Killarney National Park was Ireland's first, established in 1932 when the Muckross estate was handed to the state. It runs to 26,000 acres and contains the last native red deer herd in the country, the largest remaining fragment of Ireland's ancient oak woodland, and three connected lakes that most people photograph without ever getting close to.
The three lakes
Lough Leane (the Lower Lake) is the big one, with Ross Castle on its shore and Innisfallen Island in the middle — a monastery site from 640 AD, reachable by rowing boat.
Muckross Lake (the Middle Lake) is the deepest, ringed by the best of the oak woodland.
The Upper Lake is the smallest and least accessible, at the head of the valley below the Macgillycuddy's Reeks.
They are joined by a channel called the Meeting of the Waters, crossed by the Old Weir Bridge, and you can go through it by boat.
What to actually do
Muckross House and gardens. A Victorian mansion on the lakeshore with a working traditional farm attached. The gardens are free and open; the house is a paid guided tour and a good one.
Torc Waterfall. Twenty metres, five minutes' walk from the N71 car park. Carry on up the 200 steps behind it for a viewpoint over the lakes that most visitors never see.
Ross Castle. Fifteenth-century tower house on the water, two kilometres from the town centre, and the departure point for boat trips.
The Gap of Dunloe. A narrow glacial pass between the Purple Mountain and the Reeks, eleven kilometres long, with five lakes strung along it. Cars are discouraged and in high season effectively impossible; the traditional way is by jaunting car (a pony trap) from Kate Kearney's Cottage, or on foot.
The classic full day combines them: jaunting car through the Gap, then a boat down the Upper Lake, through the Meeting of the Waters, and across Lough Leane to Ross Castle. It takes most of a day and it is the best thing to do in Kerry.
Ladies View and Moll's Gap. Both on the N71 heading for Kenmare, both roadside, both worth the stop. Ladies View is named for Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting, who admired it in 1861.
Getting there
Killarney is 302 kilometres from Dublin Airport — about three and three-quarter hours with a stop, €660 for up to three passengers.
Once you are there, the town is walkable and the park starts at its edge. For the Ring of Kerry, the Gap, or the Dingle Peninsula, you need a car or a driver — we run the Ring as a full-day private tour, driven clockwise so you are not stuck behind coaches all afternoon.
