Two of us will be in Ireland and the UK for about 6 weeks in September/Oct.
We will not be renting a car. We are doing Dingle Peninsula and plan to take the archeaology tour Rick recommends. We will stay in Dingle 2 nights. Without a car our options for Ring of Kerry apparently are big bus tour out of Killarney, Finnegan's Tours out of Kenmare or the public Bus Eireann from Tralee (or Killarney?) that drive the N70 ring route. (?) Has anyone used any of these options? Or, do you know of other options? We'd be interested in your thoughts about whether any of these might make for a relatively pleasant time on the Ring of Kerry or just a long, frustrating day. Many thanks!
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
My experience with the Ring of Kerry involved a rental car, not a tour. However, the day we allotted for doing the Ring drive turned out to be "soft weather" - Ireland's particular brand of misty drizzle - acccmpanied by fog. We drove from the Kenmare end but didn't really get very far before deciding that it was a lost cause. There was nothing to see. So you might keep your options open until you see what the weather is like on the day you want to do the drive. It would be a shame to book a tour ahead and find out you got a rainy day and can't see anything.
Posted by
Gig Harbor, Washington, USA
1879 posts
We drove the Ring of Kerry over several days last April. We found the south side of the Ring, up to Portmagee, was more interesting than the north side. If you do find several options (sorry, can't help with tours or public transport, we always rent a car), you might want to choose a "there and back again" route covering the south side instead of a route that does the entire circuit....You might also want to consider the "jaunting car / return by boat through the lakes" tour through the Gap of Dunloe as an alternative. It was very scenic and a nice contrast to the ocean scenery you see on Dingle.
Posted by
Atlanta, Ga, USA
2023 posts
We had a car but decided to do the bus tour of ROK. It was not Finnegan's and can't remember the name but our hotel in Killarney recommended it and we boarded the bus right in the heart of Killarney. We liked it and our driver was great providing history and details with stops at some neat sites. We did Dingle on our own but our favorite drive was Beara Peninsula-gorgeous scenery.
Posted by
Ithaca, NY, USA
30 posts
We stayed in Kenmare and took Finnegan's Tour- a van with four other people. OK tour but north side of Kerry not very interesting and it was a long day. I would stay in Dingle another night or two and experience the local music in the pubs and great resturants. Kenmare is a very pretty town with good resturants and pubs and would recommend spending a night or two there. Tom
Ithaca,NY