Ring of Kerry
Key Facts
Best Time to Visit
May-June and September — long daylight (sunset near 10PM in June), drier weather and fewer coaches than the July-August peak
Language
English everywhere; Irish (Gaeilge) is still a community language in the Uíbh Ráthach Gaeltacht around Ballinskelligs and Dún Géagáin, and road signs there are Irish-only
Currency
Euro (EUR) — note that Northern Ireland, a few hours north, uses pounds sterling instead
Time Zone
GMT (UTC+0), IST (UTC+1) from late March to late October
Airport
Kerry Airport (KIR) at Farranfore, 16 km north of Killarney, with UK and European links; Cork (ORK) is 90 minutes away, Shannon (SNN) 2 hours, Dublin (DUB) 3.5 hours
Population
14,500 in Killarney, the main base town (city proper); about 156,000 across County Kerry
Climate
Temperate maritime — summers 15-20°C, winters 5-9°C, rarely freezing, with roughly 1,400 mm of rain a year and showers possible on any day
Safety Rating
Very Safe (Level 1) — crime is negligible; the genuine hazards are single-track roads, blind bends, sheep and driving on the left
Route Length
179 km (111 miles) circular on the N70 and N71, starting and finishing in Killarney — drivable in one long day, but two or three days does it justice
Skellig Michael
UNESCO World Heritage monastic island 12 km offshore; landings are capped at about 180 visitors a day, run only mid-May to late September, and sell out months ahead
Top Highlights
Killarney National Park
Ireland's first national park — 26,000 acres of lakes, oak woodland and the country's only wild red deer herd, free to enter and open at all hours. Muckross House costs about €10 for the guided tour of the Victorian mansion (gardens free), Torc Waterfall is a five-minute walk from its car park, and Ladies View on the N71 is the single best roadside panorama. Allow a full day.
Gap of Dunloe
A narrow glacial defile between Purple Mountain and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, threaded by an 11 km single-track lane that is unsuitable for most cars in summer. Walk or cycle it, or take a jaunting car (pony trap) from Kate Kearney's Cottage for roughly €40-60 per person. The classic version continues by open boat through the Lakes of Killarney back to Ross Castle — about 5-6 hours in total.
Skellig Michael
A 218-metre pyramid of rock 12 km out in the Atlantic, crowned by a 6th-century monastery of drystone beehive huts reached up 600 uneven medieval steps with no handrail. Landing tours from Portmagee run mid-May to late September at roughly €120-140, capped at 180 people a day and booked out by winter. Around 40% of sailings are cancelled by swell — book early in your trip and keep a spare day.
Kerry Cliffs
Three hundred metres of near-vertical Atlantic cliff a few minutes from Portmagee, with the Skelligs framed offshore. Entry is about €5 at a farm gate and the walk from the car park takes 10 minutes on a gravel path. Far less crowded than the Cliffs of Moher and, on a clear evening, arguably the better view — allow an hour and hold onto hats, the updraught is fierce.
Valentia Island
Reached by bridge from Portmagee or a short car ferry from Renard Point. Drive up Geokaun Mountain and the Fogher Cliffs (about €5 per car) for the highest accessible viewpoint on the peninsula, then find the 385-million-year-old tetrapod trackway at the slate quarry — fossilised footprints of one of the first vertebrates to walk on land. Half a day.
Staigue Stone Fort
A drystone ring fort up to 2,500 years old, 5.5 metres high and built without mortar, sitting in a natural amphitheatre at the end of a 4 km single-track lane off the N70 west of Sneem. Access is free apart from a €1 honesty box for the landowner. Almost no coaches make the turn, so you will often have it entirely to yourself — 45 minutes including the drive in.
Kenmare & Sneem Villages
The two best stops for lunch on the southern arc. Kenmare is a planned 18th-century town of painted shopfronts with a genuinely good food scene and a Bronze Age stone circle five minutes' walk from the square (€2 honesty box). Sneem is smaller, split by a river into two colourful squares. Together they make the natural overnight break on a two-day loop.
Derrynane Beach & House
A sheltered white-sand beach backed by dunes and a tidal island near Caherdaniel — the finest swimming spot on the Ring, and free. Behind it sits Derrynane House, the home of Daniel O'Connell, the man who won Catholic emancipation for Ireland in 1829 (entry around €5, gardens free, closed some winter days). Allow two hours for both.
Planned Itinerary
7-Day Ring of Kerry Itinerary
Arrival in Killarney & Ross Castle
Land at Kerry Airport (KIR) at Farranfore, 16 km north, or drive down from Dublin in about 3.5 hours. Killarney is the base for the first three nights — everything in the national park starts within walking distance of the town square. Pick up the smallest hire car you can live with; the western arc is single-track and hedged.
Collect the hire car(45 minutes)
Expect a hard sell on collision waiver at the desk — Irish companies frequently refuse credit-card cover that works everywhere else, and the standard excess runs 1,500-3,000 EUR. Read the policy before you fly, and book an automatic months ahead if you need one
Check in and walk Killarney town(1 hour)
Guesthouses on Muckross Road and New Street run 90-140 EUR in summer. The town is 14,500 people and entirely walkable
Ross Castle and the lakeshore(1.5 hours)
A 15th-century O'Donoghue tower house on Lough Leane, 3 km from town by the free Ross Road path through the park. Guided tour about 5 EUR (free on the OPW Heritage Card); the lakeshore and the boat jetty cost nothing
Dinner at Bricín or Mareena's Simply Food(1.5 hours)
Bricín on High Street does boxty — potato pancakes with proper fillings — for 22-30 EUR in a room above a craft shop that has been in the family since 1904
Trad session at The Danny Man or Courtney's(2 hours)
Sessions start late, usually 9:30-10PM, and are for the musicians rather than the audience. Don't request songs, don't talk over a slow air, and buy the players a drink instead of applauding between tunes
Killarney National Park: Muckross, Torc & Ladies View
Twenty-six thousand acres of lake, oak woodland and Ireland's only wild red deer herd, free to enter and open at all hours. A gentle first full day at low altitude — no long drives, and a deliberately free afternoon to shake off the flight.
Muckross House and gardens(2 hours)
About 10 EUR for the guided tour of the Victorian mansion, gardens free, covered by the OPW Heritage Card. Queen Victoria's 1861 visit nearly bankrupted the owners, who spent six years preparing for a two-night stay
Muckross Traditional Farms(1.5 hours)
Roughly 10 EUR, or a combined ticket with the house. Three working 1930s farms with no electricity, staffed by people who explain the machinery as if you had wandered in off the road
Torc Waterfall and the Old Kenmare Road(1 hour)
Free. A five-minute walk from the N71 car park to a 20 m cascade; climb the 100-odd steps beside it and keep going for a 4 km loop through mossy oak wood that most visitors never enter
Free afternoon: cycle or jaunting car(3 hours)
Bike hire in Killarney runs 15-20 EUR a day and the park's traffic-free lanes to Dinis Cottage and Muckross Abbey are flat. Or take a jaunting car from the Killarney gates, roughly 15-25 EUR a head, and let the horse do it
Ladies View at golden hour(1 hour)
Free, 19 km south on the N71. Named for Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting, who reportedly stood here for an hour. The three lakes stack away below and the light comes right after about 7PM in summer
The Gap of Dunloe by Pony Trap & Boat
The single best day in Kerry that does not involve a boat to the Atlantic. An 11 km glacial defile between Purple Mountain and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, then an open boat back through three lakes to Ross Castle. Book the combined trip the day before — most Killarney hostels and hotels arrange it.
