Best Things to do in Kerry

Best Things to do in Kerry

Kerry is known as the kingdom in Ireland, its place of beautiful scenery, mountain ranges, lakes, historic buildings and great tales of days gone by!

Kerry has some of the most well-known places in Ireland, the Ring of Kerry, the Gap of Dunloe, the town of Killarney that everybody just loves. The Kerry people are warm, funny and knowledgeable.

Kerry has some really nice sections of the Wild Atlantic Way, Dingle and the amazing Slea Head driving route that is just amazing full of old stuff, wild wicked landscape and plenty of fresh sea air!

Kerry has it all in bag loads, tis an area in Ireland that you will remember visiting, and hopefully wanna come back again and again. It’s one of Ireland’s most popular locations.

Check out my Ireland Travel guide article here!

Killarney

The town of Killarney is full of craic, pubs, restaurants, cool old buildings, beautiful landscapes and not to forget one of Ireland’s great national parks. Killarney has a certain charm that hits people went they visit the town and surrounding areas.

It’s one of those towns that you just like immediately, and wanna come back again and again! A very handy way to get around is to rent a bike and cycle around Killarney!

The Gap of Dunloe

The Gap of Dunloe is a natural attraction of beautiful mountain ranges, and some really cool landscape and wonderful scenery that will just inspire you.

It’s a beautiful place to check out, you can take a horse and carriage ride up the Gap of Dunloe and see its beauty while tipping along on a horse and carriage ride called a “Jaunting car”, its great fun and its a really enjoyable experience. The Gap is full of picturesque scenery, tis a place your camera will love!

Muckross House

Muckross House is an old manor house now turned into a cool tourist attraction. The Muckross estate dates back to the 17th century. Queen Victoria visited the estate back in the day, the house is a beautiful piece of architecture.

The interior of the house is in excellent condition for such an old building, you can take a tour of the house and gardens, there is a small fee to go inside, the tickets are priced at 11.50 euros, but its money well spent because you will see only a few places like this in the Emerald Isle in such good condition that shows the wonderful design of an old manor house.

The Ring Of Kerry

This road trip is one of Ireland’s most famous routes, it’s one of the best also. The Ring of Kerry has so much to see, it hard to fit it into a few lines, there’s coastal areas, beaches, old beehive huts that date back thousands of years, there is some statues of GAA legends, and some of Irelands native sports football and hurling clubs.

Kerry is known for football and lots of it they have had great success in football down through the years.

This roadtrip that has so much to offer its something you need to add to your bucket list when coming to Ireland!!

Check out my post here on The Ring of Kerry Ireland!

Kerry Bog Village

The Kerry Bog Village is located on the Ring of Kerry route, its a cool place to visit full of old thatched cottages and info about Irish history. The bog village has a certain charm that Ireland is full of.

There are old buildings that you can explore and experience the way people used to live in Ireland, and the hardship that Irish people endured during the famine period, there is a famine soup pot on display in the Kerry Bog village that is a chilling reminder of the potato famine.

You will see Irish wolfhounds one of the worlds largest dog breeds, and turf which is also known as peat, it’s a great source of heat and used all over Ireland, some farmers have there own bog land and they dig out the turf, dry it and use it in the winter months to heat their homes and local communities. You can try an Irish coffee at the bog village to warm you up!!!

Ross Castle

Ross Castle is located just outside the town of Killarney, it’s an old medieval castle that you can visit for FREE. The castle is located on the side of Killarney’s lower lake and dates back to the 15th century.

You can take a boat tour of the lake and see the castle from the lake, its a nice way to check out the area. Some of the boats have a glass roof’s, which gives a great view of the whole area. Ross Castle was the last place to hold out to the British Cromwellian forces form England that attacked Ireland back in the day.

Dingle

The town of Dingle has a lot to see, it’s a fishing town that has a harbour that fishing boats come into every day with fresh seafood like crabs, cod, and mussels, Dingle has some great food to try. The town has some great Irish pubs that you will enjoy. You can check out some traditional Irish music in Dingle, the surrounding areas of the town for some of the best scenery you will see in Ireland!!.

Dingle is home to Fungi the Dolphin who has been around Dingle for many years since 1983, Fungi has been the subject of a number of studies, Fungi has amazed a few experts. The fact that a dolphin has stayed in an area for such a long time has amazed some many experts and people alike.

You can take a boat trip out to see Fungi, he doesn’t disappoint he will jump up and swim around the boat, tis great craic. Dingle is home to the Dingle distillery, you can try some Irish vodka, Whiskey and Gin which is very popular in Ireland due to our appetite for craic.

Skellig Micheal Island

Skellig Micheal island is off the coast of Kerry, it has been made very famous by the recent Star Wars movie because of parts of the movie Episode VII the Force Awakens was filmed on the Skellig Many years ago Skellig Michael used to be a monastic settlement dating back to 600 AD it is believed that this was the site of one of Ireland’s earliest monastic settlements, the island became a haven for Catholics during the time of penal laws in Ireland.

You can take a boat tour out to the island and check out the old stone beehive huts that are part of Irelands rich history.

The South Pole Inn Annasaul

The South Pole Inn in Annasaul is a super cool bar! Its located in a small cute village in Kerry was the birthplace of Tom Crean, Tom was born just outside Annasaul. He purchased the South Pole Inn pub after an unbelievable career as an Ataractic explorer that seen him being awarded the Albert Medal for bravery.

Tom Crean was a member of a number of three different Antarctic expedition groups, he played a huge part in their expeditions. As Kerry people go Tom Crean showed the characteristics that prove no one should be left behind.

He single handily managed a 4-day (13 hours per day) trek to save the life of Lieutenant Evans with very little food, pulling Evans in a sledge by himself across the Antarctic with only the desire to succeed which he did.

He was later awarded the Albert medal for this and it really became a story of bravery. This part of the story was made into a Guinness ad many years later. There is a statue in honour of Tom Crean in Annasaul across the road from the South Pole Inn.

Inch Beach

Inch beach is a great spot to visit, it’s a lovely beach to go for for a swim in, or to check out the large waves with a surfboard. It’s one of those places that you will look at and just say “holy moly” to yourself, it’s really nice, with some unreal beautiful views of the local coastline, and there are really cool some sand dunes, this beach is one to check out!!!

The area is very popular with swimmers, surfers and there are some great fishing spots around the surrounding areas. Inch beach is five kilometres long, it will keep you busy for a while, its located in the Dingle Peninsula that is just unreal, you have to check it out!!!

See my post on directions to one of the best viewpoints in Kerry called Molls gap!

I hope you find this article useful, I welcome any questions or suggestions by email to info@allthings-ireland.com.

Thanks
John Conway
All Things Ireland.