Kerry calls itself the Kingdom and behaves accordingly. It contains Ireland's highest mountains, its most famous scenic drive, a UNESCO World Heritage site out in the Atlantic, and the last Gaeltacht areas where Irish is genuinely the first language of the street.
It also takes far longer to get around than the map suggests. Plan for that.
A seven-day shape
Days 1–2: Killarney. Arrive, settle, walk the national park. Muckross House and Torc Waterfall on the first afternoon. The Gap of Dunloe by jaunting car and boat on the second full day.
Day 3: The Ring of Kerry. The full 179-kilometre loop, clockwise, starting early. Nine hours if you stop properly.
Day 4: The Dingle Peninsula. Over the Conor Pass into Dingle town, then the Slea Head Drive. Stay the night in Dingle if you can — the town is much better after the day-trippers leave.
Day 5: Skellig Michael or the Skellig Ring. If you have a landing tour booked, this is the day. If not — or if the sea is up — do the Skellig Ring by road instead, which is a smaller and better version of the Ring of Kerry with a fraction of the traffic.
Day 6: Kenmare and the Beara Peninsula. The Beara is the third peninsula, the least visited, and the one locals recommend. The Healy Pass is the best mountain road in Ireland.
Day 7: Slow. A beach — Inch, Rossbeigh, Derrynane — and a last night somewhere with music.
What will not fit
You cannot do the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula in the same day. People try. It is nine hours of driving and you see neither.
You cannot count on Skellig Michael. Landings run May to September only, sell out months in advance, and are cancelled at short notice in swell. Treat any Skellig day as provisional and have the Skellig Ring as the fallback.
You cannot do Kerry properly without a car or a driver. The bus network exists but it is built for locals, not itineraries.
Getting to Kerry
Killarney is 302 kilometres from Dublin Airport — three and three-quarter hours, fixed fare €660 for up to three. Dingle is 342 kilometres and four and a quarter hours, at €750.
Kerry Airport at Farranfore takes flights from Dublin, London Luton and a handful of European cities, and is 20 minutes from Killarney. For anyone arriving long-haul, though, Dublin plus a transfer is usually the simpler day.