Bus or drive to Kate Kearney's Cottage(30 minutes)
The gap's northern gate, 10 km west of Killarney. Leave the car here — the single-track lane through the gap is genuinely unsuitable for cars in summer and locals will not thank you
Jaunting car or walk through the Gap(2.5 hours)
Pony trap roughly 40-60 EUR per person, or walk the 11 km free in about 3 hours. The road climbs past five lakes strung on the Loe river, with the Wishing Bridge at the top; the walk is the better experience if the weather holds
Lunch at Lord Brandon's Cottage(1 hour)
At the southern end where the boats wait — soup, sandwiches and scones for 10-15 EUR, cash useful. It is seasonal and closes out of summer, so carry a backup sandwich
Open boat through the Lakes of Killarney(1.5 hours)
The combined Gap-and-boat ticket runs about 60-80 EUR. Rowed or motored through the Upper Lake, under Old Weir Bridge and across Muckross and Lough Leane to Ross Castle — the only way to see the lakes from water level
Evening in Killarney(2 hours)
Dinner at The Laurels or Murphy's Bar, 20-30 EUR, and an early night — tomorrow starts the western arc
West on the Ring: Killorglin, Cahersiveen & the Kerry Cliffs
Today you drive the northern arc anti-clockwise, exactly as the tour coaches do. Several sections are too narrow for a bus and a car to pass comfortably, so going the same way means you never meet one head-on — and the Atlantic stays on the driver's side. Start before 9AM to sit clear of the convoy.
Drive Killarney to Killorglin(30 minutes)
Fill the tank here or in Cahersiveen — petrol stations are sparse on the western arc, many close by 8PM and all day Sunday. Killorglin's Puck Fair in August crowns a wild mountain goat as king for three days, which tells you most of what you need to know about Kerry
Kells Bay Gardens and the rope bridge(1.5 hours)
About 12 EUR. A subtropical Victorian garden of tree ferns in a Gulf Stream microclimate, with Ireland's longest rope bridge strung over the ravine and a Skyline walk among the canopy
Cahergall and Leacanabuaile stone forts(1 hour)
Free, 3 km outside Cahersiveen down a signed lane. Two drystone ring forts, one restored with internal terraces you can climb, the other left as found. Rarely more than a handful of people there
Lunch in Cahersiveen(1 hour)
QC's Seafood Bar on Main Street, 18-28 EUR, sourcing from the family's own boats — the best cooked fish on the western arc by a distance
Kerry Cliffs and check in at Portmagee(2 hours)
About 5 EUR at a farm gate near Portmagee and a 10-minute gravel walk to 300 m of near-vertical Atlantic cliff with the Skelligs framed offshore. Far less crowded than the Cliffs of Moher and, on a clear evening, the better view. Hold onto hats — the updraught is fierce. Sleep in Portmagee for the boat
Skellig Michael
A 218-metre pyramid of rock 12 km out in the Atlantic, crowned by a 6th-century monastery of drystone beehive huts. Landing tours run mid-May to late September at roughly 120-140 EUR, capped at about 180 visitors a day and booked out by the previous winter — this is the one thing on the trip you reserve before anything else. Around 40% of sailings are cancelled by swell, so tomorrow is deliberately held as a buffer.
Check the sailing at Portmagee pier(30 minutes)
Skippers confirm on the morning, usually around 8AM. Boats leave roughly 9-9:30AM. Bring waterproofs, a packed lunch and water — there is nothing on the island, and no toilet after you land
Crossing to the Skelligs(1 hour)
Forty-five minutes to an hour in open water on a 12-passenger boat, passing Little Skellig and its colony of about 35,000 gannet pairs — the second largest in the world, and audible before it is visible
Climb to the monastery(2.5 hours)
Six hundred uneven medieval steps with no handrail and a sheer drop. You get roughly two and a half hours ashore, guided by an OPW warden at the top. Puffins nest in burrows along the path from April to early August and are entirely unbothered by you
Return crossing and late lunch(2 hours)
Back in Portmagee by early afternoon. The Bridge Bar does chowder and Guinness for 15-20 EUR and has live music most summer evenings
Rest of the day free(3 hours)
Deliberately empty. If the sailing was cancelled this morning, this is when you rebook for tomorrow and drive Valentia Island instead — the Geokaun Mountain toll road is about 5 EUR per car for the highest accessible viewpoint on the peninsula
The Southern Arc: Derrynane, Staigue Fort & Sneem
The quieter half of the Ring, and the half the coaches rush. Waterville to Kenmare is 60 km of coast road with the best beach, the oldest fort and the two best lunch stops on the circuit. Tonight you sleep in Kenmare.
Coomakista Pass and Waterville(1 hour)
Free. The N70 climbs to a layby with Ballinskelligs Bay behind and Kenmare Bay ahead. Waterville's seafront has a statue of Charlie Chaplin, who holidayed here for ten summers from 1959
Derrynane Beach and House(2.5 hours)
A sheltered white-sand beach backed by dunes and a tidal island near Caherdaniel — the finest swimming on the Ring, and free. Behind it, Derrynane House was the home of Daniel O'Connell, who won Catholic emancipation for Ireland in 1829; entry around 5 EUR, gardens free. Walk out to Abbey Island at low tide
Lunch at the Blind Piper, Caherdaniel(1.5 hours)
A proper village pub 5 minutes inland doing seafood chowder and crab claws for 15-25 EUR, with a beer garden and a session most summer nights
Staigue Stone Fort(45 minutes)
Up to 2,500 years old, 5.5 m high and built without mortar, at the end of a 4 km single-track lane off the N70. Free apart from a 1 EUR honesty box for the landowner. Almost no coaches make the turn, so you will often have it entirely to yourself
Sneem and on to Kenmare(2 hours)
Sneem is split by a river into two colourful squares — stop for 20 minutes and an ice cream at the Blue Bull. Kenmare, 25 minutes further, is a planned 18th-century town with the best food on the Ring: Mulcahy's or No.35 for 35-50 EUR, booked ahead
Kenmare Stone Circle, Moll's Gap & Departure
The N71 back to Killarney is the most dramatic 32 km in the county — a mountain road through Moll's Gap and the Black Valley with the tunnels cut by hand in the 1820s. Allow more time than the map suggests, and leave three hours before an international flight from Kerry Airport.
Kenmare Stone Circle(30 minutes)
Five minutes' walk from the square, 2 EUR honesty box. Fifteen Bronze Age stones round a boulder dolmen — the largest circle in southwest Ireland, and empty at 9AM
Breakfast at Jam or Boathouse Bistro(1 hour)
Jam on Henry Street for scones and proper coffee under 12 EUR, and buy something for the road while you are there
Moll's Gap and Ladies View(1.5 hours)
Free. The N71 climbs through glacially scoured sandstone to Avoca at Moll's Gap, then drops past Ladies View into the park. Stop at both — the northbound direction gives a different set of angles from the run out on day two
Last stop: Muckross Abbey(45 minutes)
Free, a 10-minute walk from the Muckross car park. A roofless 15th-century Franciscan friary built round a cloister with an enormous yew at its centre, said to be as old as the abbey itself
Return the car and depart from Kerry Airport(1.5 hours)
KIR at Farranfore is 20 minutes north of Killarney and small enough to clear in 40 minutes. Cork is 90 minutes away and Shannon 2 hours if you flew into either. Refuel before you return the car — the airport has no forecourt
14-Day Ring of Kerry Itinerary
Arrival in Killarney & Ross Castle
Land at Kerry Airport (KIR) at Farranfore, 16 km north, or drive down from Dublin in about 3.5 hours. Killarney is home for the first three nights. Take the smallest hire car you can live with — the western arc and the Beara lanes are single-track and hedged, and a large car is a liability rather than a comfort.
Collect the hire car(45 minutes)
Expect a hard sell on collision waiver — Irish companies frequently refuse credit-card cover that works elsewhere and the standard excess runs 1,500-3,000 EUR. Read the policy before you fly; automatics are scarce and need booking months ahead
Check in and walk Killarney town(1 hour)
Guesthouses on Muckross Road and New Street run 90-140 EUR in summer. The town is 14,500 people and entirely walkable
Ross Castle and the lakeshore(1.5 hours)
A 15th-century O'Donoghue tower house on Lough Leane, 3 km from town along the free Ross Road path. Guided tour about 5 EUR, free on the OPW Heritage Card — which at about 40 EUR pays for itself over a fortnight here
Dinner at Bricín(1.5 hours)
High Street, 22-30 EUR, doing boxty — potato pancakes with proper fillings — in a room above a craft shop the family has run since 1904
Trad session at Courtney's(2 hours)
Sessions start around 9:30-10PM and are for the musicians. Don't request songs, don't talk over a slow air, and buy the players a drink rather than applauding between tunes
Killarney National Park: Muckross, Torc & Ladies View
Twenty-six thousand acres of lake, oak woodland and Ireland's only wild red deer herd, free and open at all hours. A gentle first full day with a deliberately loose afternoon to shake off the flight.
