The Ring of Kerry in September: Long Light, Empty Roads, Open Sea
The Ring of Kerry in September: Long Light, Empty Roads, Open Sea
September is the month the Ring of Kerry sorts itself out.
The July and August coach convoys thin dramatically. The Skellig Michael boats are still sailing — the season runs to late September — and the seas are often calmer than midsummer. Guesthouse rates drop, on the same logic that makes the spring shoulder season in County Clare such good value. The light stretches long into the evening. And Kerry does something in early autumn that it doesn't quite manage in July: it holds still for a few days at a time.
Here's why September is the right call, and how to plan around it.
Why this month
The coaches ease off. The Ring of Kerry's central frustration in high summer is traffic — tour buses running the 179 km loop anti-clockwise on roads too narrow for a bus and a car to pass comfortably. By mid-September that volume falls sharply, and the single-track sections stop being a negotiation.
Skellig Michael is still running. Landings operate roughly mid-May to late September, capped at about 180 people a day, €120-140 ($132-154). September sailings are still on the calendar, and while about 40% of trips are cancelled by swell in any month, autumn seas are frequently more settled than the summer westerlies suggest.
The light is long and low. Sunset is close to 10PM in June, which sounds ideal until you realise the sun sits high and flat for most of it. September gives you 7:30-8PM sunsets with a raking golden hour that turns Ladies View, Coomakista Pass and the Kerry Cliffs into something else entirely — the same low autumn light that does Clare's cliff coast so many favours further north.
Prices fall. Killarney guesthouses that run €120-140 ($132-154) at peak settle nearer €90-110 ($99-121). Car hire eases. Restaurants stop needing bookings a week out.
The weather, told straight
Kerry is temperate maritime, which is a polite way of saying it does whatever it likes.
September days run 15-18°C, easing toward 13-15°C by month's end. Nights are mild — it rarely freezes here at all. Annual rainfall is about 1,400 mm and showers are possible on any day of any month, so a waterproof shell is September equipment exactly as it is July equipment.
What September adds is settled spells. Autumn high pressure over the Atlantic can park for three or four days and give you the Kerry that postcards are made of: clear air, long views, the Skelligs visible from the cliffs. It can also give you a week of horizontal rain. Both are normal, and neither should change your booking.
Treat forecasts as suggestions. Pack for both.
Events and what's on
The Killarney Beer Festival and various food events cluster through early autumn, though dates shift year to year — check locally on arrival rather than planning around them.
Traditional music picks up as the tourist season winds down and sessions return to being for the musicians, in Dublin as much as in Kerry. September is the better month to hear a good one. They start late, 9:30-10PM, at The Danny Man and Courtney's in Killarney or The Blind Piper in Caherdaniel. Don't request songs, don't talk over a slow air, buy the players a drink rather than applauding between tunes.
Puck Fair in Killorglin is August, not September, so you've missed it — which, depending on your tolerance for a goat being crowned king of a town for three days, is either a shame or a relief.
Packing for a Ring of Kerry September
- Waterproof shell with a hood. Non-negotiable. Umbrellas are useless in Atlantic wind.
- Layers, not a coat. 15-18°C days with wind chill on cliff edges means fleece plus shell, adjusted constantly.
- Boots with grip. For the Gap of Dunloe walk, the Torc loop, and 600 wet medieval steps on Skellig Michael if you get out there.
- Waterproof trousers, if the Skelligs are booked. The open crossing gets everyone wet.
- A dry bag for cameras and phones on the boat.
- Sunglasses. Low September sun on a west-facing road at 6PM is genuinely blinding.
- Cash. For honesty boxes at Staigue (€1 / $1.10) and Kenmare Stone Circle (€2 / $2.20), and for Lord Brandon's Cottage.
Seasonal food
September is harvest and the tail of the seafood season, and Kerry does both well.
Seafood chowder is the regional constant and the September version is at its best. The Blind Piper in Caherdaniel, €15-25 ($17-28), or The Bridge Bar in Portmagee at €15-20 ($17-22).
QC's Seafood Bar on Cahersiveen's Main Street sources from the family's own boats — €18-28 ($20-31) and the best cooked fish on the western arc by a distance.
Boxty at Bricín on Killarney's High Street: potato pancakes with proper fillings, €22-30 ($24-33), served in a room above a craft shop the family has run since 1904.
Kerry lamb appears on autumn menus everywhere and is worth ordering wherever you see it.
And blackberries are on every hedge along the N70 in September, free and better than anything you'll buy.
Crowd levels
Early September: still busy. The last of the summer visitors, schools back in some countries but not all. Skellig bookings still tight.
Mid-September: the sweet spot. Coaches noticeably thinner, prices easing, sea still workable, light beautiful. If you can pick a fortnight, pick this one.
Late September: quieter still. Skellig sailings winding toward season end — check dates carefully. Some seasonal spots, including Lord Brandon's Cottage at the southern end of the Gap of Dunloe, start closing. Carry a backup sandwich.
October: lovely and emptier, but the Skelligs are done for the year and daylight shortens fast. Fine for a return visit, not for a first.
A sample four-day September plan
Day 1 — Killarney. Collect the car (take the smallest one; read the insurance excess carefully, it can run €1,500-3,000 / $1,650-3,300). Ross Castle in the afternoon, €5 ($5.50) or free on the OPW Heritage Card. Dinner at Bricín, trad session after.
Day 2 — The park and the Gap. Muckross House (€10 / $11) and the Traditional Farms in the morning, Torc Waterfall and the oak-wood loop after. Afternoon through the Gap of Dunloe — leave the car at Kate Kearney's Cottage, walk or take a jaunting car at €40-60 ($44-66), then the open boat through the lakes back to Ross Castle. Ladies View at golden hour, which in September lands around 7PM.
Day 3 — West to Portmagee. Anti-clockwise, starting before 9AM. Kells Bay Gardens (€12 / $13), the Cahergall and Leacanabuaile stone forts, lunch at QC's in Cahersiveen. Kerry Cliffs at €5 ($5.50) in the late afternoon, when the Skelligs sit lit offshore. Fill the tank — stations close by 8PM and all day Sunday out here.
Day 4 — Skellig Michael, or Valentia. Sailing confirmed at the pier around 8AM. If it's on, that's your entire day and it should be. If it's off, drive Valentia Island: Geokaun Mountain and the Fogher Cliffs at €5 ($5.50) per car, and the 385-million-year-old tetrapod trackway at the slate quarry.
Add a fifth day for the southern arc — Coomakista, Derrynane beach and house, The Blind Piper, Staigue Fort, Sneem and Kenmare. And hold a sixth loose, in case the Skelligs need a second attempt.
That spare day is the whole September advantage. In July you don't get one, because everything is booked. In September you can afford to wait for the sea to agree with you.
