The Cliffs of Moher (; ) are sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. They run for about . At their southern end, they rise above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head, and, to the north, they reach their maximum height of just north of O'Brien's Tower, a round stone tower near the midpoint of the cliffs, built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O'Brien, then continue at lower heights. The closest settlements are the villages of Liscannor to the south, and Doolin to the north.
From the cliffs, and from atop the tower, visitors can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head to the south. The cliffs rank among the most visited tourist sites in Ireland, with around 1.5 million visits per year.
Name
The cliffs take their name from an old promontory fort called Mothar or Moher, which once stood on Hag's Head, the southernmost point of the cliffed coast, now the site of Moher Tower. The writer Thomas Johnson Westropp referred to it in 1905 as Moher Uí Ruis or Moher Uí Ruidhin. The fort still stood in 1780 and is mentioned in an account from John Lloyd's A Short Tour of Clare (1780). It was demolished in 1808 to provide material for a lookout/telegraph tower that was intended to provide warning in case of a French invasion during the Napoleonic wars.
Tourism
The cliffs are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland and topped a list of attractions in 2006 by receiving almost one million visitors at the official visitor centre. With additional visitors to other locales included there are around 1.5 million a year. In 2022, approximately 1.1 million visited the Cliffs of Moher, with a majority arriving from the U.S. Since 2011, they have formed a part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark, one of a family of geotourism destinations throughout Europe that are members of the European Geoparks Network and also recognized by UNESCO. The cliffs are also a "signature point" on the official Wild Atlantic Way tourist trail.
While the cliffs can be accessed at multiple points, and there is an Cliff Walk, the majority of visitors come to the official visitor centre.
Visitor centre
In the 1990s the local authority, Clare County Council, initiated development plans to enable visitors to experience the cliffs without significant intrusive man-made amenities. In keeping with this approach, a modern visitor centre, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, was built into a hillside approaching the cliffs. The centre was planned to be environmentally sensitive in its use of renewable energy systems including geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels, and grey water recycling.
The €32 million facility was planned and built over a 17-year period and officially opened in February 2007. Exhibits include interactive media displays covering the geology, history, flora and fauna of the cliffs. A large multimedia screen displays a bird's-eye view from the cliffs, as well as video from the underwater caves below the cliffs. There are also two cafés and several shops. Accessibility is a priority, and wheelchairs are available to borrow.
As of 2022, the centre charges €10 per adult or €9 for students and seniors, when booked in advance online, with children under 12 admitted free. This covers parking, access to the visitor centre and Atlantic Edge exhibition, and a contribution towards conservation and safety at the cliffs.
Visitor numbers
The visitor experience recorded 1,427,000 visits in 2016, up 14% on 2015, and up 52% in off-peak December, for example. In 2017 the Cliffs of Moher was the second most popular 'fee charging' tourist attraction in the country with 1,527,000 visitors. This increased again by 3.8% in 2018 to 1,580,010 visitors.
The nature and speed of increase in visitor numbers has led to some capacity problems at peak times and in peak season. To counter this, visitors are increasingly encouraged to come at other times, with discounts given to coach operators who book for off-peak slots, and late opening of the centre introduced for July and much of August. Later-arriving visitors have also been facilitated by the fitting of automatically opening exit gates from the official car parking facilities.