The Unsettling Reason Ireland's Popular Cliffs Of Moher Are Closed For 2025

At the Cliffs of Moher, the rolling beauty of Ireland's lush green landscape drops off suddenly at a 700-foot vertical cliff face. Located on the west coast of Ireland, about 48 miles northwest of Limerick and 47 miles south of Galway, the Cliffs of Moher receive over 1.3 million visitors a year who come to walk the vertigo-inducing cliffside paths. But in 2025, visitors may be sorely disappointed to find that most of the trail will be closed for the foreseeable future.

Citing "severe safety concerns," the Cliffs of Moher Visitor's Centre announced trail closures in February of the Southern Section. The Southern Section trail runs approximately 4 miles from Liscannor through Hags Head. In addition to the closure of the Southern Section, a little less than 1 mile of the Northern Section will be closed until further notice. This is bad news for hikers who had their sights on walking the whole 12-mile path, which can take up to five hours to complete.

If you were just hoping to take a look and be on your way, the good news is that the Cliffs of Moher Experience, a half-mile section with protected walkways and viewing platforms, will remain open. Here's what you need to know about the reason for the trail closures and some of the best alternative coastal destinations in Ireland.

The planned closure is all a part of County Clare's strategy for making the cliffs safer to visit. A study published in the Journal of Travel Medicine stated that between 1993 and 2017, 66 people have died while visiting the stunning but dangerous Cliffs of Moher, where the trails go right up to the edge in most places with no barriers in place. Some, but not all, of these deaths were recorded as suicides or potential suicides, and alcohol was also involved in some of them. The deaths tended to involve people who hiked the cliffs alone. In 2024, several deaths at the cliffs made headlines. The BBC reported that a 12-year-old boy who was separated from his family had fallen down the cliffs; earlier that same year, a woman in her 20s was walking with her friends, according to the BBC, when she lost her footing, fell, and died.

According to Eoin Hogan of the Clare Local Development Company during an interview on the radio show "Morning Ireland" (via RTÉ) a recent assessment highlighted safety issues that "needed to be dealt with before the trail could be reopened. ... The trail is too close to the edge in certain sections." During the closure, the Clare Local Development Company will work with the local council and landowners along the trail — the trail is collectively owned by 38 farmers — to come up with a strategy to improve safety, but it is not expected to reopen fully before the end of the year.

Although most of the trail will be closed, you don't have to cross the Cliffs of Moher off your itinerary entirely. You can still stop by for a quick look from the main visitors center, or take a sightseeing cruise from Doolin. Located smack-dab in the middle of the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's magnificent west coast, Doolin has ferries that offer a full tourist experience. You can see seabirds and other wildlife as well as landmarks like An Branán Mór and the sea cave made famous by "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." The ferry can also take you to the gorgeous nearby Aran Islands. And of course, the ferry takes you past the Cliffs of Moher.

If you want a different cliff-viewing experience, head up to Donegal to visit the underrated Slieve League Cliffs. This landmark is nearly three times higher than the Cliffs of Moher, sitting nearly 2,000 feet above the ocean. Better still, the Pilgrim's Path, a 2-mile loop trail that leads up to the cliffs from the nearby village of Teelin, is open and ready for tourists.

Or consider continuing the journey south, where you will find even more cliffside hiking routes. Consider heading to County Kerry to see the Kerry Cliffs, or Ailte Chiarraí, which are open seasonally. Or try the Lighthouse Loop in County Cork's Sheep's Head Peninsula, which passes a few high cliffs. And once you've had enough vertigo, you can trade the cliffs for the sandy beaches of Dingle, one of Rick Steve's favorite towns in Ireland.