Ballybunion or Ballybunnion () is a coastal town and seaside resort in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, Ireland, on the

Wild Atlantic Way The Wild Atlantic Way ( ga, Slí an Atlantaigh Fhiáin) is a tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland. The 2,500 km (1,553 mile) driving route passes through nine counties and three provinces, s ...

, from the town of

Listowel Listowel ( ; , IPA: �lʲɪsˠˈt̪ˠuəhəlʲ is a heritage market town in County Kerry, Ireland. It is on the River Feale, from the county town, Tralee. The town of Listowel had a population of 4,820 according to the Central Statistics Of ...

Tourism

Ballybunion has two main beaches, divided by the Castle Green. The Ladies Beach is to the right and the Men's Beach to the left – names arising from the fact that both sexes swam on separate beaches on the orders of the local parish priest, who patrolled daily ensuring the rule wasn't broken. Further to the left of the Men's Beach lies the Long Strand, a 3.2 km stretch of sand, overlooked by the sand dunes of

Ballybunion Golf Club The Ballybunion Golf Club is a golf club in County Kerry, Ireland. Founded in 1893, the club had barely opened its doors before experiencing financial problems. An investment from Colonel Bartholomew saved the club in 1906, and nine new holes w ...

. In the summer, Ballybunion attracts tourists, and the beaches near Ballybunion are a common surfing site, with a dedicated surf school on the Men's Beach. Other traditions include seaweed baths, featuring sea water with

serrated wrack ''Fucus serratus'' is a seaweed of the north Atlantic Ocean, known as toothed wrack or serrated wrack. Description and reproduction ''Fucus serratus'' is a robust alga, olive-brown in colour and similar to ''Fucus vesiculosus'' and ''Fucus spir ...

. The town itself has a number of restaurants, pubs and cafes, and schools. There is also a statue commemorating the golfing visit of Bill Clinton. This was the first statue of Bill Clinton on public display in the world.

Sport

Golf

was founded in 1893 and is home to arguably one of the best links courses in the world. There are 2 courses, the Old Course and the Cashen Course, both situated beside the beach. The club hosted the Murphy's Irish Open in 2000 and Palmer Cup in 2004.

Gaelic football

Stack Park is situated off Sandhill Road, and has an unofficial walk-in entrance off Central Park (mobile home part off Kit Ahern Road). This floodlight pitch provides training & matches for many divisions of players (incl under 8s, 10s, junior, and senior) as well as ladies football. The Ballybunion team are called the Beale team, named for a small townland a couple of miles up the coast from Ballybunion. The Beale colours are green with a red stripe.

Health and leisure

Ballybunion Health & Leisure Centre opened in 2007 and is situated on Kit Ahern Road.Health & Leisure Centre

References