You can easily do the Ring of Kerry in a day trip. Most tourists base themselves out of Killarney. Killarney is an excellent little town and home to great accommodation choices such as the impeccable Fairview, quaint restaurants offering up fresh seafood and a pleasant place to walk around.
From Killarney, you can start your loop around the Ring of Kerry in one of two directions. You can go the way of the tour busses toward Killorglin, the home of Puck Fair or you can head through the gorgeous Killarney National Park toward Kenmare.
As I am an impatient driver, there was no way I was going to be stuck behind a ton of tour busses so we headed toward Kenmare and I 100% recommend doing the same thing. The only thing to be wary of is tour busses barreling around blind corners right at you. The roads are very narrow so be alert. How to drive the Ring of Kerry is as important as actually doing it so you enjoy best.
The ride through Killarney National Park is spectacular. There isn’t a better word to describe it. There are stunning views around every corner. Lakes and mountains meet along with wildlife and forest. The 32km windy drive is a great introduction to the Ring of Kerry.
From Kenmare, you get onto the actual ring and head toward Sneem. After Sneem the road heads to the coast as you drive to Castlecove. Around Castlecove, there is also a little side trip about 4km off the road to Staigue Fort.
Staigue Fort is OK at best but cool to see. The best part of it is the actual drive through the small narrow roads where you just pray a car doesn’t come the opposite direction.
Continuing south toward Caherdaniel is where the amazing beach views come in. These views are the jewel of the Ring of Kerry. I had no idea Ireland had such gorgeous beaches with azure water. The views from the cliffs above are all encompassing and very panoramic.
I couldn’t help but stop and stare for a while as emerald green sheep fields led down to the white beaches below. Mixed with clear blue skies which is a rarity; it was breathtaking and a real WOW moment.
From Caherdaniel we headed up to Waterville; which is a cute little town and is the gateway to the Skellig Ring. This is an 18km ring inside the ring that links Waterville and Portmagee via a Gaeltacht area or an Irish speaking area. It is little visited and there are no other cars.
After the Skellig Ring you head north and just enjoy the scenery up to Caherciveen, Kells, Glenbeigh and up to Killorglin. From Killorglin, we made our way back to Killarney and eventually on to Cork abut 100km away.
However, the Ring of Kerry was fantastic. We were fortunate to have amazing weather; which in Ireland is very unusual, as you probably already know. I didn’t know where I was half the time. The only parallel that came to mind as I was driving at times was Tasmania in Australia with rugged landscapes and beautiful beaches plus a great drive.
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