Isle of Man

Visited on 20 July 2025

It is a part of UK, but it has its own domain (im). It is mentioned as self-governing British Crown dependency. Decided to go here due to its unique status.

Sightseeing 

Castle Town
https://maps.app.goo.gl/9SyS6AT7xaj3xqQg8
Located nearby the airport. Pretty little town by the sea with small castle. 

The Chasm
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xBthyfEKujXw37As8
It is a building located in the middle of no where, but the surrounding nature was beautiful with the rock and the sea.
There are many rabbits.
Parking here then walk: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9SyS6AT7xaj3xqQg8

The Thousla Cross
https://maps.app.goo.gl/53EPTTg535qBrGWu7 
Surrounding area is one of the most beautiful place in Isle of Man.
The sunset view was amazing.
There were many seals too.

Port Erin
https://maps.app.goo.gl/mTBom2Ts2fZ3j13p6
Small town with a beach and some nice restaurants.
We got pizza dinner at Byron's and was good. The seating was on the rooftop with the view of the beach. 

Douglas
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Kfi3eZeDDmsadLGaA
The main city of Isle of Man. The promenade by the sea is beautiful (above link), from where we could see the Tower of Refuge in the sea.
Manx museum with free access is a good museum too, with a section for the famous TT race.

Snaefell Mountain
https://maps.app.goo.gl/S1KVMG6SLc9tWhPr6
Parked the car here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/S1KVMG6SLc9tWhPr6
From the mountain summit, it said you can view 4 kingdoms plus Ireland, but it was foggy when we were there.
The restaurant in the summit provides nice food, including hot soup and curry. 

Transportation
- Car Rental vs Public Transportation
I was undecided till last minute, whether using car rental or public transportation.
Isle of Man public transportation is also tourist attraction, with variety like steam train, horse tram, mountain train, in addition to bus. The hustle of using car rental is parking. During searching, I found there is unique parking rule in the island, using parking disc to show how long the car is parking, since in some areas, only 2 hours parking is allowed. My Airbnb also didn't have a parking space, and informed there was no public parking space around. However, I was glad I decided to rent a car since I could reach freely remote areas with natural beauty. The parking situation was not that bad at all, since the restriction in most areas was only limited to weekday 08:00-20:00, while we were in Isle of Man on weekend.
- Athol Car Rental
There were several car rental companies in the airport, I decided to use Athol since they were the cheapest and their website is easy to use. However I booked by email since I didn't need to put deposit.

 

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