovery Points: the locations judged to best represent the route as a whole.
| Signature Discovery Point | County | Known For |
| Malin Head | Donegal | Ireland’s most northerly point |
| Fanad Head | Donegal | Working lighthouse, open to visitors |
| Slieve League | Donegal | Among the highest sea cliffs in Europe |
| Mullaghmore Head | Sligo | Big-wave surfing, Classiebawn Castle |
| Downpatrick Head | Mayo | Sea stack and blowhole, Dún Briste |
| Keem Bay | Mayo | Horseshoe beach on Achill Island |
| Killary Harbour | Galway/Mayo border | Ireland’s only true fjord |
| Derrigimlagh | Galway | Site of Marconi’s transatlantic wireless station and the 1919 Alcock and Brown landing |
| Cliffs of Moher | Clare | Ireland’s most visited natural attraction |
| Loop Head | Clare | Lighthouse, whale-watching in season |
| Blasket Sound | Kerry | Views to the now-uninhabited Blasket Islands |
| Bray Head – Skelligs View | Kerry | Best mainland vantage point for the Skellig Islands |
| Dursey Island | Cork | Reached by Ireland’s only cable car |
| Mizen Head | Cork | Ireland’s most southwesterly point, signal station and bridge |
| Old Head of Kinsale | Cork | Dramatic headland and lighthouse |
Other Wild Atlantic Way Landmarks Worth Knowing About
Some of the route’s best-known names aren’t on the official Signature list, because they’re towns or regions rather than single viewpoints. They’re still worth building a trip around, and several sit in the Wild Atlantic Way Kerry and Wild Atlantic Way Galway stretches that draw the most visitors.
- Ring of Kerry: A 179km circular route through County Kerry, taking in Killarney National Park and Muckross House. Our Ring of Kerry guide goes into the stops in more detail, and it’s one of the sections covered on our 8-Day Castles & Coasts tour.
- Dingle Peninsula (Kerry): Slea Head Drive is one of the most photographed stretches of the Wild Atlantic Way Cliffs of Moher-to-Kerry run. Dingle town is a working fishing harbour and a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) area, with a live traditional music scene concentrated in its pubs.
- Connemara (Galway): Mountains, bogland, and Kylemore Abbey with its Victorian walled garden, featured on our 10-Day Wild Irish Experience.
- The Burren (Clare): A limestone karst landscape near the Cliffs of Moher, unlike anywhere else on the route.
- Skellig Michael (Kerry): A UNESCO World Heritage-listed monastic site off the Kerry coast, accessible by boat trip in summer months only, weather permitting.
- Kinsale (Cork): A working harbour town at the route’s southern end, known for its food scene rather than its scenery.
- Wild Atlantic Way Donegal: the northernmost stretch, covering Malin Head, Fanad Head and Slieve League; our 6-Day Legends of the North & West tour takes this in alongside Galway.
What Impact Has the Wild Atlantic Way Had?
In 2024, the Wild Atlantic Way was Ireland’s most popular tourism region: over 2.3 million overseas visitors, generating €2.37 billion in overseas visitor revenue, according to Fáilte Ireland data reported in August 2025.
Zoom out further and the wider trend holds. Fáilte Ireland’s April 2024 assessment, marking the route’s 10th anniversary, put total regional tourism revenue, domestic and overseas combined, at roughly €3 billion a year, up 58% since 2013, alongside 35,000 additional tourism jobs on top of a regional base of around 121,000. That €3 billion figure covers both visitor types across the year, so it isn’t the same measure as the 2024 overseas-only figure above; both point the same direction.
Visitor numbers back this up: close to 2 million more visitors travel the western counties each year than before launch. The Cliffs of Moher alone draws more than 1.5 million visitors a year, Ireland’s most-visited natural attraction.
These figures come from Fáilte Ireland’s own reporting rather than an independent audit, so treat them as the tourism authority’s own account.
Is the Wild Atlantic Way Still Being Developed?
Fáilte Ireland manages the route development through five-year Destination and Experience Development Plans, built with local authorities in each region; the current plan runs 2023 to 2027. Roughly €3.5 million has gone into Discovery Point infrastructure since launch, and that investment is ongoing rather than a one-off from 2014. In practice, signage and visitor facilities are being upgraded county by county, not fixed as they were at launch.
How to Actually Drive the Wild Atlantic Way
Given the route’s total length, the realistic approach is to pick a section rather than attempt the full 2,500km. A week is enough to cover one or two sections properly, with stops, rather than just driving through them. Building a Wild Atlantic Way itinerary starts with choosing a section, not the whole coastal drive; that’s the approach we take across our Irish Experience Tours.
First trip to Ireland? Our guide on where to visit for the first time pairs well with this one.
- If you have a week: Focus on Clare, Kerry, and Cork, the stretch with the highest concentration of Signature Discovery Points, including the Cliffs of Moher, Dingle, and Mizen Head.
- If you have 10+ days: Add Galway and Connemara, or push north into Mayo and Donegal for the wilder, less-visited stretches; our 11-Day Ultimate Irish Experience or 13-Day Full Irish Experience covers the whole island at that pace.
- If you’re short on time: A single section, such as the Cliffs of Moher to the Ring of Kerry, still delivers the coastline’s defining landscapes.
Self-driving a Wild Atlantic Way coastal drive is the most common way to see the route, but it isn’t the only one. Our Wild Atlantic Way tours, including both small group tours and private tours, cover sections with a local driver-guide, removing the need to navigate narrow coast roads yourself while still reaching the same viewpoints.
Planning Your Own Trip
Rather than being a synthetic tourist destination, the Wild Atlantic Way relies on authentic roads and communities, which is clear from its history. This is exactly why travelers benefit more from an unhurried exploration instead of attempting to sprint down the entire coast.
If you prefer to explore a portion of the route alongside an experienced driver who understands these roads, our Relaxed 7-Day Wild Atlantic Way Tour traces the exact Clare-to-Kerry portion detailed above. Please get in touch should you need assistance determining the ideal section for your specific schedule.
FAQs
Can you see the Wild Atlantic Way without a car?
Yes, to an extent. TFI Local Link and Bus Éireann run public routes covering all six regional stretches of the coast, and Transport for Ireland publishes a dedicated Wild Atlantic Way route map for planning journeys by bus. Services are far less frequent than a self-drive itinerary allows, though, and many of the smaller Discovery Points sit well outside regular bus routes, which is why most visitors still drive or join a guided tour.
Does the Wild Atlantic Way connect to Northern Ireland?
No. The branded route stops at the border, and Fáilte Ireland has no agreement with Tourism Northern Ireland to extend it toward the Causeway Coastal Route, despite members of Stormont’s economy committee publicly pushing for one. Fáilte Ireland has extended a different regional brand, Hidden Heartlands, into County Fermanagh, but the Wild Atlantic Way itself has not followed.
Is there an official cycling route along the Wild Atlantic Way?
Yes: MizMal, short for Mizen to Malin. It follows many of the Wild Atlantic Way’s best stretches rather than the shortest route north, and comes in two formats: a 925km/7-day version and a more relaxed 1,040km/12-day version.
How is the Wild Atlantic Way different from Ireland’s Ancient East?
Ireland’s Ancient East is a separate Fáilte Ireland brand launched after the Wild Atlantic Way’s early success, covering counties east of the River Shannon rather than the west coast, from the Boyne Valley down through the midlands to Kilkenny and Waterford. Where the Wild Atlantic Way sells coastal scenery, Ireland’s Ancient East is built around historical and heritage sites. The two brands don’t overlap geographically.