Muckross House and gardens(2 hours)
About 10 EUR for the guided tour, gardens free, covered by the Heritage Card. Queen Victoria's 1861 visit nearly bankrupted the owners, who spent six years preparing for a two-night stay
Muckross Traditional Farms(1.5 hours)
Roughly 10 EUR or on a combined ticket. Three working 1930s farms with no electricity, staffed by people who explain the machinery as if you had wandered in off the road
Torc Waterfall and the oak wood loop(1.5 hours)
Free. Five minutes from the N71 car park to a 20 m cascade; climb the steps beside it and continue on a 4 km loop through mossy sessile oak that almost nobody walks
Free afternoon: bike the park(3 hours)
Hire in Killarney is 15-20 EUR a day and the traffic-free lanes to Dinis Cottage and Muckross Abbey are flat. Watch for red deer on the Dinis road at dusk
Ladies View at golden hour(1 hour)
Free, 19 km south on the N71, named for Victoria's ladies-in-waiting who reportedly stood here an hour. The light comes right after about 7PM in summer
The Gap of Dunloe by Pony Trap & Boat
The best day in Kerry that does not involve the Atlantic. An 11 km glacial defile between Purple Mountain and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, then an open boat back through three lakes to Ross Castle. Book the combined trip the day before through your guesthouse.
Drive to Kate Kearney's Cottage(30 minutes)
The gap's northern gate, 10 km west of Killarney. Leave the car — the single-track lane through the gap is genuinely unsuitable for cars in summer
Jaunting car or walk through the Gap(2.5 hours)
Pony trap roughly 40-60 EUR per person, or walk the 11 km free in about 3 hours past five lakes strung on the Loe river and over the Wishing Bridge. Walking is the better experience if the weather holds
Lunch at Lord Brandon's Cottage(1 hour)
At the southern end where the boats wait. Soup, sandwiches and scones for 10-15 EUR, cash useful, seasonal — carry a backup sandwich
Open boat through the Lakes of Killarney(1.5 hours)
Combined Gap-and-boat ticket about 60-80 EUR. Through the Upper Lake, under Old Weir Bridge and across Muckross and Lough Leane to Ross Castle — the only way to see the lakes from water level
Evening in Killarney(2 hours)
The Laurels or Murphy's Bar, 20-30 EUR. Early night: tomorrow you move west
West on the Ring: Killorglin, Cahersiveen & the Kerry Cliffs
Drive the northern arc anti-clockwise, exactly as the coaches do — several sections are too narrow for a bus and a car to pass, so going the same way means you never meet one head-on. Start before 9AM to sit clear of the convoy. Three nights in Portmagee from here.
Fuel up and drive to Killorglin(45 minutes)
Fill the tank here or in Cahersiveen — stations are sparse on the western arc, many close by 8PM and all day Sunday. Killorglin's August Puck Fair crowns a wild mountain goat as king for three days
Kells Bay Gardens and the rope bridge(1.5 hours)
About 12 EUR. A subtropical Victorian garden of tree ferns in a Gulf Stream microclimate, with Ireland's longest rope bridge over the ravine and a canopy Skyline walk
Cahergall and Leacanabuaile stone forts(1 hour)
Free, 3 km outside Cahersiveen down a signed lane. Two drystone ring forts, one restored with internal terraces you can climb, the other left as found
Lunch at QC's, Cahersiveen(1.5 hours)
Main Street, 18-28 EUR, sourced from the family's own boats — the best cooked fish on the western arc
Kerry Cliffs and check in at Portmagee(2 hours)
About 5 EUR at a farm gate and a 10-minute gravel walk to 300 m of near-vertical Atlantic cliff with the Skelligs framed offshore. Hold onto hats — the updraught is fierce. The Moorings and the Bridge Bar in Portmagee are the obvious beds and the obvious dinner
Skellig Michael
A 218-metre pyramid of rock 12 km out in the Atlantic, crowned by a 6th-century monastery of drystone beehive huts. Landings run mid-May to late September at roughly 120-140 EUR, capped at about 180 people a day and sold out by the previous winter — book this before flights. Around 40% of sailings are cancelled by swell, and tomorrow is deliberately held as a buffer.
Check the sailing at Portmagee pier(30 minutes)
Skippers confirm around 8AM, boats leave roughly 9-9:30AM. Bring waterproofs, a packed lunch and water — there is nothing on the island and no toilet after you land
Crossing past Little Skellig(1 hour)
Forty-five minutes to an hour in open water on a 12-passenger boat, passing a colony of about 35,000 gannet pairs — the second largest in the world, and audible before it is visible
Climb to the monastery(2.5 hours)
Six hundred uneven medieval steps with no handrail and a sheer drop. Roughly two and a half hours ashore with an OPW warden at the top. Puffins nest along the path April to early August and are entirely unbothered by you
Return crossing and late lunch(2 hours)
Back in Portmagee by early afternoon. The Bridge Bar does chowder and Guinness for 15-20 EUR with live music most summer evenings
Evening free(3 hours)
Deliberately empty. If the sailing was cancelled, rebook now for tomorrow and shuffle Valentia to day seven
Valentia Island: Fogher Cliffs & the Tetrapod Trackway
Reached by bridge from Portmagee or a short car ferry from Renard Point. A slow island day — the highest accessible viewpoint on the peninsula, a set of 385-million-year-old footprints, and the transatlantic cable station that made Kerry the centre of world communications for a century.
Geokaun Mountain and the Fogher Cliffs(1.5 hours)
About 5 EUR per car for the toll road to the summit, where you can drive almost to the top. Three viewing levels over the Skelligs, Dingle Bay and the whole Iveragh Peninsula — the best value view in Kerry
Tetrapod trackway(45 minutes)
Free, signposted near the old slate quarry. Fossilised footprints of one of the first vertebrates to walk on land, pressed into mud 385 million years ago and now on a wave-washed shelf — one of only four such sites known
Valentia slate quarry and the grotto(45 minutes)
Free. The quarry roofed the Paris Opera House and the Houses of Parliament; a Marian grotto now sits in the cavern mouth, 200 m above the sea
Lunch in Knightstown(1.5 hours)
The Royal Valentia Hotel or the Boathouse Café, 15-25 EUR, looking across at the mainland ferry slip
Valentia Transatlantic Cable Station(1.5 hours)
Around 8 EUR. The first permanent telegraph link between Europe and America landed here in 1866, cutting the time for a message to New York from ten days to a few minutes. UNESCO nomination pending, and the volunteers who run it are excellent
The Southern Arc: Derrynane, Staigue Fort & Sneem
The quieter half of the Ring, and the half the coaches rush. Sixty kilometres of coast road with the best beach, the oldest fort and the two best lunch stops on the circuit. Three nights in Kenmare from tonight.
Coomakista Pass and Waterville(1 hour)
Free. The N70 climbs to a layby with Ballinskelligs Bay behind and Kenmare Bay ahead. Waterville's seafront has a statue of Charlie Chaplin, who holidayed here ten summers running from 1959
Derrynane Beach and House(2.5 hours)
A sheltered white-sand beach backed by dunes near Caherdaniel — the finest swimming on the Ring, and free. Derrynane House behind it was the home of Daniel O'Connell, who won Catholic emancipation in 1829; about 5 EUR, gardens free. Walk to Abbey Island at low tide
Lunch at the Blind Piper, Caherdaniel(1.5 hours)
A proper village pub doing seafood chowder and crab claws for 15-25 EUR, with a beer garden and a session most summer nights
Staigue Stone Fort(45 minutes)
Up to 2,500 years old, 5.5 m high, mortarless, at the end of a 4 km single-track lane off the N70. Free apart from a 1 EUR honesty box. Almost no coaches make the turn
Sneem and on to Kenmare(2 hours)
Sneem is split by a river into two colourful squares — 20 minutes and an ice cream at the Blue Bull. Kenmare, 25 minutes on, has the best food on the Ring: Mulcahy's or No.35, 35-50 EUR, booked ahead
Kenmare, the Stone Circle & a Slow Day on the Bay
Your second rest day, in the most comfortable town in the county. Nothing today is more than 20 minutes from the square, and the point is the food and the water rather than the mileage.
