Four of these sites sit within a few miles of Smerwick Harbour on the Dingle Peninsula. Gallarus Oratory keeps its corbelled dry-stone roof, one of only three intact in Ireland, and it is free and open at all hours. Kilmalkedar, up the road, has a ruined Romanesque church, a holed ogham stone and an early sundial. Dún an Óir, on the headland at the harbour mouth, has almost nothing left standing; the ground is the point, as the site of the 1580 massacre.
Killarney holds the two best-known entries. Muckross House is a 65-room Victorian estate in the national park, self-guided and ticketed, with the gardens free to walk and the 1930s traditional farms the better ticket for children. Muckross Abbey, unroofed by Cromwell’s troops in 1652, is free, with its ancient yew still standing in the cloister and an easy loop running on to Torc Waterfall.
The rest are spread thinly and mostly need a car. Ardfert and Ballyduff lie north of Tralee, one with a ticketed OPW cathedral and a free friary, the other with Rattoo, the only complete round tower in the county, closed for works but visible from outside. Derrynane sits where the Ring of Kerry meets the Atlantic, with a low-tide sand crossing to Abbey Island. Kenmare Stone Circle is five minutes from the town centre. Caherconree and Masatiompan are hillwalks rather than visits, and want clear weather.
A 65-room Victorian estate in Killarney National Park, still largely furnished from the Herbert era, with free gardens and 1930s working farms alongside.
The ecclesiastical heart of the county since Saint Brendan's time, with a ticketed OPW cathedral and a free Franciscan friary a short walk away.
Home to Rattoo, the only complete round tower in Kerry and the only Irish round tower carrying a sheela-na-gig, currently closed for works.
The highest stone promontory fort in Ireland, set on an 835-metre spur of the Slieve Mish ridge, roughly two hours return on foot.
Daniel O'Connell's ancestral home on the Ring of Kerry, his duelling pistols inside and a low-tide sand crossing to Abbey Island outside.
25 of 26 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Muckross Peninsula, kerry
Muckross House sits on a peninsula in Killarney National Park, its 65-room interior still furnished about 70% from the Herbert era. The gardens and the surrounding park are free to walk; the house (self-guided) and the electricity-free 1930s traditional farms are the two ticketed parts, and the farms are the better bet for families.
Ardfert, kerry
Ardfert was the ecclesiastical heart of County Kerry, a bishop's seat traced back to Saint Brendan the Navigator in the 6th century. Its centrepiece is a ticketed OPW cathedral; the Franciscan friary down the road is free. The Blue Flag sands of Banna Beach are two miles south, and the Tralee–Fenit Greenway runs through the village.
Ballyduff, kerry
Ballyduff is a small North Kerry village near Listowel whose great draw, Rattoo Round Tower, is the only complete round tower in the county, an 11th-century tower with the only sheela-na-gig known on an Irish round tower. The tower is currently closed for works, but its exterior, the North Kerry Museum and the village's improbable 1891 hurling title give it real character.
Caherconree, kerry
Caherconree is an 835-metre mountain on the Slieve Mish ridge with the highest stone promontory fort in Ireland clinging to its shoulder – a Late Bronze Age wall across a triangular spur, cliffs on three sides. The walk in from Bóthar na gCloch reaches the fort in about two hours return; carry on to the summit for a view that runs close to 100 km over Tralee and Brandon bays. It all comes wrapped in the legend of Cú Roí and Bláthnat.
Derrynane, kerry
Derrynane is the ancestral home of Daniel O'Connell, the 'Liberator', set in a 120-hectare historic park where the Ring of Kerry meets the Atlantic. The restored house holds his duelling pistols and the gold chariot Dublin gave him; a low-tide sand crossing reaches the ruined abbey on Abbey Island, and woodland trails run through dunes and prehistoric monuments.
