Welcome to Kerry

Why you should visit the best county in Ireland

My standard advice for visiting Ireland is to head for the west cost. But I’m from Kerry, which also happens the be the best county in Ireland (no bias here — this is the uncontested view in Ireland). So here is a quick photo essay on highlights and tips from a recent trip back this summer.

While Ireland endured its own version of a heatwave this summer, it remained markedly cooler than the UK or continental Europe, and so offers an increasingly good bet for a summer visit that does not involve hiding from the sun.

Killarney is the logical starting point. If you don’t fancy driving, it is possible to get trains from Dublin or even a bus direct from Dublin airport. Killarney hosts a wonderful national park with an endless array of stunning lake and mountain views.

Ross Castle offers the eponymous castle and boat rides out onto the Killarney lakes

but keep walking for lots of mostly empty and gorgeous mossy paths.

Near the essential Muckross House, check out Muckross Abbey. Easy to miss but well worth stopping for, including this beautiful yew tree in the middle of the abbey that you can imagine popping up in some sort of Game-of-Thrones-like myth.

From Killarney, you can jump on the ring of Kerry. Its a full day, and best to let someone else to do the driving, such as a bus tour or private driver (hi fellow-traveler Tim and Marcy!). One tip is that the standard tours often don’t include the Kerry Cliffs, which is less well known than the Cliffs of Moher, but less busy and worth checking out (see below). This effectively means adding in the Skellig loop to your ring.

For me, the best part of Kerry is Killarney (home) or west Kerry, as represented by Dingle and the surrounding region. The Slea Head drive offers a lot of highlights such as Dunmore Head (below)…

…where you can admire the ability of sheep to not fall into the ocean!

In portions, the road is very narrow, with rock on one side and a steep drop on the other, so its strongly recommended you drive clockwise. If you don’t there is a decent chance you could get stuck, creating traffic jams like this.

When we visited it was during a week of unusually warm weather, which meant we could actually swim in the pristine beaches at Inch and Ventry. A good pitstop for a crab sandwich stand is Dobey’s food truck or The Fishbox when you land in Dingle town.

Dingle itself is worth a stopover. The big draw is the pub culture, so its not advised to stop for a Guinness and then get back on the narrow cliffside roads. Finding a hotel during the summer is a challenge so plan ahead. Top recommendations for pubs are Currans…

…Dick Macs, which has kept the original exterior

…and much of the interior

…but also has an expanded and modernized backyard area that serves as a beer garden, and connects to their own brewery, Dingle Brewhouse. Guinness might still be king, but the emergence of a good craft brewing scene offers some nice variety around Ireland compared to when I lived there.

…Foxy John’s and O’ Sullivans Courthouse Pub.

I’ve been going to Dingle for decades even as I’ve now lived more of my life outside of Ireland rather than in it. So even as I appreciate that not much has changed in the town, I understand that what I think of as the real version of Kerry is something that remains in place partly because tourists (like me!) consume it. One positive change worth celebrating: Dingle now has exceptional coffee and pastry places, like Bean, Nourish and My Boy Blue.

You’ve made it this far! May as well check out my previous travel writing on the best train ride in the world, Ghent, Utrecht, hacks to manage Italy, Norway in a nutshell, what to do in Portland, ME, and AI-enabled beer drinking in Copenhagen. Replies are open, so please drop your favorite tips or suggestions for Kerry.