One of my favorites memories from our Europe backpacking trip is our Ireland Coast Road Trip. Our selected route started in Dublin (after spending three days there) and ended after dropping off our rental car back in Dublin.
Here is a map of the route we took around Ireland:
I wrote about our first day on the road from Dublin to Kilkenny in this post and our second day spent mostly in Kilkenny in this post. Today I’m sharing our third day of the road trip spent driving the famous Ring of Kerry!
Ring of Kerry
The Ring of Kerry is known by tourists from all over the world as one of the main routes to take for breathtaking views in Ireland. The route is situated in the southwest of the country on the Iveragh Peninsula. There is some disagreement about which direction the route should be driven. Most people recommend driving counter-clockwise as that is the direction the buses go, and you will avoid having to pass buses on the tiny roads along the way. This is the direction we went. However, some people (including Rick Steves) advise tourists to drive clockwise so that you don’t get stuck behind slow buses. In the end, it didn’t really matter for us because there was hardly anyone else driving the loop in January, but if we ever go back during a time when we would be sharing the road with others, we’d probably go clockwise. Here is a map of our Ring of Kerry route and stops:
For those of you here for a quick resource, here is a short list of our route. We drove from our hotel in Cork and made the following stops:
- Kemare and the Stone Circle
- Moll’s Gap
- Killarney National Park
- Portmagee
- Castlecove
- Killarney
Unfortunately, it was rainy and foggy most of this day, so I don’t have very many great pictures to share, but I wanted to share our route and some of the highlights and pictures from our stops!
Kenmare & the Stone Circle
Unknown to many people, there are about a hundred stone circles throughout Ireland – Rick Steves calls them “mini Stonehenges”. We stopped at the circle located in Kenmare, right off of the Ring of Kerry. Like other stone circles, this one is believed to have been built for ceremonial purposes, but the exact purpose of it is unknown. There was literally no one else out and about by the stone circle which made for an experience that was both fascinating and eerie.
Moll’s Gap
Moll’s Gap is a famous passageway through the mountains on the Ring of Kerry. The view is just gorgeous!
Killarney National Park
Portmagee
We stopped for a break in Portmagee. Apparently the cleanest toilets in Ireland are in Portmagee (see proof below!), but unfortunately, we couldn’t use them because they were locked up!
And, of course, the view of the sea was amazing….
Castlecove
Killarney
Our Ring of Kerry road trip ended in Killarney, where we would be staying for the next two nights.
After dinner in Killarney, we called it a night. On our next day of our Irish road trip, we drove around the Dingle Peninsula and took MANY more beautiful pictures because the weather was better that day.
Click here to see a guide to Dublin, where we kicked off our time in Ireland. Click here to see where we stopped along our route from Dublin to Kilkenny as well as a summary of our full road trip around Ireland. And click here to see what we did for our full day in Kilkenny.
I’ll be back soon with the rest of our Irish road trip!
{Click here to see all of my posts from our Ireland road trip. Our time in Ireland was part of a 2.5 month trip across Western Europe. Click here to check out all of my posts from this adventure!}
{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with frequent travel while planting roots at home in Austin, TX. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel or cuddling with our chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably planning, packing, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat(emilya89), or subscribe to my blog!}
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