The Wild Atlantic WayRing of Kerry.

Kenmare is the most civilised and food-focused town on the Ring of Kerry — a planned town laid out in the 1670s by Sir William Petty (the economist who surveyed Ireland for Cromwell) on a triangular grid, with a Monday market that has operated since the 17th century. The Kenmare River (actually a long sea inlet, not a river) brings the Gulf Stream warmth that allows subtropical plants to grow in the surrounding gardens. Kenmare has more Michelin-star restaurants per capita than almost any other Irish town.

Skellig Michael is a 218-metre pyramidal rock 12 kilometres off the Kerry coast, on which early Christian monks built a monastery in the 6th century — surviving on the bare Atlantic rock until the 12th century. The 600 steep stone steps to the summit beehive huts are among the most dramatic approaches to any ancient site in Europe. UNESCO World Heritage. Boat trips operate May–October (book months ahead — weather cancellations are frequent); those who cannot book can see the rock clearly from the Bray Head viewpoint on Valentia Island or from the N70 at Waterville. Star Wars Episode VII and VIII were filmed here.

Moll's Gap is the mountain pass on the N71 between Kenmare and Killarney — a high point with a café and views over the Killarney valley and toward the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Ireland's highest mountain range. Carrantuohill (1,038m), Ireland's highest mountain, is visible from the gap on clear days. The road descends from the gap through the Black Valley — one of the last inhabited valleys in Ireland to receive electricity (1970s) — to the Upper Lake and the national park.

The Connor Pass (456m) is the highest mountain road in Ireland — a single-track road in sections, rising steeply from the northern shore of the Dingle Peninsula to a summit viewpoint overlooking both Brandon Bay to the north and the Dingle harbour and Blasket Islands to the south. The descent to Dingle town is as dramatic as the ascent. The road is not suitable for large vehicles (motorhomes above a certain size are advised to use the N86 coastal road). The view from the summit car park on a clear day — the full sweep of the Dingle Peninsula — is the finest mountain panorama in Kerry.

Dingle (An Daingean in Irish) is the most westerly town on the Irish mainland and one of the most vigorously Irish in character — in the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area), with street signs in Irish only, a fleet of fishing boats still working the bay, and pubs whose music sessions are among the best in Kerry. Fungie the bottlenose dolphin lived in Dingle Bay from 1983 until disappearing in 2020 — a 37-year relationship between a wild dolphin and a small fishing town that is unique in recorded human-animal interaction. Boat trips to the bay still go out on the hope he might return.

The Slea Head Drive (R559) is the circular route around the western tip of the Dingle Peninsula — the most Atlantic-facing point of the Irish mainland. The view from Slea Head itself: the Blasket Islands (An Blascaod Mór), evacuated in 1953 when the last 22 inhabitants asked to be taken to the mainland, their stone houses still visible on the hillside from the shore. The Dingle Peninsula has the highest concentration of early medieval stone structures in western Europe: the Dunbeg promontory fort, and the Fahan group of clochán (beehive huts) above Slea Head are both free and accessible from the road.

The Shannon Estuary car ferry from Tarbert to Killimer crosses the mouth of the Shannon — the longest river in Ireland, which at its estuary is wide enough to require a 20-minute ferry crossing. The ferry saves approximately 90 minutes of driving via Limerick and is one of the most pleasant short crossings in Ireland — the Shannon Estuary in the morning, seabirds, the Clare shore approaching. Operates daily year-round, roughly hourly in summer. Book online at shannon-ferries.com, or pay on arrival (never guaranteed a space in peak season).

The Burren (An Bhoireann — the rocky place) is a 560 square kilometre limestone plateau of karst pavement — a landscape unlike anything else in Ireland or Britain. The bare grey limestone (karst) was scoured clean by glaciers and is now cracked into slabs (clints) separated by fissures (grikes) in which plants from the Arctic and the Mediterranean grow side by side: spring gentian (usually only above 3,000m in the Alps), mountain avens, maidenhair fern and bloody cranesbill flowering together in a combination that has no parallel elsewhere in Europe. The explanation: the limestone absorbs winter cold slowly (preventing frost damage) and retains summer warmth (allowing Mediterranean species).

The Cliffs of Moher are the most dramatic sea cliffs in Ireland — 8 kilometres of vertical Namurian shale and sandstone falling 214 metres to the Atlantic. The cliff faces shelter the largest seabird colony in Ireland: approximately 30,000 puffins, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, and fulmars nesting in the rock ledges. The cliffs were formed 300 million years ago from the delta deposits of a river that no longer exists; the horizontal rock layering is visible in the cliff faces. Entry must be booked at cliffsofmoher.ie — the site receives 1.5 million visitors annually and day-trippers fill the car parks by 11:00 in summer. Arrive before 09:30 or after 17:00.

Galway is the most lively and culturally vibrant city in western Ireland — a university city of 80,000 with a medieval core (the Latin Quarter), a fishing and trading history connecting it to Spain and Portugal, and a specific character of Bohemian Atlantic energy that differs from Dublin in the same way that Cork differs from London. Shop Street is one of the finest pedestrian high streets in Ireland. The Spanish Arch (a 16th-century quay extension where Spanish galleons unloaded wine) is the most atmospheric corner. The Salthill promenade (3km west along Galway Bay) and the tradition of "kicking the wall" at its end are essential.