Smerwick Harbour, kerry
Dún an Óir crowns a cliff-bound headland at the mouth of Smerwick Harbour on the Dingle Peninsula. Little of the fort survives, but the ground itself tells the story: this quiet promontory was the site of the 1580 Smerwick Massacre, when some 600 surrendered soldiers were put to death.
Foilhommerum Bay, kerry
Foilhommerum Bay on Valentia Island is where the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable was hauled ashore in 1866, running on to Heart's Content in Newfoundland. The inlet itself is a small rocky cove below Bray Head; the reason to come is the history and the cliff-top walk above it.
Ballydavid, kerry
Gallarus Oratory is one of only three dry-stone churches in Ireland still keeping an intact corbelled roof, built without mortar so that rain runs off its inward-sloping walls. It stands above Smerwick Harbour on the Dingle Peninsula; the oratory is free and open at all hours, while the separate visitor centre charges €5.
Kenmare, kerry
Fifteen boulders form an egg-shaped Bronze Age circle around a central boulder-dolmen whose capstone weighs close to seven tonnes – the only egg-shaped ring in Munster and one of the largest in the southwest. It sits a five-minute walk from Kenmare's centre, with a €2.50 honesty box at the gate.
Milltown, kerry
Killagha Abbey is a roofless Augustinian priory ruin on the banks of the River Maine, about 1km from Milltown, Co Kerry. Its 15th-century east window still holds its Gothic tracery, and the single long nave survives in a working graveyard. Founded around 1216 by Geoffrey de Marisco, it was once among the richest religious houses in Kerry. Free access, no facilities.
Dingle Peninsula, kerry
Kilmalkedar is an early-medieval ecclesiastical site above Smerwick Harbour, its ruined 12th-century Romanesque church thought to share a master mason with Cormac's Chapel at Cashel. Around it stand a holed ogham stone, one of only nine early sundials known in Ireland, and a tall stone cross. It is a marked stop on the old pilgrim route to Mount Brandon.
Brandon Group, kerry
The pull of Masatiompan isn't the 763 m summit but the Arraglen Ogham stone, a 6th-century pillar marking a priest's grave at around 650 m on the saddle below the top – one of the highest Ogham stones in Ireland. The 12.5 km out-and-back from Teer, outside Cloghane, is a steady four-hour climb with 360° views from the Blaskets to Loop Head. Finish at O'Connor's in Cloghane.
Portmagee, kerry
The Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge is the road crossing from Portmagee onto Valentia Island, built in 1970 to replace the old ferry. It's named after a local IRA volunteer executed in 1942, and was built as a swing bridge that has not opened since 2004. For drivers it's the free gateway to the Skellig Ring and the Skellig boat tours.
Killarney National Park, kerry
Cromwell's troops stripped the roof off Muckross Abbey in 1652 and it never went back on, yet the walls, the central bell tower and the vaulted cloister still stand. At the cloister's heart grows a yew said to be as old as the friary and likely the oldest in Ireland. It is free to enter, on an easy loop between Muckross House and Torc Waterfall.
Rattoo, kerry
Rattoo Round Tower rises 29.56 metres above the fields near Ballyduff – the only complete round tower left in County Kerry. Its doorway carries a rare pair of spirals twisting in opposite directions, and a Sheela-na-gig set inside is the only one known within an Irish round tower. Free to visit, though the interior is closed and viewing is from the outside only.
Tralee, kerry
The Pikeman strides up the middle of Denny Street in Tralee, a memorial to the United Irishmen's risings of 1798, 1803, 1848 and 1867. Albert Power's bronze of 1939 replaced a limestone figure of 1905 that the Black and Tans dragged down and smashed in 1921. Maud Gonne unveiled both. It's a five-minute stop rather than a day out – pair it with the Kerry County Museum just down the street.
Abbey Island, kerry
Ballintaggart, kerry
Near Cahersiveen, kerry
Western Iveragh Peninsula, kerry
Killarney, kerry
Dunbeg, kerry
Dingle, kerry
Dingle Peninsula, kerry
Bonane, kerry
Knightstown, kerry
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