Filming locations in County Kerry

County Kerry hands set-jetters one of cinema's great reveals: Skellig Michael, the jagged pyramid of rock that erupts from the Atlantic off Ireland's south-west tip. In the Star Wars sequel trilogy it is the remote island refuge where Rey finally tracks down a self-exiled Luke Skywalker, and the ancient monastic steps climbing its flank are entirely real, the work of medieval monks rather than any set builder.

This is the rare location where getting there is genuinely hard, and that is the point. Skellig Michael is reached only by a weather-dependent boat from the little harbour of Portmagee, and the summer landing permits are strictly limited and sell out far in advance. Sailings are cancelled whenever the swell is too high, so flexibility and an early booking are everything.

The climb itself is steep, exposed and unguarded, a long flight of uneven stone steps with sheer drops to the sea, so it asks a head for heights and decent footwear. The reward at the top is the cluster of beehive monk cells perched above the ocean, the same eerie eyrie that closes the trilogy, with seabirds wheeling all around.

Use Portmagee or the wider Iveragh Peninsula as your base, and build the boat trip into a few days rather than pinning your hopes on a single afternoon, given how often the weather has other plans. The famous Ring of Kerry driving route loops around the same peninsula, so there is plenty to fill the days when the sea will not cooperate.

Even if the crossing is called off, Kerry rarely disappoints. The Skelligs can be admired from the cliffs at the mainland viewpoint, and the surrounding coast of headlands, ring roads and Atlantic light is the kind of wild south-west scenery that makes the whole region worth the trip in its own right.