Slieve League (Sliabh Liag)

Among the highest sea cliffs in Europe, rising almost 600 metres from the Atlantic in County Donegal.

Slieve League (Sliabh Liag, 'mountain of the stone pillars') on the south Donegal coast has some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, plunging almost 600 metres to the Atlantic. Less famous than the Cliffs of Moher, and far higher, they are one of the great sights of the Wild Atlantic Way.

A narrow path along the ridge, known as the 'One Man's Pass', crosses the top for the sure-footed, with the ocean far below on one side and mountain lakes on the other.

At a glance

• Among the highest sea cliffs in Europe, on the south Donegal coast.
• The cliffs rise almost 600 metres from the Atlantic.
• Sliabh Liag means 'mountain of the stone pillars'.
• A highlight of the Wild Atlantic Way, with the 'One Man's Pass' ridge.

In County Donegal

Slieve League is in County Donegal, Dún na nGall in Irish, which means “fort of the foreigners (the Vikings)”.

More in Donegal

• Gweedore Gaeltacht (Gaoth Dobhair): The largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland, in northwest Donegal, and a stronghold of Ulster Irish and traditional music.
• Errigal (An Earagail): Donegal's highest peak, a quartzite cone that glows pink at sunset.
• Malin Head (Cionn Mhálanna): The northernmost point of the island of Ireland.
• Glenveagh National Park (Páirc Náisiúnta Ghleann Bheatha): A vast wilderness of mountains, lakes and a fairytale castle.

Other places of this kind

• Carrauntoohil (Corrán Tuathail): The highest mountain in Ireland, standing at 1,038.6 meters.
• Croagh Patrick (Cruach Phádraig): Ireland's holy mountain, climbed by pilgrims for over a thousand years in honour of St Patrick.
• Benbulben (Binn Ghulbain): The dramatic flat-topped 'table mountain' of County Sligo, at the heart of Yeats Country and Irish legend.
• The Mourne Mountains (Beanna Boirche): A range of granite peaks in County Down, and the inspiration for songs and for the land of Narnia.
• The Sperrin Mountains (Sléibhte Speirín): A sweeping range of rounded hills across counties Tyrone and Derry, and one of the largest upland areas in Ireland.
• Mount Leinster (Stua Laighean): The highest peak of the Blackstairs Mountains, rising on the Carlow-Wexford border.

The Irish name

The Irish form of Slieve League is Sliabh Liag. You can hear it spoken, and take apart names like it, in the Placename Explorer. The authoritative record for any Irish place-name is logainm.ie.