The Cliffs of Moher make up the enormous, awe-inspiring shore line in Liscannor, County Clare, Ireland. The Cliffs are one of the top tourist destinations in Ireland and were even part of an ad campaign pushing the Cliffs as one of the new 7 Wonders of the World. Recently, the Cliffs of Moher were seen in a scene in the major motion picture Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Getting to the Cliffs of Moher
If you’re driving, the Cliffs of Moher are located off R478 from Liscannor to Doolin. Visitors who are not familiar with roads in Ireland may find this drive extremely challenging. Roads in western Ireland are very narrow and often do not feature a shoulder. Additionally, the roads leading to the Cliffs are winding and steep. Depending on your approach, you may encounter one section colloquially referred to as “corkscrew hill”. These routes can be dangerous for novice drivers, and their difficulty level is compounded if you are not accustomed to driving on the left side of the road… and compounded again if you’re staying for sunset and will be driving home in the dark.
There is a parking fee of €8.
If you do not have a car or are not confident enough in your driving abilities, you can buy a ticket on one of the many tour buses that go to the Cliffs of Moher. There are a few that leave from Eyre Square in Galway City. In this case you are subject to the tour’s schedule and time limit.
Photographing the Cliffs of Moher
The walk from the parking lot past the visitor’s center takes you to the viewpoint you see in the photo above. Hang a right and climb the stairs up the hill to the highest point of the Cliffs: O’Brien’s Tower. It appears that you can go inside the tower and take the stairs to the top during the day; I was at the Cliffs after operating hours and the Tower was closed.
There are a number of signs posted warning people not to climb to the edge. Obey this warning – soil is unstable and winds are powerful. A number of people have unfortunately lost their lives at the Cliffs.
A moderately wide, standard or moderately telephoto lens should allow you to include the entirety of the cliffs in a single frame. General purpose zoom lenses as well as the kit lenses that come packaged with DSLR cameras fall into this category. I used the Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS for most of my photos of the Cliffs of Moher.
A telephoto lens would make for some interesting detail shots of the cliffs, or perhaps finding an angle that compresses all of them closely together. I was able to fill the frame with some detail shots using the long end of my 24-105 lens, shooting from the area below O’Brien’s Tower.
If it’s a cloudy day, an ultra-wide angle lens can play with the clouds in interesting ways. Keep in mind though that extreme wide angles will push the Cliffs off into the distance and make them appear small… which is sort of the opposite of what the actually are — quite significant natural wonders. But again, this might be useful if you have a specific framing in mind. My shot of O’Brien’s tower seen above was taken at 12mm on a full frame camera. The image below is also ultra-wide angle.
My UWA lens here is the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX.
A tripod would be useful at the Cliffs during sunset. The IS on my Canon 24-105 lens, and the extremely short focal length of my Sigma 12-24 allowed me to get away with hand-holding at high ISO, but I definitely over-shot to ensure a few frames turned out sharp. I was not able to find any information on the Cliffs of Moher site regarding whether tripods are permitted, but this page does indicate that permits are required for commercial filming and photography. Nevertheless, there are definitely many places where a serious accident could occur if someone were to trip over your equipment.
If you are a fan of landscapes you will not regret a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. Their sheer massive size is something that cannot be fully understood until you’ve stood at the top in person.