Photograph: Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Editorial Review
Ring of Kerry
The Atmosphere
“Ireland's most famous scenic drive. 179 km of Atlantic coastline, mountain passes, and colorful villages.”
The Ring of Kerry is Ireland's most famous scenic drive. 179 km of Atlantic coastline, mountain passes, and colorful villages that together create one of the world's great road trips. From the Skellig Ring to the Gap of Dunloe, every mile reveals a new vista. The key is to go counter-clockwise (against the tour buses) and take the detours that most travelers miss.
The long version
One hundred and seventy nine kilometers of coast road around the Iveragh Peninsula, and the drive Americans picture when they picture Ireland.
The road leaves Killarney through farmland and forest, ordinary enough that first-time visitors sometimes wonder what the fuss is, and then it climbs, and Dingle Bay opens up on one side, blue-grey and enormous, with the MacGillycuddy's Reeks rising behind you on the other. A tractor pulls in to let the rental car pass. Sheep own the verge more often than the road markings suggest they should.
By Waterville the character of the drive has changed again, from farmland to something closer to raw coast, stone walls giving way to bog and rock, the Skellig Islands visible on a clear day as two dark points sitting far out in the Atlantic like something left behind on purpose.
“Drive it the wrong way around and you spend the day behind a bus. Drive it the right way and the road belongs to you for whole stretches at a time.”
What you are actually looking at
The Ring circles the Iveragh Peninsula, Ireland's largest, and takes in the Lakes of Killarney, the Gap of Dunloe, the fishing town of Cahersiveen, and the beaches at Rossbeigh and Derrynane along the way. The Skellig Ring, a smaller loop off the main road near Portmagee, is where most of the peninsula's best coastal scenery actually sits, and it is the section most coach tours skip entirely because their buses cannot fit the road.
This was monastic country in the early Christian centuries, and the ruins at Skellig Michael, visible from several points along the drive, held a community of monks for roughly six hundred years on a rock in open ocean. You do not need to land on the island to feel the strangeness of that choice from the mainland.
The hour that matters
Direction matters more than time of day here. Tour coaches run the Ring clockwise by informal agreement, which means driving counter-clockwise puts you facing them rather than following them, and you spend the day overtaking nothing and being overtaken by nothing. It is the single best piece of advice anyone can give you about this drive.
Start early enough to be through Killorglin and onto the coast road before the coach convoy has properly organized itself, generally by mid-morning. That gives you the Skellig Ring and Waterville in decent light, with Kenmare or Killarney as the natural end of the day.
Who it suits
Drivers who want a full day of changing coastal scenery rather than a single dramatic overlook. It rewards stopping often: Derrynane for the beach and the O'Connell estate, Sneem for a coffee and the painted houses, Cahersiveen for lunch away from the tour stops.
It does not suit anyone hoping to also fit in the Dingle Peninsula or Killarney National Park properly on the same day. The Ring is a full day on its own, and treating it as a morning excursion means seeing it through a windshield rather than actually stopping.
What we would not pretend
It is a long day, six to seven hours with reasonable stops, and the weather on the peninsula changes fast enough that the view you plan around may not be the view you get. Go counter-clockwise to avoid the coach traffic, and do not schedule anything else demanding for the same day.
How we would use it
A full day out of Killarney, counter-clockwise, with the Skellig Ring detour near Portmagee and lunch in Cahersiveen or Waterville, returning through Kenmare rather than retracing the morning's road.
Rooms Worth Requesting
What it actually feels like.
The Skellig Ring detour is the highlight. Don't skip it. Stop at the Skelligs Chocolate Factory for the best hot chocolate in Kerry.
Why we recommend it
A space that justifies the journey.
Drive counter-clockwise against the tour buses. Take the Skellig Ring detour. It's the most spectacular section.