Kenmare Stone Circle(30 minutes)
Five minutes' walk from the square, 2 EUR honesty box. Fifteen Bronze Age stones around a boulder dolmen — the largest circle in southwest Ireland, and empty at 9AM
Seafari seal and eagle cruise(2 hours)
About 30 EUR from the pier. A two-hour trip out into Kenmare Bay to a resident grey seal colony, with white-tailed sea eagles reintroduced to the estuary since 2007 and now breeding
Lunch at Jam or the Boathouse Bistro(1.5 hours)
Jam on Henry Street for scones and soup under 15 EUR; the Boathouse at Dromquinna does oysters and mussels on the water for 25-35 EUR
Free afternoon in Kenmare(3 hours)
Deliberately unstructured. The lace and design shops on Henry Street, a walk out to Reenagross Wood on the estuary, or an afternoon doing nothing in front of a fire — this is the halfway point of the trip
Dinner and a session at Crowley's or Davitt's(3 hours)
Crowley's is a small, dark, genuinely local bar with music several nights a week and no stage. Davitt's does solid pub food for 20-28 EUR beforehand
The Beara Peninsula: Healy Pass & Glengarriff
The peninsula south of Kenmare Bay is what the Ring of Kerry was thirty years ago — no coaches, no queues, and a mountain road over the Cork border that is the finest drive in the southwest. Long day, spectacular, and you sleep back in Kenmare.
Drive the Healy Pass(1.5 hours)
The R574 from Adrigole climbs 334 m in a ladder of hairpins to the Cork-Kerry border, with a small chapel and a crucifix at the top. Built as famine relief work in the 1840s and finished in 1931. Free, and best in morning light with the sun behind you
Glengarriff and Garnish Island(3 hours)
Ferry from Glengarriff pier about 16 EUR return plus around 8 EUR island entry, with a seal colony en route. An Italianate garden built on a bare rock in the 1910s, where the Gulf Stream grows tree ferns and Japanese maples 51 degrees north
Lunch in Glengarriff(1 hour)
The Blue Loo or Casey's Hotel, 15-25 EUR, both fine and both full of walkers off the Beara Way
Uragh Stone Circle(1 hour)
Free, down a rough lane off the Gleninchaquin road. Five stones and a 3 m outlier on a spit between two loughs, with a waterfall behind — arguably the most beautifully sited prehistoric monument in Ireland, and you will likely be alone
Gleninchaquin Park waterfall walk(1.5 hours)
About 8 EUR at the farm gate. A 140 m cascade in a private glacial amphitheatre with marked trails from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Drive back to Kenmare for dinner
Beara: Dursey Cable Car & the Allihies Copper Mines
The far end of Beara, 90 minutes each way from Kenmare and worth every mile of it. Ireland's only cable car crosses to an island of six residents, and above the beach at Allihies stands the industrial ruin that funded half of 19th-century Cork.
Drive Kenmare to Dursey Sound(1.5 hours)
Via Castletownbere on the R571 and R572. Fuel in Castletownbere — the last of it before the tip. Check ahead: the cable car has had extended closures for maintenance in recent years and the schedule is seasonal
Dursey Island cable car(2.5 hours)
About 10 EUR return for a six-person box swinging 25 m above a tidal race, the only cable car in Ireland and the only one in Europe crossing open sea. The island has no shop, no pub and no toilet; the walk to the signal tower and back is about 3 hours if you take the early car
Lunch in Castletownbere(1.5 hours)
MacCarthy's Bar on the square — a grocery and pub in one room, with the Beara fishing fleet outside. Seafood and pints for 15-25 EUR
Allihies Copper Mine Museum(1.5 hours)
Around 7 EUR. The mines worked from 1812 to 1962 and drew Cornish miners to Beara; the engine houses still stand on the hill above and the beach below is made of crushed mine spoil, which is why the sand is unnaturally pale
Return over the Healy Pass or the coast road(1.5 hours)
Drive back to Kenmare. In good light the Healy Pass in the opposite direction is a completely different road
North to Dingle: Inch Beach & the Conor Pass
Cross to the next peninsula north. Three nights in Dingle from tonight — a working fishing town of 2,000 that has more good restaurants and more live music per head than anywhere else in Ireland.
Drive Kenmare to Inch(2 hours)
Over Moll's Gap and through Killarney, then west on the N86. Free, and the mountain section from Kenmare to Killarney is the most dramatic 32 km in the county
Inch Beach(1.5 hours)
A 5 km sand spit you can legally drive onto, sticking out into Dingle Bay. Free. Sammy's at the entrance does coffee and chowder; Ryan's Daughter and Playboy of the Western World were both filmed here
Annascaul and the South Pole Inn(1 hour)
Free to walk in. The pub Tom Crean bought and ran after surviving three Antarctic expeditions with Scott and Shackleton — the walls are the museum, and the statue outside holds two husky pups
Drive the Conor Pass(1.5 hours)
Ireland's highest surfaced mountain pass at 456 m, single-track with a rock wall on one side and a drop on the other. Free. Unsuitable for large vehicles and genuinely intimidating in mist. The layby at the top has a corrie lake and a waterfall walk
Check in and dinner in Dingle(2.5 hours)
Beds run 100-160 EUR in summer and book out. Out of the Blue on the waterfront serves only what came in that day and closes if the boats did not sail; 30-45 EUR
Slea Head Drive: Gallarus, Beehive Huts & the Blasket Centre
A 47 km loop round the westernmost point of Ireland through a Gaeltacht where Irish is the community language and road signs are Irish-only. Drive it clockwise for the same coach-avoidance logic as the Ring, and allow the whole day.
Dunbeg Fort and the Fahan beehive huts(1.5 hours)
About 5 EUR each at farm gates along the coast road. A promontory fort partly lost to a 2014 storm, and clusters of drystone clocháin on the hillside above — the highest concentration of early Christian dwellings in Ireland
Slea Head and Coumeenoole(1 hour)
Free. The road's sharpest bend at the crucifix, with the Blasket Islands stacked offshore. Coumeenoole beach below is spectacular and has a dangerous rip — photograph it, and swim at Wine Strand instead
Blasket Centre, Dún Chaoin(1.5 hours)
Around 5 EUR, free on the Heritage Card. The story of the island community evacuated in 1953 and of the extraordinary literature they produced — Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Muiris Ó Súilleabháin — from a population that never exceeded 175
Lunch at Louis Mulcahy Pottery café or Krugers(1.5 hours)
Mulcahy's at Clogher has a café over the workshop, 12-20 EUR; Krugers in Dún Chaoin is the westernmost pub in Europe and knows it
Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar(1.5 hours)
Gallarus is free at the monument itself, about 3 EUR through the visitor centre. A drystone chapel shaped like an upturned boat, still watertight after 1,200 years. Kilmalkedar up the road has a 12th-century Romanesque church, an ogham stone and an alphabet stone
The Great Blasket Island
Weather permitting, the best day on the Dingle Peninsula: a landing on the island abandoned in 1953, now inhabited only by a handful of summer caretakers, hundreds of grey seals and no electricity. Ferries run April to September from Dunquin pier or Ventry, roughly 50-60 EUR return, and cancel readily in swell.
