Last Updated: 2026-10-20 20:24:02
Ring of Kerry
Ireland's best-known road trip: one long day, or several slow ones.
The great Kerry circuit
The Ring of Kerry is a 179 km circular route around the Iveragh Peninsula, starting and ending in Killarney. It passes the lakes of the national park, the mountains of MacGillycuddy's Reeks, and a string of villages and beaches along the Atlantic: Kenmare, Sneem, Waterville, Cahersiveen and Killorglin.
You can drive it in a single day, but stopping overnight lets you add the quieter Skellig Ring, the Kerry Cliffs and Valentia Island, where a trail of fossil footprints is around 385 million years old.
Don't miss
- Ladies View, the famous lookout over the Lakes of Killarney.
- Derrynane House and beach, the home of Daniel O'Connell, with one of Kerry's best strands.
- The Skellig Ring through Portmagee and Ballinskelligs, with views of the Skellig islands.
- Dark skies: much of the area is part of the Kerry International Dark Sky Reserve.
Quick facts
Where: Iveragh Peninsula, Co. Kerry
Region: Wild Atlantic Way
Length: 179 km loop
From Dublin: about 3 h 30 min to Killarney
Time needed: one full day, ideally two
Good for: road trips, beaches, cycling
Local tip
Tour coaches drive the Ring anticlockwise from Killarney. Go the same way and you won't meet them head-on on the narrow bends, and set off before 9am to stay ahead of them.