Ballycroy Visitor Centre - Wild Nephin National Park — Attraction in County Mayo

The visitor centre has a great friendly and knowledgeable staff, very good information to show you and explain about the wild life of the park, very good facilities including a cafe with nice food. There is only one little walking loop you can do from the centre. It's very accessible and you can walk it in about 15-30 minutes. It has nice views over the ocean and the mountains with a small overview of the plants you can find in the national park. If you like walking, starting from Brogan Carroll Bothy, there are 4 walking loops, the Western Way, and the Bangor trail you can walk from there. The orange loop is 2.5km (45"walk), the blue one is 5km (1h30 to 2h), the red is 10km (3h-3h30), the purple is 12km (4h-5h). There are 4 camp sites on those trails. At least one on each. See the locations in the attached pictures. Also attached are pictures of the bog plants you could come across. If you are there at night and get a clear sky, you should be lucky enough to get one of the most beautiful night sky as there would not be any artificial light pollution. See pictures attached that also contains very useful weblinks: met.ie, clearoutside.com, skymaps.com, mayodarkskypark.ie, wildnephinnationalpark ie As you might encounter some biting flees or other insects, I totally recommend you get the"bite away" heating pen that you can purchase on Amazon. I am prone to severe reactions when being bitten and that totally saved me in so...

Well we'd not done any research on this centre, but saw the signs ..... It's, in my opinion , a strangely designed modern building, standing out (not particularly in keeping with the surroundings) against the lovely mountains and heathland. But absolutely great inside. Designed for adults and children, the downstairs exhibition/discovery rooms are full of really interesting information. Well set out, interactive stands, children's colouring and project sheets etc. There's a cafe (lovely friendly woman served us). Toilets etc. The reception staff were really informative and welcoming. Then there's the boardwalk - 1.8 km - including a dipping pond/pond area, around the mountain. Currently covered in Heather with little green new shoots starting. Carved wooden creatures dotted about. All Free !!! Brilliant parking area, no height barrier. The grounds are open morning and night as its available for star watching. There's nothing to say you couldn't park up here overnight, picnic bench etc available. Would recommend...

We arrived to the Visitor Centre to get some information on the Bangor trail but the only information was that we couldn't camp there or anywhere around the area. The only area where it is allowed is on the opposite side of the park and you can't reach it by bus!! Moreover if you start the Bangor trail from Bangor you need to walk at least 30 Km before reaching the only area where you are allowed to camp!! That's totally different from everywhere else in Ireland, since we have always been able to camp everywhere without any problem. The Wild Nephin national park is one of the most beautiful places in Ireland and it's really remote. However, I found the visitor centre only suitable for families who want to spend a day there, not useful for hikers because there are just short walks around there and there is not a walk to reach the other side of the park or the...