Ireland: Slea Head Drive and the Dingle Peninsula

Posted on May 11, 2026May 20, 2026 by jim

The Dingle Peninsula and the famous Slea Head Drive is next up on our route after leaving the Ring of Kerry.
This narrow finger of land jutting out into the Atlantic on the southwest tip of the country packs more scenery per mile than anywhere else in Ireland, our opinion of course…
After leaving Waterville we headed north from the Ring of Kerry and then inland around Dingle Bay.
From the road on the southside of the bay the four-mile long land spit called Inch Strand comes into view, and this ended up as our first stop once we headed west out onto the peninsula.
It’s pretty amazing to have a massive white and golden beach stretching for miles in coastal Ireland, and we managed to get a several-mile walk in despite the blowing wind and sand.

Literal Waterfront Parking

You can drive right onto the beach at Inch Strand and park, although we opted not to with unknown offroad clauses in the rental car insurance.

An Inch Or A Mile

Inch Strand is more like Mile-Plus Strand

Dingle town itself is a small working fishing town and one of the ones I enjoyed the most – after the tourist buses left for the day.
The marina is small and mostly filled with working boats, but worth wandering through before slipping down one of the residential streets or enjoying the colorful buildings along the main streets.

Virtuous

A colorful working boat along The Pier in Dingle Harbor

Colorful Separation

It’s easy to tell where one house stops and the next begins along this colorful street in Dingle.

Pub Row

Main Street in Dingle is lined with plenty of places to whet your whistle.

We opted to head back into town and enjoyed dinner and trad (traditional) music at The Dingle Pub. Mostly tourists, but some locals thrown in and we enjoyed ourselves and the food.

The Dingle Pub

Just gives off a warm cozy feel

Trad Music

These two musicians were tearing up the set at the Dingle Pub

The Slea Head Drive is the crowning jewel of the Dingle Peninsula.
It’s a loop off the western end, you could probably drive it in two hours if you’re not stopping and there’s no traffic – but you will stop constantly and there will be constant traffic.
The Blasket Islands overlook alone is worth the detour, and feeding the baby lambs is a must-do even if it is a complete tourist trap.

Coming In Hot

This lamb thought the long camera lens was a baby bottle and came in hot, smearing the lens and hood with sheep slobber.

Hold On Tight

These little guys latch onto that bottle and tug, tug, tug.

Mmmm Wire

This is behavior I would expect from goats

Feeding Time

Each of these bottles of milk is heated prior to feeding time, then cleaned and sanitized afterward.

Judging Me

Pretty sure this older sheep is judging me

Oh Fer Cute

This baby lamb nails a perfect ten on the cuteness scale!

The road gets narrow and the drop-offs get dramatic, but the views back across Dingle Bay are some of the best we’ve seen anywhere in Ireland.
It feels wilder and less traveled than a lot of the other scenic drives in Kerry, which really says something since these roads have been absolute crap.
We were lucky to get mostly good weather for the drive, with a few storm cells blowing through but mostly offshore without raining on us.
It would be a different experience with Irish rain, and we probably wouldn’t stand out in the rain and feed soggy sheep…
One extra side detour on the Dingle Peninsula is to Kruger’s Bar – the westerly most bar in Ireland.
We didn’t have a pint here since it’s midway through the drive, but it looks more local than tourist and might be an interesting stop for you.
After doing the Slea Head drive we headed up over Connor Pass up to Brandon Point for picnic lunch.
While we sat in the car (high winds) and ate our lunch we noticed an excursion boat down in the water, and shortly afterwards we noticed dolphins jumping around it for a good ten minutes or so.
Very cool!
Would we recommend the Dingle Peninsula? Absolutely, and without hesitation. Give yourself two days here to experience Dingle without the tourists and to get an early start on the Slea Head drive.