Ferry from Dunquin pier(45 minutes)
The pier itself is famous — a concrete ramp zigzagging down a cliff that sheep once walked. The crossing is 20-30 minutes into open water; take seasickness tablets an hour before if you are prone
Walk the abandoned village(1.5 hours)
Free to wander once landed. Roofless stone houses on the slope above the landing, with information boards naming who lived in each. The White House where Robin Flower stayed is still partly standing
Hike to An Dún or the island ridge(2 hours)
A 6 km walk out along the spine of the island to the promontory fort at the western end, with the Atlantic on both sides and nothing between you and Newfoundland. No shelter, no water — carry both
Seals at Trá Bán(1 hour)
The white strand below the village holds one of Ireland's largest grey seal colonies, hauled out in dozens. Keep 50 m back; pups are born here in autumn
Return and dinner in Dingle(3 hours)
Back by late afternoon. Dick Mack's for a whiskey in what is still legally a cobbler's shop, then a session at O'Sullivan's Courthouse or Foxy John's — a pub and hardware shop in the same room
Dingle Distillery, Last Stops & Departure
A short final morning before the run to the airport. Kerry Airport is an hour and ten minutes from Dingle on the N86; Cork is three hours and Shannon two and a half, so build in more time than the map suggests on these roads.
Dingle Distillery tour(1 hour)
About 20 EUR for the tour and tasting of gin, vodka and single pot still whiskey from one of Ireland's first independent distilleries since the 1800s. First tour is usually around 11AM; book ahead in summer
Fungie's harbour and the last coffee(45 minutes)
Free. The bottlenose dolphin who lived alone in Dingle harbour for 37 years vanished in 2020; the statue on the pier and an entire local economy remain. Bean in Dingle does the best coffee in the county
Minard Castle or Kilmurry Bay(1 hour)
Free, ten minutes off the N86 near Annascaul. A ruined 16th-century Geraldine tower blown apart by Cromwellian cannon, standing above a beach of enormous storm-rounded boulders
Refuel and return the car(1 hour)
Fill up in Castlemaine or Farranfore — Kerry Airport has no forecourt, and the fuel penalty on return is steep
Departure from Kerry Airport(1 hour)
KIR is small enough to clear in 40 minutes, but confirm your terminal if you are connecting through Dublin, where you clear US preclearance and need three hours
21-Day Ring of Kerry Itinerary
Arrival in Killarney & Ross Castle
Land at Kerry Airport (KIR) at Farranfore, 16 km north, or drive down from Dublin in about 3.5 hours. Five nights in Killarney to open the trip. Take the smallest hire car you can live with — three weeks on Kerry, Beara and West Cork lanes will make you grateful for every centimetre you did not rent.
Collect the hire car(45 minutes)
Expect a hard sell on collision waiver — Irish companies frequently refuse credit-card cover that works elsewhere and the excess runs 1,500-3,000 EUR. Read the policy before you fly; automatics are scarce and need booking months ahead
Buy the OPW Heritage Card(15 minutes)
About 40 EUR, 30 for seniors, 10 for students and children. Over three weeks it covers Derrynane House, Ross Castle, the Blasket Centre, Muckross and a dozen more — it pays back in the first week
Ross Castle and the lakeshore(1.5 hours)
A 15th-century O'Donoghue tower house on Lough Leane, 3 km from town along the free Ross Road path through the park
Dinner at Bricín(1.5 hours)
High Street, 22-30 EUR, doing boxty — potato pancakes with proper fillings — above a craft shop the family has run since 1904
Trad session at Courtney's(2 hours)
Sessions start around 9:30-10PM and are for the musicians. Don't request songs, don't talk over a slow air, and buy the players a drink rather than applauding between tunes
Killarney National Park: Muckross, Torc & Ladies View
Twenty-six thousand acres of lake, oak woodland and Ireland's only wild red deer herd, free and open at all hours. A gentle first full day at low altitude with a deliberately loose afternoon.
Muckross House and gardens(2 hours)
About 10 EUR for the guided tour, gardens free, covered by the Heritage Card. Queen Victoria's 1861 visit nearly bankrupted the owners, who spent six years preparing for a two-night stay
Muckross Traditional Farms(1.5 hours)
Roughly 10 EUR or combined. Three working 1930s farms with no electricity, staffed by people who explain the machinery as if you had wandered in off the road
Torc Waterfall and the oak wood loop(1.5 hours)
Free. Five minutes from the N71 car park to a 20 m cascade; climb the steps beside it and continue on a 4 km loop through mossy sessile oak that almost nobody walks
Bike the park to Dinis Cottage(3 hours)
Hire in Killarney is 15-20 EUR a day and the traffic-free lanes are flat. Watch for red deer on the Dinis road at dusk, and stop at the Meeting of the Waters
Ladies View at golden hour(1 hour)
Free, 19 km south on the N71, named for Victoria's ladies-in-waiting who reportedly stood here an hour. The light comes right after about 7PM in summer
The Gap of Dunloe by Pony Trap & Boat
An 11 km glacial defile between Purple Mountain and the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, then an open boat back through three lakes to Ross Castle. Book the combined trip the day before through your guesthouse.
Drive to Kate Kearney's Cottage(30 minutes)
The gap's northern gate, 10 km west of Killarney. Leave the car — the single-track lane through the gap is genuinely unsuitable for cars in summer
Jaunting car or walk through the Gap(2.5 hours)
Pony trap roughly 40-60 EUR per person, or walk the 11 km free in about 3 hours past five lakes strung on the Loe river and over the Wishing Bridge
Lunch at Lord Brandon's Cottage(1 hour)
At the southern end where the boats wait. Soup, sandwiches and scones for 10-15 EUR, cash useful, seasonal — carry a backup sandwich
Open boat through the Lakes of Killarney(1.5 hours)
Combined ticket about 60-80 EUR. Through the Upper Lake, under Old Weir Bridge and across Muckross and Lough Leane to Ross Castle — the only way to see the lakes from water level
Early dinner and an early night(2 hours)
The Laurels or Murphy's Bar, 20-30 EUR. Tomorrow is the biggest physical day of the trip and it starts at 7AM
Carrauntoohil: Ireland's Highest Mountain
1,038 m in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, and a genuine mountain rather than a hill walk — people are rescued off it every year. Go with a guide unless you are experienced in navigation: cloud drops without warning, the Devil's Ladder is loose rock, and there is no phone signal in the corrie.
Meet the guide at Cronin's Yard(45 minutes)
Guided ascents run about 70-90 EUR per person from Cronin's Yard or Lisleibane, starting around 8AM. Parking at Cronin's is 3 EUR, with showers and a tea room for afterwards
Hags Glen approach(1.5 hours)
A flat 3 km into a glacial corrie between two lakes, Lough Gouragh and Lough Callee, with the summit wall closing in ahead. This is the easy part and it is beautiful
Ascend by the Devil's Ladder or Brother O'Shea's Gully(2.5 hours)
The Ladder is the standard route and badly eroded — loose rock underfoot and rockfall from above. Brother O'Shea's Gully is longer, safer and far more scenic. Summit is marked by a 5 m steel cross erected in 1976
Descend and eat at Cronin's Yard(3 hours)
Down by mid-afternoon. The tea room does soup, sandwiches and enormous scones for 10-15 EUR, and there is a boot wash and a shower — worth every cent after eight hours on wet ground
Evening: do nothing(3 hours)
Back in Killarney by 6PM with legs that will not thank you. A pint and a fire is the whole plan
Killarney Rest Day
First proper rest day, and it is here because your legs need it. Everything today is inside the town or a ten-minute drive, and none of it involves a hill.
Late breakfast and the Killarney lanes(2 hours)
The Shire or Petit Delice on High Street. Then wander — Killarney has been in the tourism business since the 1750s and the shops know it, but the lanes off New Street are still local
Muckross Abbey(1 hour)
Free, a 10-minute walk from the Muckross car park. A roofless 15th-century Franciscan friary built round a cloister with an enormous yew at its centre, said to be as old as the abbey. Four Kerry poets are buried in the nave
Killarney Brewing & Distilling tour(1.5 hours)
Around 15-20 EUR for the tour and tasting at the Fossa site. Beer, whiskey and a gin made with local botanicals, plus a decent food menu if you want lunch built in
Free afternoon(3 hours)
Deliberately unstructured. Swim at Lough Leane off the Ross Road jetty if it is warm, or read somewhere with a fire if it is not — this is Kerry, both are plausible on the same day
Dinner and a session at The Grand or Tatler Jack(3 hours)
20-30 EUR. Tatler Jack has music most nights of the week and a crowd that is not entirely tourists, which in Killarney takes some finding
West on the Ring: Killorglin, Cahersiveen & the Kerry Cliffs
Drive the northern arc anti-clockwise, exactly as the coaches do — several sections are too narrow for a bus and a car to pass. Start before 9AM to sit clear of the convoy. Three nights in Portmagee from here.
