Ring of Kerry - a classic road trip in Ireland

Everyone we talked to during our road trip in Ireland says the same thing; we have to drive the Ring of Kerry. This classic and beautiful road trip in Ireland simply seems to be a must. And what can we say? We agree! The Ring of Kerry offers breathtaking views, beautiful coasts, charming towns and a little dose of history. If you're lucky, you might even be able to do a... very exciting boats.

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Ring of Kerry - Road trip in Ireland

The Ring of Kerry is a famous tourist route in County Kerry, in the south-west of Ireland. Many people start or end the tour, which goes around the Iveragh Peninsula, in the town of Killarney. We started at Glenross camping, drove westwards and finally ended up in Killarney.

Ring of Kerry karta — We started at Glenross campsite and headed west.

Glenross caravan and Camping Park

We started our journey by sleeping one night at the Glenross Caravan and Camping Park. This is a relatively small and simple campsite, but with good service and really good WiFi. It's also relatively close to the lovely Rossbeigh Beach.

With the Atlantic winds blowing here, it's not often that you can enjoy pleasant bathing temperatures, but another way to experience the beach is to riding Irish horseswhich we did. An amazing experience! After the ride, we continued our road trip in Ireland, along the Ring of Kerry.

Camping Ring of Kerry — Our Bunkcamper alongside larger motorhomes at Glenross Caravan and Camping Park.

Akta kor — Drive slowly - there may be cows on the road!

City of Cahersiveen

After driving along beautiful roads, we arrived in the town of Cahersiveen, where we checked out the Ballycarbery castle ruin and the "White beach". Yes, beaches often seem to be called "strand" instead of beach here! Then it was time to roll on the ferry towards the island of Valentia ...

Slottsruin vid Cahersiveen — Castle ruins at Cahersiveen

White Strand vid Cahersiveen — White Strand at Cahersiveen

Kerry landskap — Green landscape around the Ring of Kerry

READ MORE: Into the fog - around the Irish Dingle Peninsula
READ MORE: Two caves in Ireland - Europe's largest stalagmite

Valentia Island

The island of Valentia is outside the actual "ring" of the Ring of Kerry, but we wanted to visit it anyway! The island is connected to the mainland by a ferry at one end and a bridge at the other. We took the ferry out to the island, and the journey was so short that the man on board only just managed to get paid (10 euros for the two of us and the motorhome) before it was time to go ashore ...

Ferry Valentia — The ferry location to take the ferry to Valentia

Ön Valentia på Irland — Valentia Island in Ireland

Camping on Valentia, and hope for a boat trip

We stayed one night at the campsite Valentia Island Caravan and Camping Park. This is a small and simple but well-run campsite with good WiFi. It's also in a great location if you're planning to head out to the dramatic and exciting island. Skellig Michael, by boat from Portmagee.

This was actually our plan, but when we woke up in the morning to the motorhome rocking in the wind, we suspected it would be difficult. Nevertheless, we packed up in the morning and set off on the bridge to Portmagee ...

Camping Valentia — Camping on the island of Valentia

Bro från Valentia — Bridge from Valentia to the mainland

Portmagee and boats to Skellig Michael

We went, as agreed, to the Moorings guesthouse in Portmagee to check our tickets, but as we suspected, there was no boat trip. The wind was blowing far too much to head out to sea. In fact, the weather is often harsh here, so getting to visit Skellig Michael isn't easy.

Since this was a bit of a dream for Peter, we will probably return with a post about the island a little later. Right now we had to settle for a little walk in the city, which got its name from the 18th century smuggler Theobald Magee ...

Båtturer till Skellig Michael — Nope, no boat trip to Skellig Michael for us ...

Smuggling café in the smuggling town of Portmagee

Continuation around the Ring of Kerry

Instead of going by boat, we continued the tour around the Ring of Kerry, along the southern side. Here we drove along steep mountains, beautiful coastlines and charming little villages.

En fin camping vi såg på vägen, under vår bilresa på Irland — A nice campsite in Derrynane Bay we passed, during our road trip in Ireland

Fort Staige

One of the attractions along the way is Staigue Fort, a ring fort dating from the 3rd or 4th century AD. It was probably home to a local rich man, along with his family and servants. Inside the walls were several small houses that were used as residences.

There are many similar memorials in Ireland, and if you think about it, it's the only one of its kind in the world. really fascinating that these buildings are still standing and remind us of life 1700 years ago. By the way, we finally got use of our rain clothes! These rain clothes have been to Ireland once before together with my (Helena's) parents. Now they are back!

Staige fort, Ring of Kerry — Helena at Staige Fort

Staige fort Peter — Peter at Staige Fort

Towards Killarney

After our tour along the Ring of Kerry, we of course continued to ... Killarney! But now this post has become way too long already, so we will continue the story tomorrow!

Ring of Kerry husbil — More motorhomes on the road!

12 May 2018 6:00

Ireland

car holiday, Motorhome holidays in Ireland, unique nature, experiences in Europe, roads

Helena

Administrator

28 Comments

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Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:

Looks a bit wet but very nice. Looks like nice places to stay

12 May 2018 - 8:22

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  Yes, it rained from time to time. Rain, sun, rain, sun. That's why the island is so green 😉.
  
