Whiddy Island is accessible from the mainland by the local ferry, Ocean Star III, with return trips several times a day. Bike hire is also available on the island, as is a local hackney service. Trips to and from the island and tours of the bay are available during the summer months, incorporating local history, stunning scenery and the indigenous flora and fauna.

Walkers and anglers also travel to Whiddy Island, and the walking trails there form part of the Sheep's Head Way walking route. Previously home to Whiddy Island Naval Air Station.

Whiddy Island is steeped in history, with an early ecclesiastical enclosure at Kilmore lakes featuring a holy well, church and graveyard dating back from the 6th Century. There is also Reenavanny Castle on the island, built in the early 1500s, which was bombarded during the Cromwellian Wars, but three forts have survived.