killarney ireland is a great location to be able to explore a lot of ireland. it is very close to the gap of dunloe and killarney national park, both of which draw a lot of visitors. killarney itself is a nice town with lots of shops and restaurants to explore. we stayed outside of killarney in beaufort on a sheep farm which added to our real irish experience during our 10 day ireland trip.
we spent 2 days in the killarney area exploring as much as we could see. we could have seen more with an extra day, but here are the highlights from our time in killarney.
ross castle
to get to ross castle we entered killarney national park. walking from the parking lot to the castle there is a small river that feeds the lake that was full of small fishing boats. we saw multiple people taking off for the day. there were also people on the lake to take you for rides or shuttle across the lake, but we didn’t do any of those rides. i couldn’t believe all those little boats just lined up and waiting!
we took a tour of ross castle to start one morning. this castle is more like a fortress and is guarded on one side by the lake. the castle has been restored and furnished with period pieces which made the tour interesting and different from our other castle visits in ireland. this castle has also gone through a lot of owners and the history was talked about on the tour. there was information to read before the tour. unfortunately no pictures were allowed on the tour, so i just have one of the outside.
muckross house and garden
continuing on that day we entered muckross house and garden. since it was october not a lot was in bloom at the garden, but we did get to see some interesting plants and pretty greenhouses. the gardens are free to walk around and they have a cafe where you can get hot and cold food as well as a gift shop.
to see muckross house you need to buy a ticket to take a tour. again no pictures were allowed on this tour to help prevent degradation of the period pieces in the house. muckross house is huge! we got to see a number of bedrooms, the dining room, what i’ll call the parlor, living room, kitchen, servants quarters, grand entryway and more. the servants area had more than 30 different bells to signal what area of the house was requesting them. this house also has an interesting history and has belonged to many families. it even hosted a visit from the queen when ireland was still a part of the united kingdom. our tour guide was very good and we enjoyed the tour and learning about the history of this house.
there is also a “traditional farm” you can visit and in the gift shop area there were craftsmen throwing pottery on wheels as well as weaving wool. it is very easy to spend a whole day here exploring the grounds, especially if the weather is nice.
muckross abbey
from muckross house we drove to the parking for muckross abbey. they are about a 20-30 minute walk apart for nice weather days. as we were walking to the abbey we passed a field with kerry cows. these cows are rare and are known for the high quality and delicious milk they produce. there was a murphys ice cream shop in killarney (like the one we stopped at in dingle on our drive of the dingle peninsula) that we had to stop at after dinner one night. they use milk from kerry cows to make their unique ice cream flavors.
the abbey is free to walk around and explore including the cemetery. this abbey was founded in 1448. there is a yew tree in the center courtyard.
carriage ride
throughout the muckross property we saw horse drawn buggies taking people on tours. my dad really wanted to take a ride and i have have to admit i wasn’t super excited about it. it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip! the four of us piled in a buggy with ulton our driver and pearl the horse. they took us on a ride from the abbey past the house, to the waterfall and back.
ulton was a great guide. he was an older gentleman who really made us feel welcome and had us all laughing. he had a bit thicker of an irish accent than many we had heard and my poor mom had a hard time understanding him. he took extra time to make sure she understood every word with lots of laughs along the way. he educated us about all the trees in this section of killarney national park. the variety is huge, much bigger than i anticipated. it also included a lot of tropical and non native plants that he had in depth knowledge about and wanted us to know about too.
torc waterfall
in killarney national park and not far from muckross house and abbey is a trail that takes you to torc waterfall. this is a short and easy hike from the trailhead that takes you to the base of the waterfall.
our carriage drive dropped us off for the hike and waited for us to come back to continue our ride which saved us from having to walk all the way to the trailhead from muckross house.
ogham stones
a very quick stop we made was to see some ogham stones just outside of beaufort where we were staying. these large stones are carved with an old irish language which is written with marks and dashes. the marks are on the edges of the stones and were usually used to honor or remember someone.
this was a taste of really old irish history that we enjoyed. it was a quick stop, but there are multiple locations throughout ireland to see ogham stones.
gap of dunloe
the closest we got to the gap of dunloe was eating at kate kearneys just to the north of it. the food was good and there was live music with two young boys doing traditional irish dancing. it was the first irish dancing we had seen in a pub and the boys were really cute.
even though we didn’t have time to explore the gap of dunloe, i couldn’t leave it off this post. if your schedule allows i would plan a hike through the gap of dunloe. there are many options but some include hiking one way and then taking a ferry across the lake to get back to town. if you like hiking this area begs to be explored!
st mary’s cathedral
in killarney we took a little detour to visit st mary’s cathedral. it is a beautiful old church and being from the united states we wanted to see a cathedral during our trip to europe.
there is a lot of stained glass and beautiful arches. there is some information about the history of the church inside as well. on the morning we visited there was actually a funeral, so we cut our visit short once we realized what people were arriving for. so yes, that is a hearse in the picture below.
summary
we had so much fun during our time in killarney. we ate ice cream, took a carriage ride, toured a castle, went on a hike, and got to see some irish history. it’s very easy to spend a weekend or longer exploring this area.
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have you been to killarney? what was your favorite thing to do?
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