Benbaun
The highest ground in County Galway is a bare quartzite summit in the middle of the Twelve Bens. Benbaun, the white peak, stands 729 metres at the centre of the core massif in Connemara National Park, the 72nd highest mountain in Ireland on the Arderin list and the 88th on Vandeleur-Lynam, and Paul Tempan calls it the Mont Blanc of Connemara for the pale rock that gives it its name.
Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.
Benbaun, Connemara National Park Visitor Centre on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.
The ridge
Benbaun sits in the middle of a long east-west ridge. To the west lie Benfree, the peak of the heather, at 638 metres, Muckanaght, the hill like a pig, at 654, and Bencullagh, the hag's peak; the ridge carries on to the western outliers. The Maumturks face it across the Inagh valley.
Climbing it
The straightforward ways up are through the pass of Maumina by the Gleninagh valley, or by staying high, climbing Knockpasheemore first and walking the 3.5 km ridge to the top; either is more than 9 km and four to five hours. Because Benbaun lies off the 16 km Glencoaghan Horseshoe, the most popular walk in the range, it sees fewer people than its height deserves, though it sits near the apex of several of the horseshoes. The model on this page pins Benbaun and the national park visitor centre; the Twelve Bens guide has the whole range.
Questions people ask
How high is Benbaun?
How long does it take to climb Benbaun?
Why is Benbaun called the white peak?
Written from Wikipedia, "Benbaun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.