Ireland: Driving The Ring Of Kerry

Posted on May 9, 2026May 15, 2026 by jim

The Ring of Kerry is one of those drives that shows up on every Ireland bucket list, and is a must-do for any full Ireland tour.
The Ring is a 110-mile loop around the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry on the southwestern coast, and we would consider this and the Slea Head drive to be the most scenic in Ireland.
The rugged Atlantic coastline is dotted with small fishing and farming villages, and the classic green countryside is dotted with sheep and mile after mile of stone fence.
Interesting fact – there are over 248,000 MILES of stone fence in Ireland (Colette does a good job of researching oddities like this as we travel).
I read a book "Farming and the Burren" (PDF link) at one of our bed and breakfasts that said rural farmers are financially incentivized to maintain old fence as it is part of Irish heritage.
Most tour groups use Killarney as their base for doing the Ring, which puts them right at the eastern entry point and gives them easy access to Killarney National Park (Ireland’s first National Park created in 1932) on the way in or out.
We skipped the town itself but did make a few stops within the National Park, which has some genuinely beautiful landscapes along the lakes and more than enough reasons to get out of the car.
We also skipped the stop in Kenmare, although it did look as if there was charm to be found there if you’re there off-hours.
The tourist nonsense was just too nonsensical when we arrived, and we opted to squeeze through and get to the coast instead.
If you’re doing the full loop in two days instead of one – and we’d argue you should – Waterville makes for an excellent halfway stopping point.
It’s a small village right on the water with a Charlie Chaplin connection that the locals are extremely proud of, and it has a relaxed, end-of-the-road feel that we found genuinely charming.
Good place to decompress after a day of narrow Irish roads and pulling over every five minutes to take photos or let someone pass who is on a tighter schedule than we are.
This also lets you experience the coastline after and before the tourist crowds, since the majority are on those day tour buses from Killarney.
The drive itself is best done counterclockwise, which keeps you on the ocean side and away from the worst of the oncoming tour bus chaos.
The roads are narrow in a way that keeps things interesting, we’ll do an individual post just on driving here in Ireland.
The Cliffs of Moher get all the tourist love, however the Kerry Cliffs are actually taller at over 1,000 feet above the sea.
Definitely worth the stop, just bring a hardshell layer as the wind along the cliffs is pretty brutal.
We think the Ring of Kerry is a must-do, even if you choose to do it in one one of huge tour buses instead of on your own timetable in a rental car.