Fuel up and drive to Killorglin(45 minutes)
Fill the tank here or in Cahersiveen — stations are sparse on the western arc, many close by 8PM and all day Sunday. Killorglin's August Puck Fair crowns a wild mountain goat as king for three days
Kells Bay Gardens and the rope bridge(1.5 hours)
About 12 EUR. A subtropical Victorian garden of tree ferns in a Gulf Stream microclimate, with Ireland's longest rope bridge over the ravine and a canopy Skyline walk
Cahergall and Leacanabuaile stone forts(1 hour)
Free, 3 km outside Cahersiveen down a signed lane. Two drystone ring forts, one restored with internal terraces you can climb, the other left as found
Lunch at QC's, Cahersiveen(1.5 hours)
Main Street, 18-28 EUR, sourced from the family's own boats — the best cooked fish on the western arc
Kerry Cliffs and check in at Portmagee(2 hours)
About 5 EUR at a farm gate and a 10-minute gravel walk to 300 m of near-vertical Atlantic cliff with the Skelligs framed offshore. The Moorings and the Bridge Bar are the obvious beds and the obvious dinner
Skellig Michael
A 218-metre pyramid of rock 12 km out in the Atlantic, crowned by a 6th-century monastery of drystone beehive huts. Landings run mid-May to late September at roughly 120-140 EUR, capped at about 180 people a day and sold out by the previous winter — book this before flights. Around 40% of sailings are cancelled by swell; days 8 and 9 are both available as fallbacks.
Check the sailing at Portmagee pier(30 minutes)
Skippers confirm around 8AM, boats leave roughly 9-9:30AM. Bring waterproofs, a packed lunch and water — there is nothing on the island and no toilet after you land
Crossing past Little Skellig(1 hour)
Forty-five minutes to an hour in open water on a 12-passenger boat, passing a colony of about 35,000 gannet pairs — the second largest in the world, and audible before it is visible
Climb to the monastery(2.5 hours)
Six hundred uneven medieval steps with no handrail and a sheer drop. Roughly two and a half hours ashore with an OPW warden at the top. Puffins nest along the path April to early August and are entirely unbothered by you
Return crossing and late lunch(2 hours)
Back in Portmagee by early afternoon. The Bridge Bar does chowder and Guinness for 15-20 EUR with live music most summer evenings
Skellig Experience on Valentia(1.5 hours)
About 6 EUR, free on the Heritage Card, five minutes over the bridge. The monastery's history, the lighthouse keepers and the seabird colonies — better after the landing than before it
Valentia Island: Fogher Cliffs & the Tetrapod Trackway
A slow island day and the buffer for a cancelled Skellig sailing. The highest accessible viewpoint on the peninsula, 385-million-year-old footprints, and the cable station that made Kerry the centre of world communications for a century.
Geokaun Mountain and the Fogher Cliffs(1.5 hours)
About 5 EUR per car for the toll road, and you can drive almost to the summit. Three viewing levels over the Skelligs, Dingle Bay and the whole Iveragh Peninsula — the best value view in Kerry
Tetrapod trackway(45 minutes)
Free, signposted near the old slate quarry. Fossilised footprints of one of the first vertebrates to walk on land, pressed into mud 385 million years ago — one of only four such sites known worldwide
Valentia slate quarry and grotto(45 minutes)
Free. The quarry roofed the Paris Opera House and the Houses of Parliament; a Marian grotto now sits in the cavern mouth, 200 m above the sea
Lunch in Knightstown(1.5 hours)
The Royal Valentia Hotel or the Boathouse Café, 15-25 EUR, looking across at the mainland ferry slip
Valentia Transatlantic Cable Station(1.5 hours)
Around 8 EUR. The first permanent telegraph link between Europe and America landed here in 1866, cutting the time for a message to New York from ten days to minutes. The volunteers who run it are excellent
The Southern Arc: Derrynane, Staigue Fort & Sneem
The quieter half of the Ring, and the half the coaches rush. Sixty kilometres of coast road with the best beach, the oldest fort and the two best lunch stops. Three nights in Kenmare from tonight.
Coomakista Pass and Waterville(1 hour)
Free. The N70 climbs to a layby with Ballinskelligs Bay behind and Kenmare Bay ahead. Waterville's seafront has a statue of Charlie Chaplin, who holidayed here ten summers running from 1959
Ballinskelligs Abbey and the Gaeltacht(1 hour)
Free. A ruined 12th-century Augustinian priory on the sand, founded by monks who abandoned Skellig Michael for the mainland. This is a Gaeltacht — road signs are Irish-only from here to Waterville
Derrynane Beach and House(2.5 hours)
A sheltered white-sand beach backed by dunes near Caherdaniel — the finest swimming on the Ring, and free. Derrynane House was the home of Daniel O'Connell, who won Catholic emancipation in 1829; about 5 EUR, free on the Heritage Card. Walk to Abbey Island at low tide
Lunch at the Blind Piper, Caherdaniel(1.5 hours)
A proper village pub doing seafood chowder and crab claws for 15-25 EUR, with a beer garden and a session most summer nights
Staigue Stone Fort, Sneem and on to Kenmare(3 hours)
Staigue is up to 2,500 years old, 5.5 m high, mortarless, at the end of a 4 km lane — free apart from a 1 EUR honesty box, and almost no coaches make the turn. Sneem gets 20 minutes and an ice cream; Kenmare gets dinner at Mulcahy's or No.35, 35-50 EUR, booked ahead
Kenmare: Stone Circle, Seal Cruise & a Slow Day
Second rest day, in the most comfortable town in the county. Nothing today is more than 20 minutes from the square — the point is the food and the water rather than the mileage.
Kenmare Stone Circle(30 minutes)
Five minutes' walk from the square, 2 EUR honesty box. Fifteen Bronze Age stones around a boulder dolmen — the largest circle in southwest Ireland, and empty at 9AM
Seafari seal and eagle cruise(2 hours)
About 30 EUR from the pier. Out into Kenmare Bay to a resident grey seal colony, with white-tailed sea eagles reintroduced to the estuary since 2007 and now breeding
Lunch at the Boathouse Bistro, Dromquinna(1.5 hours)
Oysters and mussels on the water for 25-35 EUR, in the old boathouse of a Victorian estate
Reenagross Wood and a free afternoon(3 hours)
A free network of paths through mixed woodland on the estuary at the edge of town, and an afternoon with nothing scheduled. You are halfway through the trip
Dinner and a session at Crowley's(3 hours)
A small, dark, genuinely local bar with music several nights a week and no stage. Davitt's does pub food for 20-28 EUR beforehand
Onto Beara: the Healy Pass, Glengarriff & Garnish Island
The peninsula south of Kenmare Bay is what the Ring of Kerry was thirty years ago — no coaches, no queues, and a mountain road over the Cork border that is the finest drive in the southwest. Two nights in Castletownbere from tonight.
