When one of my very best friends traveled to Ireland for the first time to visit me, I knew I had to show her the best that Ireland has to offer. Kristen and I immediately agreed that a road trip down to Co. Kerry was in order. She wanted to see the Ring of Kerry, which I had never done. And I wanted her to see the Dingle Peninsula after I’d visited the previous autumn. We managed to find a way to squeeze everything in in just a couple days! Here is the first part of our road trip experience down to Kerry and around the Ring of Kerry.
Day One: Drive from Galway to Killarney via the Cliffs of Moher
The weather on our first travel day wasn’t great. But it was dry, which is the most anyone can ever ask for in Ireland. I had just visited the Cliffs of Moher recently in the sunshine so I was disappointed that Kristen wouldn’t have the same experience. But we still enjoyed it, I don’t actually think it’s possible to have a bad day at the Cliffs.
We left Galway early and took off down the coastal road that goes down through the Burren in West Clare.. On the way we stopped in the quaint village of Kinvarra for breakfast and to pick up road trip snacks.
We arrived in the late afternoon and spent about an hour taking in the views.
The Cliffs were impressive as always! As much as it’s a tourist trap, it really is worth a visit.
And it only took us one day before we accidentally wore the same outfit. Oops! Some things never change.
We spent the rest of the afternoon driving down to Killarney. We didn’t stop much more along the way, but enjoyed a legendary One Direction playlist and caught up after months of not seeing each other!
And of course once we arrived in Killarney, we helped ourselves to a nice dinner and a really fun night out (not pictured).
Day Two: Ring of Kerry
The next morning we had a little bit of a late start (quite possibly due to the drinks we had the night before). We had been getting advice from our B&B hosts as to whether to embark on the Ring of Kerry going clockwise or counter-clockwise. We were warned there would be loads of tour buses and so we took their advice to travel counter-clockwise against the tour buses.
As it turned out, because we didn’t leave Killarney until about 1:00 PM, we didn’t see a single tour bus all day!
Pro Tip: Avoid all the early bird tourists and tour companies by sleeping in and starting late! We barely encountered another car on the road all day – We had the Ring of Kerry all to ourselves in June, which is high season for tourism.
Rossbeigh Beach
We approached our day with an adventurous and spontaneous spirit. We didn’t use Google Maps or GPS all day. Instead, we followed the road signs directing us around the Ring of Kerry. It was really nice! I knew from living in Ireland for a while that brown road signs will direct motorists to the good stuff – heritage sites, viewpoints, beaches, etc. The first brown sign we took a chance on following was Rossbeigh Beach.
It was a perfect first stop for the day. I’d never heard of this place but it was really lovely and worth a pit stop and a few photos.
Valentia Island
Our next major stop-off was on Valentia Island, just off the village of Portmagee, where there’s a small bridge connecting the island to the mainland. I think it was my favourite stop on the Ring of Kerry! Or, technically, I think we’d veered off the official “Ring of Kerry” and into the “Skellig Ring.” Either way, I could have spent a whole day there taking in the views.
On the West end of the island is a spot called Bray Head.
You can see the Skellig Islands way off on the right-hand side. I hope to get out to see them someday!
This little calf was very curious about us taking paparazzi photos of him 🙂
Driving eastward to explore the island a bit more, we saw several signs for a homemade ice cream parlour. I love supporting small businesses, especially in remote places like this, so we stopped off for some ice cream!
There’s my Guinness flavoured ice cream, looking out over the grazing cows who produced the milk for the ice cream.
Viewpoint
When we left Portmagee and then continue on toward the rest of the Ring of Kerry, we drove up a massive hill to a viewpoint overlooking Portmagee, Valentia Island, and the surrounding area.
Very beautiful but also very windy…!
St. Finian’s Bay
I loved this quiet little spot. We stopped here and enjoyed some snacks at a picnic table. Again, there was really no one around!
Derrynane Beach
Derrynane Beach was tricky to find and it was a bit creepy getting there. We had to drive through windy, narrow, one-lane, tree-lined roads through some sort of parkland. In the shade of the trees it was very dark and eerie. It felt like we were going the wrong way, but we continued pushing forward and following the brown signs labelled ‘STRAND.’
It paid off in the end when we arrived at the beach car park, which was actually quite large – Clearly it must be quite a busy and popular beach on sunny days! Although I couldn’t imagine driving down those roads with other cars on the road…
Derrynane beach was really lovely! Dark clouds started rolling in and it started to drizzle so we left sooner that I would have liked.
I’d love to visit here on a warm sunny day to get the full effect!
Ladies View
After grabbing dinner in Sneem, we arrived at Ladies view around 9:00 PM. This is the one place on the Ring of Kerry where I had been before as a child on my first trip to Ireland. It did not disappoint! It was really cool being there so late and not having to fight with any other tourists for a nice photo.
Not the most glamorous photo of me! It was a very long day of driving and exploring windy beaches, hence the hair 🙂
A fantastic last stop of the day, before jumping back in the car and heading back to Killarney. It was dark by the time we arrived back at our B&B. It’s safe to say we didn’t have the energy for another night out!
I had only driven small pieces of the Ring of Kerry before, in areas surrounding Killarney. Every time I passed through it was jam packed with tourists and seemed really unappealing. But getting a late start on the day was a lifesaver for us, the whole route was essentially deserted.
I would definitely recommend the Ring of Kerry to anyone visiting Ireland for the first time or even any Irish person who thinks it will be miserable and jammed with tourists like I did. Give it a shot!