A-Z Placefinder
Towns of Clare
Kilkee —County Clare
Now one of Ireland's premier tourist centres, Kilkee's career as a seaside resort took off in early Victorian times when affluent families from Limerick built themselves summer houses here.
Today the resort has something for everyone; in dramatic cliff walks, safe bathing and numerous activities. Sports on offer include tennis, golf, diving, water sports and children's amusements. Kilkee is regarded as one of the safest bathing places in Ireland being protected from the full force of the Atlantic by a reef known as the 'Duggerna Rock'. The Diamond Rocks and Pollock Holes which retain the sea water when the tides recede form natural swimming pools and are well worth a visit. Kilkee Bay, was rated by the late Jacques Cousteau as the best diving location in Europe and among the top five in the world! Kilkee's renown as a scenic and popular holiday resort goes back to the nineteenth century when it was frequented by aristocracy and literary figures. Newspapers of the day referred to Kilkee as 'this fashionable Bathing Place'. Among the visitors to Kilkee in Victorian times were poets Lord Alfred Tennyson and Sir Aubrey de Vere, and Charlotte Bronte the novelist, honeymooned here in 1854. In 1896 the Crown Princess of Austria was a visitor. Authors H. Rider Haggart and Gerard Griffin, the famous Limerick novelist, author of 'The Collegians' and other works also visited Kilkee.
The resort has retained much of its earlier charm which is now enhanced by the modern facilities including the Kilkee Waterworld - an indoor pool with a host of features including a lazy river, flume, gushers etc.
Kilkee Golf Course is a scenic and challenging coastal course.
Within 25kms of here