Drive the Healy Pass(1.5 hours)
The R574 from Lauragh climbs 334 m in a ladder of hairpins to the Cork-Kerry border, with a chapel and crucifix at the top. Built as famine relief in the 1840s, finished 1931. Free, and best in morning light
Glengarriff and Garnish Island(3 hours)
Ferry from Glengarriff pier about 16 EUR return plus around 8 EUR island entry, with a seal colony en route. An Italianate garden built on bare rock in the 1910s, where the Gulf Stream grows tree ferns and Japanese maples 51 degrees north
Lunch in Glengarriff(1 hour)
The Blue Loo or Casey's Hotel, 15-25 EUR, both full of walkers off the Beara Way
Uragh Stone Circle(1 hour)
Free, down a rough lane off the Gleninchaquin road. Five stones and a 3 m outlier on a spit between two loughs with a waterfall behind — arguably the most beautifully sited prehistoric monument in Ireland
Check in at Castletownbere(2 hours)
Ireland's largest whitefish port, and a town that lives off the sea rather than off visitors. Beds 80-120 EUR. Dinner and a pint at MacCarthy's Bar — a grocery and pub in one room, and the cover of Pete McCarthy's book
Beara: Dursey Cable Car & the Allihies Copper Mines
The far end of the peninsula. Ireland's only cable car crosses to an island of six residents, and above the beach at Allihies stands the industrial ruin that funded half of 19th-century Cork.
Drive to Dursey Sound(45 minutes)
West on the R572 from Castletownbere. Check ahead — the cable car has had extended closures for maintenance in recent years and the schedule is seasonal and weather-dependent
Dursey Island cable car(3 hours)
About 10 EUR return for a six-person box swinging 25 m above a tidal race — the only cable car in Ireland and the only one in Europe crossing open sea. No shop, no pub, no toilet on the island; the walk to the signal tower and back is about 3 hours if you take the early car
Lunch back in Castletownbere or Allihies(1.5 hours)
O'Neill's in Allihies does chowder and sandwiches for 12-20 EUR with the copper mine chimneys on the hill above
Allihies Copper Mine Museum(1.5 hours)
Around 7 EUR. The mines worked 1812 to 1962 and drew Cornish miners to Beara; the engine houses still stand and the beach below is crushed mine spoil, which is why the sand is unnaturally pale
Ardgroom and Kilcatherine stone circles(1.5 hours)
Free, both signed off the R571 on the north side. Ardgroom's nine stones stand on a ridge with the Slieve Miskish behind; the Hag of Beara boulder near Kilcatherine is a natural stone the folklore says is a woman waiting for her husband to return from the sea
Into West Cork: Bantry House, Sheep's Head & Mizen
East off Beara into the softest, greenest corner of Ireland. Two nights in Bantry or Schull — a different county, a different accent and a food culture that is arguably the best in the country.
Drive Castletownbere to Bantry(1.5 hours)
The R572 and N71 round the head of the bay. Stop at the Beara-Breifne Way marker in Glengarriff if you want to know where the 1602 march of O'Sullivan Beare began
Bantry House and Gardens(2 hours)
About 14 EUR. A 1700s house still lived in by the same family, with the Italian garden's hundred steps climbing behind it and a view over Bantry Bay from the top. The 1796 French Armada exhibition in the stable yard covers the invasion fleet that anchored here and was scattered by a storm
Lunch at Manning's Emporium, Ballylickey(1.5 hours)
A deli and wine bar 5 km north, 15-25 EUR, and the best possible introduction to West Cork farmhouse cheese — Gubbeen, Durrus, Milleens, all made within 30 km
Sheep's Head drive and the Goat's Path(2 hours)
Free. The narrowest and least visited of the five southwestern peninsulas, with a single-track road along the ridge and a lighthouse walk at the tip. Almost no traffic, ever
Check in at Bantry or Schull(2 hours)
Beds 90-130 EUR. Dinner at Ó Súilleabháin's in Bantry or Hackett's in Schull, 20-35 EUR
Mizen Head, Barleycove & Lough Hyne
The southwestern tip of Ireland, a signal station on a bridged chasm, and a saltwater lake that behaves like nowhere else on the island. A slower day with a swim in it.
Mizen Head Signal Station(2 hours)
About 8-9 EUR. A concrete arch bridge over a 45 m chasm to the 1909 signal station on the last rock in Ireland, with 99 steps down and back. The visitor centre covers the wrecks, the keepers and the Fastnet lighthouse offshore
Barleycove Beach(1.5 hours)
Free, reached by a floating pontoon boardwalk across the dunes. A blue-flag beach formed by the 1755 Lisbon tsunami, backed by a protected dune system — the sand is genuinely white and the water genuinely cold
Lunch at the Altar or Crookhaven(1.5 hours)
O'Sullivan's in Crookhaven serves crab sandwiches on the pier for 12-20 EUR. Marconi ran his first transatlantic wireless station from the village in 1902
Lough Hyne(2 hours)
Free, near Skibbereen. Europe's first marine nature reserve — a landlocked lake connected to the sea by a rapids that reverses direction with the tide, so warm and salty that Mediterranean species live in it. Swim from the shore, or take a night kayak among the bioluminescence for about 45 EUR
Dinner in Skibbereen or Baltimore(2.5 hours)
Chestnut in Ballydehob holds a Michelin star for around 90 EUR; Bushe's Bar in Baltimore does seafood on the harbour wall for 20-30 EUR with the same view
Cape Clear Island & North to Killarney
One last West Cork island before the long drive back to Kerry. Cape Clear is Cork's Gaeltacht, 45 minutes offshore, with 100 residents and the best whale watching in Ireland from land in autumn.
Ferry from Baltimore to Cape Clear(45 minutes)
About 20-24 EUR return, several sailings daily in summer. The crossing passes the Beacon and Sherkin Island; it is exposed and can be rough
Walk the island(3 hours)
Free. A 5 km road spine with a ruined 12th-century church, a Napoleonic signal tower and the southernmost point in Ireland bar Fastnet Rock. The bird observatory has logged rarities blown in off the Atlantic since 1959
Lunch at Cotter's Bar or the goat farm(1.5 hours)
Cléire Goats makes ice cream from the island herd; Cotter's does soup and sandwiches for 12-18 EUR with a view of the harbour
Ferry back and drive to Killarney(3 hours)
Via Gougane Barra if the light holds — a monastery on an island in a black lake at the head of a corrie, free, and the single most photographed church interior in Cork
Check in at Killarney or Tralee(1.5 hours)
A long driving day. Eat simply and sleep — tomorrow you cross to Dingle
North to Dingle: Inch Beach & the Conor Pass
Cross to the next peninsula. Four nights in Dingle from tonight — a working fishing town of 2,000 with more good restaurants and more live music per head than anywhere else in Ireland.
Drive west on the N86(1.5 hours)
Free and straightforward as far as Annascaul, then it narrows
Inch Beach(1.5 hours)
A 5 km sand spit you can legally drive onto, sticking out into Dingle Bay. Free. Sammy's at the entrance does coffee and chowder; Ryan's Daughter and Playboy of the Western World were both filmed here
Annascaul and the South Pole Inn(1 hour)
Free to walk in. The pub Tom Crean bought and ran after surviving three Antarctic expeditions with Scott and Shackleton — the walls are the museum, and the statue outside holds two husky pups
Drive the Conor Pass(1.5 hours)
Ireland's highest surfaced mountain pass at 456 m, single-track with a rock wall on one side and a drop on the other. Free, unsuitable for large vehicles, genuinely intimidating in mist. The layby at the top has a corrie lake and a waterfall walk
Check in and dinner in Dingle(2.5 hours)
Beds run 100-160 EUR in summer and book out. Out of the Blue on the waterfront serves only what came in that day and closes if the boats did not sail; 30-45 EUR
Slea Head Drive: Gallarus, Beehive Huts & the Blasket Centre
A 47 km loop round the westernmost point of Ireland through a Gaeltacht where Irish is the community language and road signs are Irish-only. Drive it clockwise for the coach-avoidance logic, and allow the whole day.
