On the weekend of its regatta, Arminta Wallace suggests things to do in the town formerly known as Dingle

'What's in a name?" Shakespeare's Juliet once found herself wondering. "That which we call a rose," she added, "by any other name would smell as sweet . . ." She should have come to An Daingean - the town formerly known as Dingle - where an official name change ushered in earlier this summer by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon Ó Cuiv, has been kicking up something of a stink. Sessions at the law courts had to be put into storage pending clarification, and local luminaries and business persons predicted that the new name would be a disaster because foreign tourists wouldn't be able to find the town any more.

However, The Irish Times can report, after several summer-time visits to An Daingean, that plenty of tourists seem to have negotiated the changeover without undue distress; indeed, far from poring anxiously over maps and looking lost in several languages, they appear to be having a terrific time. As summer gives way to autumn, there is lots to do in the town; so much so that if you're on a flying visit - or perhaps jet-lagged from the sheer exhaustion of trying to find the place (tip: go to Castlemaine and keep driving) - you may not know where to start.

So here, for the discerning visitor, are some suggestions for Things to Do in Dingle when it's An Daingean.

1. WALK TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD At 456 metres, that's what the Connor Pass feels like: it's the highest mountain pass in Ireland. From the bridge at the bottom of Main Street, take the Spa Road; keep left and follow as it climbs. At the top of the hill, cross the main road - carefully - and continue on a tarmac track, crossing two stiles as you make your way into a serene valley. On your right are the twin peaks of Cnoc Maol Beag and Cnoc Maol Mór - the latter, at well over 400 metres, being no slouch in the cnoc stakes. It takes about an hour to get to the end of the track, which is part of The Dingle Way and makes an excellent walk for beginners, children or the unsuitably shod. To get to the pass itself and back takes four hours or so. In general, the peninsula is a walker's paradise: if you need advice, turn up outside Tom Long's Pub on Sunday mornings at 10am, where a walking group assembles.

2. LEARN THE TIN WHISTLE IN A DAY Opposite the Phoenix Cinema you'll find Scoil Ceoil An Daingean, a music school which - according to its founder, John Ryan - really is for everybody. Classes are unusual and fun. "Child's Play", on Tuesday mornings, features musical games for three to seven-year-olds; there's a drum workshop for 8 to 12-year-olds on Saturday afternoons, and anyone who turns up on Mondays can - Ryan promises - learn to play the tin whistle in a day. On the day I visit, a workshop called "Discover Your Beautiful Singing Voice" is in session. Chant-like sounds drift through the walls; strange harmonies evolve and disappear. "We start with body awareness," explains facilitator Eva Bruha, "then we move to humming." Does she believe everybody can sing? "Absolutely," she says. "As for being 'off key', people can still find their own way of sounding."

This accessibility is precisely what Ryan, who has just completed an MA in Traditional Music at the University of Limerick, hopes to achieve with his idea of drop-in sessions and take-'em-or-leave-'em classes. "At last night's folk session we had some people from Denmark, a very fine singer from Cork - and Gus from the States, who runs a B&B next door to me." (For details: 086-3190438.)

3. SPOIL YOURSELF AT THE SPA "If you hate it," says my therapist, Sharon, "just press this button." She returns after five minutes to see if I have any questions. I have: "How could anybody hate it?" Nobody should have to go through life without a hydrotherapy session at the Peninsula Spa in An Daingean's Skellig Hotel. Quiet room, scented water, low lighting. Then the massage jets get going. They blast the soles of your feet, move to your calves, your thighs, the small of your back; then they do it all over again.

One of the many good things about the Peninsula Spa is that you don't have to be a guest at the hotel to book in. (Another is the view from the outdoor hot tub.)

Best of all, though, are the products used in the spa, many of which are locally sourced, such as the seaweed treatments - green, gooey and great - or the range of skincare creams made by Harebell Herbs from plants grown in nearby Ballyferriter. An hour of hydrotherapy combined with back, neck and shoulder massage costs €70 and yes, you do need to book. (066-9150200, www.dinglepeninsulaspa.com)

4. GET GIGGING Steve Coulter met Harris Moore when they were both students at the University of Santa Cruz in California. They came to Europe to play music, and never went back. Now Coulter organises gigs every Wednesday and Friday night at St James's Church of Ireland on Main Street; and when Coulter and Moore play O'Carolan on the harp and dulcimer, you could hear a pin drop. Offering a tune on the calimba - not, let's face it, an instrument you expect to hear at a "folk concert" in the Gaeltacht - Coulter explains that there have been a lot of musicians from Zimbabwe back and forth to An Daingean in recent months.

Idly I wonder who, in another 20 years, will be playing here - Bosnians? Chinese? Africans? My question is answered with startling promptness when a jazz singer from Krakow, currently resident in Kerry, gets up and gives us The Girl from Ipanema in Polish - and almost brings the house down. There's never any shortage of live music in An Daingean; if in doubt, call to O'Flaherty's Pub on Bridge Street.

5. DIG INTO HISTORY The area around An Daingean has more than 2,000 ancient sites, but you may need a bit of help to make head or tail of their significance. A good way to do it is to take a Sciúird excursion: mini-bus tours to study ogham stones, early Christian sites, wedge tombs, castles and the like in the genial company of Tadhg Ó Coileáin. "I'm interpreting the landscape, I suppose," says Ó Coileáin, whose archaeologist son-and-daughter team set up the business. "We also have a look at flora and fauna. It's a niche market; people come because they're interested. They're not just going for a Kodak moment." Tours cost €15, they leave from the Ó Coileáin house in the centre of town, and the phone number is 066-9151606. Groups are small - a maximum of 12 people, so be sure to book in advance.

When Ó Coileáin gives me his name, he does so in Irish - then, when I ask him to spell it, says the English will do okay. But which does he prefer? Well, he says, he's known by the Irish form. A final word on the whole An Daingean business, then? "Well," he says, "I can see the Minister's point of view. It is in a Gaeltacht area, and An Daingean is the law - it might be quite tricky if the wrong name were to be used on legal documents and so forth." Like many of the town's inhabitants, he favours some sort of compromise involving brackets. Then he chuckles. "But if you called it Timbuktu," he says, "t'would still be Dingle."