Portmagee Harbour

This is a Ferry Crossing Point (Embarkation Point) for The Skellig Islands

Portmagee is a small pretty fishing village on Valentia Harbour and one of the ports from which you can get travel by boat to the Skellig Islands. You can also cross the bridge over to Valentia Island from here.

The area, now so peaceful and serene, has a more swashbuckling history and was once a haven for smugglers and pirates who preyed on the trade ships from Europe and America.

The village is named after an 18th Century Captain, Theobald Magee, an infamous smuggler of contraband spirits, textiles and tea and tobacco. He married the daughter of a Mr Crosby, the then MP for County Kerry, who it is rumoured was instrumental in Magee’s exile and death in a Lisbon monastery in 1724. After his death, Magee’s wife and sons are believed to have carried on the family business.

The Skellig Experience visitors centre is located in Portmagee and is a very good alternative if you do not have the time to visit the Skellig Islands themselves or just wish to know more.

The village of Portmagee was awarded the Fáilte Ireland National Tourism Town Award in 2012.

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