The largest group here sits on the Dingle Peninsula, and most of it is Gaeltacht. Ballydavid and Ard na Caithne face each other across Smerwick Harbour, a sheltered bay of white sand and Iron Age stone where several hundred Papal troops were put to the sword at Dún an Óir in 1580. Ventry is built around a long Blue Flag beach on its own sheltered bay, Cloghane stands under Mount Brandon on the quiet northern edge, and Dunquin, the most westerly village in Ireland, looks across the sound to the Blaskets.
The second cluster follows the Ring of Kerry round Iveragh. Kenmare was laid out as a planned town around 1670 where Iveragh meets Beara, with a Bronze Age stone circle five minutes from the square. Cahersiveen has the Cahergall and Leacanabuaile stone forts just outside it, Sneem is two small squares tied together by a bridge, and Waterville is the only village on the Ring that sits right on the coast.
Killarney and Killorglin anchor the eastern side, the first for its lakes, red deer and Muckross House, the second for Puck Fair on 10–12 August. Tarbert is the outlier, up on the Shannon Estuary. Boat trips to the Great Blasket and the seal cruises from Kenmare pier are summer business; the drives and the walks hold up all year.
Lakes, red deer and Victorian Muckross House sit beside a town whose spiritual history runs back to St Finian's 7th-century abbey on Innisfallen.
A planned town of about 1670 where Iveragh meets Beara, with a strong food and craft scene and a Bronze Age stone circle by the square.
Home village of Antarctic explorer Tom Crean, who opened the South Pole Inn here in 1917, with the Dingle Way and Inch strand close by.
A sheltered Gaeltacht bay near the tip of the Dingle Peninsula, ringed by five swimmable beaches and the promontory fort of Dún an Óir.
A working Irish-speaking fishing village on Smerwick Harbour, worth the trip for coast walks, trad at Tigh T.P.'s and the Gallarus Oratory nearby.
21 of 21 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Killarney, kerry
St Finian the Leper founded Innisfallen Abbey on Lough Leane in the 7th century, planting a spiritual seed that still shapes Killarney. Centuries later, the park's lakes, red deer and Victorian Muckross House echo the town's layered heritage, making it a natural and cultural crossroads.
Kenmare, kerry
Laid out as a planned town around 1670 where the Iveragh and Beara peninsulas meet, Kenmare pairs a strong food-and-craft scene with an egg-shaped Bronze Age stone circle five minutes from the square. Seal-watching cruises run from the pier, and the town is a base for both the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara.
Annascaul, kerry
Annascaul is a working village of under 300 people in the Slieve Mish foothills, best known as the home of Antarctic explorer Tom Crean, who opened its South Pole Inn in 1917. Around it lie the Dingle Way, the glacial Annascaul Lake tied to the Cú Chulainn legend, and the surf strand at Inch, 5 km east.
Ard na Caithne, kerry
Smerwick is a wide, sheltered bay near the tip of the Dingle Peninsula, ringed by five swimmable beaches and steeped in a grim history. In November 1580 several hundred Papal troops surrendered at the promontory fort of Dún an Óir and were put to the sword. Today it is a quiet Gaeltacht harbour of white sand, birdlife and Iron Age stone.
Ballydavid, kerry
Ballydavid – officially Baile na nGall since the 2003 Official Languages Act revoked its English name – is a small Irish-speaking fishing village on the north coast of the Dingle Peninsula, looking out over Smerwick Harbour. It's a working Gaeltacht rather than a resort: the draw is the coast walks, the trad sessions at Tigh T.P.'s, and the early Christian sites nearby, above all the Gallarus Oratory.
Killorglin, kerry
On Good Friday, 21 April 1916, a car carrying four men took a wrong turn in the dark and drove off Ballykissane Pier into the River Laune; three Irish Volunteers drowned, widely remembered as the first deaths of the Easter Rising. The plain stone pier outside Killorglin is now a quiet spot for anglers and walkers, with a bronze memorial to the three men and a 6.5 km loop walk back to town.
Cahersiveen, kerry
Cahersiveen sits under Beentee Mountain on the Iveragh Peninsula, a working town that makes a handy base for the Ring of Kerry and the Skellig Ring. Just outside it stand the Cahergall and Leacanabuaile stone forts; in town, the castle-like Old Barracks tells the story of the 1867 Fenian Rising and Daniel O'Connell.
Cloghane, kerry
Stone houses at the foot of Mount Brandon, with Brandon Bay's sands running out to the Atlantic. Cloghane is a working Gaeltacht on the quiet northern edge of the Dingle Peninsula, and it makes a good base for beach walks, the Brandon pilgrim path, and the long trails of the Dingle Way.
Dún Chaoin, kerry
Dunquin is the most westerly village in Ireland, looking across the Blasket Sound to the islands whose writers – Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Muiris Ó Súilleabháin – produced foundational works of modern Irish literature. The Blasket Centre is the reason to stop; the pier, with its zig-zagging path down to the water, is where summer boats leave for the Great Blasket.
Killorglin, kerry
Killorglin is a working market town of about 2,160 people on the salmon-rich River Laune, where the Ring of Kerry meets the Wild Atlantic Way. Its fame rests on Puck Fair (10–12 August), one of Ireland's oldest festivals, when a wild goat is crowned King Puck over three days of horse-trading, parades and late pubs. The rest of the year it's a handy base for the Reeks, the Gap of Dunloe and the coast rather than a sight in itself.
Iveragh Peninsula, kerry
Sneem is a village of two little squares tied together by a bridge over the river, which is exactly what its Irish name, An tSnaidhm, 'the knot', describes. Charles de Gaulle came here to recover after resigning the French presidency in 1969, and the man who was the original 'M' of the British Secret Service was born here.
Tarbert, kerry
Tarbert is where the Wild Atlantic Way begins in County Kerry, at the Killimer ferry that crosses the Shannon Estuary in twenty minutes. The old Bridewell courthouse and jail, built in 1831, now stages a re-enactment of a 19th-century murder trial in its cells, and Tarbert House up the road has hosted everyone from Benjamin Franklin to Charlotte Brontë.
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Ventry, or Ceann Trá, is a working Gaeltacht village on the western Dingle Peninsula, built around a long Blue Flag beach on a sheltered bay. Iron Age forts, a Fenian battle myth and a wartime U-boat rescue all belong to this quiet stretch of coast.
Waterville, kerry
Waterville is the only village sitting right on the coast along the Ring of Kerry, on a narrow isthmus between Ballinskelligs Bay and salmon-rich Lough Currane. It was a transatlantic telegraph station from 1884, Charlie Chaplin's summer haunt for over a decade, and the home place of Gaelic football's Mick O'Dwyer, with a world-renowned golf links on the dunes to the south.
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Dún Chaoin, kerry
Fenit, kerry
Ballylongford, kerry
Renard Point, kerry
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