Dunbeg Fort and the Fahan beehive huts(1.5 hours)
About 5 EUR each at farm gates along the coast road. A promontory fort partly lost to a 2014 storm, and clusters of drystone clocháin above — the highest concentration of early Christian dwellings in Ireland
Slea Head and Coumeenoole(1 hour)
Free. The road's sharpest bend at the crucifix, with the Blaskets stacked offshore. Coumeenoole beach below is spectacular and has a dangerous rip — photograph it, swim at Wine Strand instead
Blasket Centre, Dún Chaoin(1.5 hours)
Around 5 EUR, free on the Heritage Card. The story of the island community evacuated in 1953 and the extraordinary literature they produced — Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Muiris Ó Súilleabháin — from a population that never exceeded 175
Lunch at Louis Mulcahy Pottery café(1.5 hours)
At Clogher, a café over the workshop with 12-20 EUR plates and a throwing studio you can try for about 15 EUR
Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar(1.5 hours)
Gallarus is free at the monument, about 3 EUR through the visitor centre. A drystone chapel shaped like an upturned boat, still watertight after 1,200 years. Kilmalkedar up the road has a Romanesque church, an ogham stone and an alphabet stone
The Great Blasket Island
Weather permitting, the best day on the peninsula: a landing on the island abandoned in 1953, now inhabited only by summer caretakers, hundreds of grey seals and no electricity. Ferries run April to September from Dunquin or Ventry, roughly 50-60 EUR return, and cancel readily in swell.
Ferry from Dunquin pier(45 minutes)
The pier is famous in itself — a concrete ramp zigzagging down a cliff that sheep once walked. The crossing is 20-30 minutes into open water; take tablets an hour ahead if you are prone to seasickness
Walk the abandoned village(1.5 hours)
Free once landed. Roofless stone houses on the slope above the landing with boards naming who lived in each. The White House where Robin Flower stayed is still partly standing
Hike to An Dún along the ridge(2 hours)
A 6 km walk out along the spine of the island to the promontory fort at the western end, Atlantic on both sides and nothing between you and Newfoundland. No shelter, no water — carry both
Seals at Trá Bán(1 hour)
The white strand below the village holds one of Ireland's largest grey seal colonies, hauled out in dozens. Keep 50 m back; pups are born here in autumn
Return and a night out in Dingle(3.5 hours)
Dick Mack's for a whiskey in what is still legally a cobbler's shop, then a session at O'Sullivan's Courthouse or Foxy John's — a pub and hardware shop in the same room
Dingle Slow Day: Distillery, Harbour & Wine Strand
Fourth rest day, and the last unstructured one. Everything is within 15 minutes of Dingle town, and the only fixed point is a tour you booked yesterday.
Dingle Distillery tour(1.5 hours)
About 20 EUR for the tour and tasting of gin, vodka and single pot still whiskey from one of Ireland's first independent distilleries since the 1800s. Book ahead in summer
Coffee and the harbour(1 hour)
Bean in Dingle does the best coffee in the county. Fungie the bottlenose dolphin lived alone in this harbour for 37 years and vanished in 2020; the statue on the pier and an entire local economy remain
Swim at Wine Strand or Ventry(2.5 hours)
Free. Ventry is a 3 km sheltered arc that is safe for swimming, unlike most of the peninsula's Atlantic-facing sand. Wetsuits are for sale in every second shop in Dingle for a reason
Free afternoon(3 hours)
No plan. The Dingle Cookery School runs half-day seafood classes for around 90-120 EUR if you would rather fill it, and they take you to the pier first
Dinner at Global Village or the Chart House(2.5 hours)
30-45 EUR, both booked ahead, both using the peninsula's own lamb, crab and cheese. Then a last session — Dingle has around 50 pubs for 2,000 people
North Kerry: Tralee, Ardfert & the Ballybunion Cliffs
The county's forgotten quarter, and the last full day. Flat, agricultural, and holding a medieval cathedral, a working windmill and a cliff walk over the Shannon estuary that few visitors ever reach. Sleep near Killarney or Tralee for the airport.
Blennerville Windmill, Tralee(1 hour)
About 8 EUR. The largest working windmill in Ireland and Britain, built in 1800, milling again since restoration — plus an emigration exhibition, because the Jeanie Johnston famine ship was built at this quay
Ardfert Cathedral(1 hour)
Around 5 EUR, free on the Heritage Card. A 12th-15th century cathedral complex on the site of St Brendan the Navigator's monastery, with two smaller churches in the same field and a Romanesque west door
Lunch in Tralee or Ballyheigue(1.5 hours)
The Roast House in Tralee for 15-25 EUR, or fish and chips at Ballyheigue looking north across the bay
Ballybunion Cliff Walk(2 hours)
Free. A 6 km looped path along sea cliffs and sea stacks north of the beach, past the Nine Daughters Hole and the ruined castle. The seaweed baths in town, running since 1900, cost about 30 EUR and are the correct way to end three weeks of walking
Drive to Killarney and last dinner(3 hours)
About 90 minutes south. Refuel on the way — Kerry Airport has no forecourt and the penalty on return is steep
Last Morning & Departure
Kerry Airport at Farranfore is 20 minutes north of Killarney and small enough to clear in 40 minutes. If you are connecting through Dublin you clear US preclearance there and need three hours, so check the timing before you plan a leisurely breakfast.
Last walk in Killarney National Park(1.5 hours)
Free. Ross Road to the castle jetty at 8AM, when the lake is usually flat and the deer are still on the open ground near Knockreer
Breakfast and last shopping(1 hour)
Killarney's craft shops sell a great deal of nonsense and a few genuinely good things — Kerry woollens, Louis Mulcahy pottery from Dingle, and whiskey from the distilleries you visited
Return the car(45 minutes)
Refuelled. Inspect and photograph the bodywork before handing back the keys — after three weeks of hedged single-track lanes, a documented walk-round is worth the two minutes
Departure from Kerry Airport(1.5 hours)
KIR has UK and European links. Cork is 90 minutes away and Shannon 2 hours if you fly from either — allow more than the map suggests on Kerry roads
Travel Tips
Visa & Entry
Ireland Is Not in Schengen
Ireland runs its own immigration system — a Schengen visa does not admit you, and equally, days spent here do not burn your Schengen 90/180 allowance. US, Canadian, Australian, NZ and UK citizens enter visa-free for up to 90 days. Ireland is also outside the UK's ETA scheme, so a British ETA neither covers nor is needed for a Kerry trip.
transport
Drive It Anti-Clockwise, Like the Coaches
This is the one piece of local knowledge that matters. Tour coaches all run the Ring anti-clockwise — Killarney, Killorglin, Cahersiveen, Waterville, Sneem, Kenmare — and several sections are too narrow for a bus and a car to pass comfortably. Go the same way and you never meet one head-on, plus the Atlantic stays on the driver's side. Start before 9AM or after 2PM to sit clear of the convoy.
Rental Car Insurance Is the Irish Trap
Irish hire companies frequently refuse credit-card collision waivers that work everywhere else, and the standard excess can run €1,500-3,000 — expect a hard sell at the desk and read the policy before you fly. Automatics are scarce and cost a premium, so book months ahead. Roads are narrow, hedged and often single-track: take the smallest car you can live with, not the largest.
Book Skellig Michael Before Anything Else
Only about fifteen licensed boats hold landing permits, sailing roughly mid-May to late September, and they open bookings in the preceding winter for around €120-140 per person. Landings need calm seas, so cancellations are common — schedule it for the first day of your trip so you have a chance to rebook. Cheaper eco-tours (about €60) circle the island without landing and sail in rougher conditions.
Budget
The OPW Heritage Card Pays for Itself
An annual Office of Public Works Heritage Card costs about €40 (€30 seniors, €10 students/children) and covers unlimited entry to Derrynane House, Ross Castle, the Skellig Experience and dozens of other state sites nationwide. Two or three visits break even. Killarney National Park itself, Torc Waterfall, Ladies View and every beach on the Ring are free anyway.
Safety
Weather, Sheep and Fuel Gaps
Kerry gets four seasons in an afternoon — pack a waterproof shell regardless of forecast, and treat cliff-edge paths with respect in wind. Sheep genuinely wander onto the N70 and mountain lanes, so keep speeds low on blind bends. Fill up in Killarney or Cahersiveen: petrol stations are sparse on the western arc and many close by 8PM and all day Sunday.
Local Customs
Pub Etiquette and Trad Sessions
Order and pay at the bar — table service is rare, and tipping bar staff is not expected (round up in restaurants, or 10-12% for good table service). Traditional music sessions start late, usually 9:30-10PM, and are for the musicians rather than the audience: don't request songs, don't talk over slow airs, and buy the players a drink instead of applauding between tunes.
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