  12 May 2018 - 8:33
  
  Reply
Matts Torebring says:

Like I said, small car and take your time, because it looks amazing.

12 May 2018 - 9:02

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  A small campervan or regular car is not a bad idea actually. We've seen some big Concordes on the road, but you can't drive everywhere with a car like that.
  
  12 May 2018 - 9:09
  
  Reply
Lena Sjöberg says:

What would it be like to drive your own HB (in our case flatbed) on those roads? That is, left-hand drive.

12 May 2018 - 9:18

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  It will be fine! We see a lot of motorhomes (both flatbed and regular) from other countries where they have right-hand traffic (including from Holland and France) and they drive here. Then it takes some time in general to get used to driving on the "wrong" side of the road 😉.
  
  12 May 2018 - 10:10
  
  Reply
  - LenaSj says:
    
    And it is certainly even more difficult to get used to when the steering wheel is wrong! But that was how we had it in Sweden until 67. Although our roads were probably wider and less winding. Most of the time!
    
    13 May 2018 - 11:28
    
    Reply
    - Comment by post author
      
      Helena says:
      
      Yes, we managed to switch in Sweden! 🙂 Peter thought it was a bit tricky the first few days, but it went better and better!
      
      13 May 2018 - 18:44
      
      Reply
Ama de casa says:

Oh! Is this what it looks like? You got to see a lot of the beautiful surroundings, when we left it was Rain of Kerry and low clouds most of the way 😉.

12 May 2018 - 10:45

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  Sad when you don't see the view due to bad weather... We had sun sometimes, and rain sometimes... 😉 .
  
  12 May 2018 - 14:12
  
  Reply
Lena in Wales says:

RIng of Kerry, so beautiful in fine weather!
With buses, we are only allowed to travel counter-clockwise, so we are not met with large vehicles, good unwritten rule.
Killarney is nice too and more comes from there I understand.

12 May 2018 - 11:00

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  It's clever that all buses run in the same direction. Then it might be smart to do the same with a motorhome, especially if you drive a larger one!
  
  12 May 2018 - 14:13
  
  Reply
Marina says:

Looking forward to the continuation!

12 May 2018 - 13:39

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  To be continued 🙂
  
  12 May 2018 - 14:14
  
  Reply
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:

What a shame you didn't get to go to Skellig Michael, but you should always save something for next time, as an old lady told me in Croatia in the late 80s.
Anyway, you have experienced a lot in these days!

12 May 2018 - 14:13

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  We were a little disappointed that we did not get out on the island, but we are so happy with the trip in general so we still feel satisfied! And yes, you should have a little left 😉.
  
  12 May 2018 - 14:32
  
  Reply
Maria's Memoirs says:

oh what views! The castle ruin reminds me a bit of a netflix series I'm following right now: The Outlander 🙂

12 May 2018 - 18:55

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  That's great! We haven't seen that series.
  
  12 May 2018 - 20:57
  
  Reply
Mr Steve says:

Ring of Kerry. Did I miss it or have I just forgotten it. It should not be possible, but the years leave their mark.

12 May 2018 - 19:51

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  If I didn't blog and write down all the names, I would never remember! It's really hard to remember all the different places when travelling around!
  
  12 May 2018 - 20:58
  
  Reply
Role o Carina says:

Great trip you are on!

Car greetings

12 May 2018 - 20:31

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  Ireland is a wonderful country to travel around! Have a great time!
  
  12 May 2018 - 20:59
  
  Reply
BP says:

Great pictures! What a view. All of Ireland seems to be a single view if you know what I mean. Oh in your rain gear you almost looked like a lighthouse keeper;-) I'm glad you saved the rain gear. Impressive!

12 May 2018 - 20:51

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  Good description to say that all of Ireland is one big view, that's exactly how it feels! And it is my mum who is good at saving 😉 She had saved the rain clothes and gave them to us when we went to Ireland!
  
  12 May 2018 - 21:00
  
  Reply
Travel Linda says:

Wow, how much you manage to do every day! Looks like a great trip. Many nice photos!

12 May 2018 - 23:17

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  Fantastic country to travel in! And yes, we want to take the opportunity to see things when we are here 🙂 .
  
  13 May 2018 - 18:45
  
  Reply
Elisabeth says:

Great pictures and story. Another island we want to visit.

16 May 2018 - 21:28

Reply
- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  A fantastic island! 🙂
  
  16 May 2018 - 22:56
  
  Reply

Ring of Kerry - a classic road trip in Ireland

Ring of Kerry - Road trip in Ireland

Glenross caravan and Camping Park

City of Cahersiveen

Valentia Island

Camping on Valentia, and hope for a boat trip

Portmagee and boats to Skellig Michael

Continuation around the Ring of Kerry

Fort Staige

Towards Killarney

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28 Comments

Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:

Helena says:

Matts Torebring says:

Helena says:

Lena Sjöberg says:

Helena says:

LenaSj says:

Helena says:

Ama de casa says:

Helena says:

Lena in Wales says:

Helena says:

Marina says:

Helena says:

Britt-Marie Lundgren says:

Helena says:

Maria's Memoirs says:

Helena says:

Mr Steve says:

Helena says:

Role o Carina says:

Helena says:

BP says:

Helena says:

Travel Linda says:

Helena says:

Elisabeth says:

Helena says:

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