Valentia Island lies off the Iveragh peninsula, your tour of Kerry is not complete without a visit here. The population of the island is around 700 inhabitants. The island is approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long by almost 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) wide. The western part of the island offers fantastic views for walkers especially if you hike to the top of Geokaun Mountain, highest point of the island. Nearby Fogher Cliffs features a viewing deck.
For palaeontology enthusiasts, the island boasts a fossilised tetrapod track-way of more than 150 footsteps. The Valentia Island track-ways are among the oldest signs of vertebrate life on land - the first discovery of its kind in Europe. The tetrapod came ashore more than 350 to 370 million years ago.
St. Brendan's Well, on the west of the island, is of interest but be prepared to walk the last ten minutes of the rough path which leads to it. Legend has it that St. Brendan sailed to the island from Dingle, in the 5th century.He is said to have scaled the cliffs, and annointed a couple of dying pagan; the first catholic converts on the island.
The Knights of Kerry where extensive land owners on the island. They lived in Glanleam House. The house is still there today but has been converted to a guest house. The 19th Knight of Kerry was an enthusiast botanist who created a fifty acre garden. The open garden is a micro climate - the mildest micro climate in Ireland. It features subtropical plants from South America, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Japan. While visiting Glanleam gardens why not take a walk down to the lovely nearby Glanleam Beach.
Valentiaisland has a wide range of quality accommodation to suit all budgets, ranging from hotels and bed & breakfasts to hostels and self catering accommodation. Valentiaisland has a nice variety of pubs which are well worth a visit on a warm summers evening or a cold winters one!.
For diners there are a selection of restaurants
Valentia Island was the base of the very first attempts at laying the Atlantic cable. The brave endeavour after many failed attempt resulted in commercially viable transatlantic telegraph communications from Foilhommerum Bay to Heart's Content, Newfoundland in 1866. The communications operated for one hundred years.