Rock of Cashel to Killarney

It's technically feasible but it's a ton of rat race driving. Also why Blarney especially. Also Killarney ? Both are on Rick Steve's top ten tourist traps in all of Europe for really good cause.

Barney: Blarney Stone (Ireland): "Busloads line up to kiss a stone on the top of a castle rampart and get “the gift of gab.” The best thing about this lame sight is watching a cranky man lower lemming-like tourists over the edge, belly up and head back, to kiss the stone while an automated camera snaps a photo — which will be available for purchase back at the parking lot. After a day of tour groups mindlessly climbing up here to perform this ritual, the stone is slathered with spit and lipstick."

Killarney (Ireland): "This is a place where most tourists wear nametags — a traffic jam of tour buses. If you have the misfortune to spend the night in Killarney, you’ll understand what I mean. The town is a sprawling line of green Holiday Inns and outlet malls littered with pushy shoppers looking for plastic shamrocks."

There are spectacular things to do that actually have something to do with real Ireland very close. Great castles and sights in Kilkenny, a little over an hour or so from Cashel is the haunting, beautiful, incredible monastic ruins and lakes of Glendalough. There's also a ton of great things to do just outside of Killarney and you could stay in a great real Irish town with plenty of pubs, restaurants, trad music and sights like Kenmare, Kilorglin or Castlemaine and have access to all the good stuff and avoid the tour bus overrun, plastic lephrachauny Killarney. Instead of Blarney or Killarney you could spend the time at the Gap of Dunloe, Ladies View, Muckross House, Ballagh Beama Pass, Kinsale Sheep Farm, the Black Valley......or explore the insanely beautiful south side of the Ring of Kerry or the stunning Beara Peninsula.

Your day is too much driving, too hectic and honestly goes to places FAR surpassed in real Irish culture, real history, experience and beauty by numerous other spots. It's like skipping Yellowstone the Grand Canyon and a beautiful fun cultural spot like Taos NM to spend time at a 2nd rate water park and a big mall.

Honestly not trying to be negative but Ireland and its people are INCREDIBLE and you want to experience that not two of the very few spots in Ireland that are pretty poor.

FWIW, we loved Blarney and Killarney and I have never cared that Rick Steves calls them tourist traps. The grounds at Blarney are stunning. It is for sue doable but as you said will be a long day.

If mobility is not an issue, I highly recommend renting bikes and biking the Killarney National Park. We did that stopping at Muckross house and farms along the way

Enjoy!

Thank you so much for your helpful review! This trip is for my daughter’s 25th birthday and we are doing several things she has chosen. We are also doing many less touristy things over the course of the week and I think we have a great mix. I try not to be too snobby about “touristy” things anyway, as I’ve found most thing become touristy in the first place because they are great. So if my Drive times are accurate, 90 minutes from Kinnitty to ROC, 2 hours from ROC to Blarney then 2 more hours to our B&B in Killarney, that leaves only 2 hours for enjoying ROC (and maybe Hore Abbey) and 3 (maybe 4) hours at Blarney. Do you think I’ve allowed enough time to enjoy those experiences?

My other option would be to skip ROC and go straight to Blarney (perhaps making a short stop at Leap castle on the way) and then doing ROC on the way back from Killarney to Dublin for our departure the next morning.

Great idea about bikes in Killarney National Park. I am hoping to fit Gap of Dunloe and the Park into the same day, and having bikes will probably make that a lot more feasible. We should have two days to see sights in the Park, one day which we will share with the gap and hopefully some time at the tail end of driving ring of Kerry (or perhaps in the morning before heading back to Dublin if we aren’t a stopping at ROC).

Thanks again for your help! It’s really tricky to plan knowing Drive times will be slower than google estimates and being unsure how much time we need at each location.

There are very touristy spots in Ireland that are still fantastic......Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, Galway or Dingle are examples. It isn't "snobby" to point out that MANY find a few tourist spots greatly lacking (and in regards Blarney every single Irish person I've spoken too over the years) and try to warn others of that and point out that with limited trip time there are hundreds of better, more enjoyable things to fill that limited time that relate to real Ireland. If you like those things though - awesome......enjoy them and have a ton of fun. Not the slightest problem. Have a great trip. We just spent a month and a half there this spring with our 25 year old daughter too and it was fantastic !

I haven't been to Rock of Cashel so I can't comment on that, but I think 3 hours is fine for Blarney Castle.

I'm another person who doesn't think Killarney is that bad. The outlet mall is easily avoided (I don't remember even seeing it, despite it being located near my hotel). There's one Holiday Inn and gift shops can be avoided if that's not your thing. Maybe it's because I was there in early- to mid-spring (March 2017) and not the height of summer, but I didn't find it to be overrun with people (Galway, on the other hand...) I also enjoyed Blarney Castle, though I opted not to kiss the stone. If and when I go back to Ireland, I will try to be a little more creative with my sightseeing choices, but I really had a fun trip.