Ring of Kerry Tours

About Ring of Kerry

The Ring of Kerry is a 179-kilometre circular driving route around the Iveragh Peninsula in southwest Ireland, following the N71 and N70 roads through some of the most dramatic coastal and mountain scenery on the island. The route starts and ends in Killarney, threading through a string of towns and villages — Kenmare, Sneem, Caherdaniel, Waterville, Cahersiveen, Glenbeigh, and Killorglin — each with its own character and stopping points. Leaving Killarney, the road climbs through Killarney National Park past Torc Waterfall and the panoramic viewpoint at Ladies View before descending through Moll's Gap — the highest point on the route at 235 metres — into the colourful heritage town of Kenmare. From here the N70 hugs the coast westward through Sneem, a village of brightly painted houses on the Kenmare River estuary, and on to Caherdaniel, where Derrynane Beach and the Staigue Stone Fort reward a stop. The western reaches of the peninsula are the wildest. Waterville sits on a narrow strip between Ballinskelligs Bay and Lough Currane, and from here the Skellig Ring — an 18-kilometre detour off the main route — loops through Portmagee and past the Kerry Cliffs, where the rock drops 300 metres to the Atlantic and the Skellig Islands sit on the horizon. Off the coast, Skellig Michael rises 217 metres from the sea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where sixth-century monks built a monastery on a rock pinnacle accessible only by boat between May and October. The northern arc of the Ring passes through Cahersiveen — the birthplace of Daniel O'Connell — and the seaside villages of Glenbeigh and Killorglin before returning to Killarney. The route can be driven without stopping in roughly 2.5 to 3 hours, but most visitors allow 7 to 10 hours with stops, and splitting it over two days opens up the detours that make the difference.