Scenic Point in County Kerry

The Conor Pass on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry is the highest road pass in Ireland, crossing the central ridge of the peninsula at approximately 456 metres above sea level in a route of extraordinary mountain scenery that descends from Dingle town on the south to Cloghane on the north in a series of hairpin bends and steep gradients above the glacial corrie lakes and the deep valley below. The combination of the altitude, the views across Dingle Bay to the south and Brandon Bay to the north and the dramatic mountain landscape of the pass itself creates one of the finest mountain road experiences in Ireland. The view from the summit of the pass encompasses Dingle Harbour and the full length of Dingle Bay to the south with the Iveragh Peninsula and the distant Kerry mountains on the far shore, and to the north the great arc of Brandon Bay extending to Brandon Head and the Atlantic beyond. The mountain of Mount Brandon, the highest peak in Ireland outside Kerry's MacGillycuddy's Reeks, rises to the northwest and provides the dominant skyline feature of the northern view, its great bulk shaped by the same Ice Age glaciers whose work is visible in the corrie lakes below the pass. The pass road is narrow in places and unsuitable for large vehicles in either direction, and the combination of the narrow road, the hairpin bends and the spectacular scenery makes the Conor Pass one of the most memorable and most slightly nerve-wracking mountain driving experiences in Ireland.

The Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry is one of the finest and most varied coastal landscapes in Ireland, a mountainous finger of land projecting westward into the Atlantic whose combination of the great mountain of Mount Brandon, the spectacular sea cliffs of Slea Head, the archaeological richness of the Fahan group of early Christian monuments and the character of the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht community centred on Dingle town creates a destination of extraordinary variety and natural and cultural beauty. The peninsula is the most westerly point of the European mainland and the westernmost Irish-speaking community in Europe. The Dingle town itself, the largest settlement on the peninsula, combines excellent seafood restaurants, traditional pubs and music with a genuinely functioning fishing port in a combination that has made it one of the most popular visitor destinations in Kerry while retaining more authentic character than many comparable tourist towns. The famous dolphin Fungi who lived in Dingle Bay for over three decades provided an additional attraction to the many visitors who took boat trips to see him. The Slea Head Drive around the western end of the peninsula traverses the greatest concentration of early Christian monuments in Ireland, including the Gallarus Oratory, the most perfectly preserved early Christian stone church in the world, the Fahan beehive huts and the Kilmalkedar church complex, in a landscape of dramatic coastal scenery that represents the western edge of European civilisation in one of its most ancient and most authentically preserved forms.

The Gap of Dunloe is a dramatic mountain pass in County Kerry cut through the McGillycuddy's Reeks by glacial action during the last Ice Age, a narrow valley of approximately six kilometres connecting Beaufort in the south to the Black Valley in the north in a route of extraordinary mountain scenery that traverses some of the finest glacial landscape in Ireland. The Gap is traditionally experienced by pony and trap from Kate Kearney's Cottage at the southern entrance, a combination of transport and scenery that has been providing tourists with one of the most memorable Kerry experiences since the Victorian period. The glacial valley of the Gap was carved by a glacier flowing south from the ice field of the Reeks, the enormous erosive power of the ice deepening and widening the pre-existing river valley into the U-shaped profile characteristic of glacial erosion. The five glacial lakes that occupy the valley floor at various points along its length, the largest being the Black Lake at the head of the pass, fill the over-deepened sections of the valley floor where the glacier scoured most aggressively into the underlying Old Red Sandstone rock. The views from the head of the pass into the Black Valley beyond, one of the most remote and most beautiful valleys in Kerry, provide the most dramatic single moment of the traverse. The Black Valley has no electricity supply connected to the national grid and its farms and houses retain a degree of isolation unusual in a Kerry valley accessible by road.

Killarney National Park holds the distinction of being Ireland's first national park, designated in 1932 when Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish state, and it remains one of the country's most visited and most beautiful natural areas. The park covers approximately 10,000 hectares of mountain, lake, ancient woodland and bogland in the heart of County Kerry, protected by a ring of dramatic MacGillycuddy's Reeks peaks to the west and centred on the famous Lakes of Killarney: Lough Leane, Muckross Lake and the Upper Lake. The park holds some of the most significant ancient oak woodland in Ireland, remnants of the forest that once blanketed much of the island. The Reenadinna Yew Wood on the shores of Muckross Lake is one of the largest yew woodlands in western Europe and has an almost primeval atmosphere, its gnarled trees growing from limestone pavement in dense, cathedral-like shade. The mild, wet climate created by the influence of the Atlantic Ocean allows the woodland to support an extraordinary density of mosses, liverworts and ferns, and the park's plant communities include rare species found only here and in similar Atlantic fringe habitats in western Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula. Wildlife in the park is exceptional. Killarney supports the only native herd of red deer in Ireland, descended from populations that have lived here continuously since the last Ice Age. The park is also home to the white-tailed eagle, reintroduced after an absence of a century and now breeding successfully in the area. The lakes and rivers hold brown trout and the Atlantic salmon that gives the local fishing such a strong reputation, while sika deer, introduced in the nineteenth century, are now common throughout the woodland. Muckross House, a Victorian mansion completed in 1843, stands on the shore of Muckross Lake and provides the park's main built heritage attraction. The house was famously visited by Queen Victoria in 1861 and its richly furnished rooms reflect the lifestyle of the wealthy Anglo-Irish landowning class. Traditional working farms on the estate recreate agricultural practices from the 1930s and 1940s and are particularly popular with families. Nearby, the ruins of Muckross Abbey, a fifteenth-century Franciscan friary, stand within an ancient yew grove in a setting of exceptional beauty. The Gap of Dunloe, a narrow glacial valley south of Killarney town, provides one of the most dramatic excursions in the park. The traditional way to experience it is by jaunting car, the horse-drawn carriages unique to Killarney, though it can also be walked or cycled. The boat trips across the lakes connecting the Gap with Ross Castle provide a perfect day out in any weather.

Ladies View in the Killarney National Park is the most celebrated viewpoint in Kerry and one of the most famous scenic vistas in Ireland, a roadside stopping point on the main Killarney to Kenmare road from which the full extent of the Upper Lake, the MacGillycuddy's Reeks mountains and the characteristic Killarney landscape of wooded lake shores, mountain backdrop and open water is revealed in a panorama of considerable power and beauty. The view takes its name from the Queen's Ladies-in-Waiting who stopped here during Queen Victoria's royal visit to Killarney in 1861 and expressed their admiration for the landscape. The view encompasses the Upper Lake, Muckross Lake and part of Lough Leane spread across the floor of the valley below, the MacGillycuddy's Reeks with their dramatic profiles rising above the southern shore and the characteristic Killarney woodland of sessile oak, arbutus and yew covering the shores and islands of the lakes in the combination of water, mountain and woodland that has made Killarney one of the most celebrated landscapes in Ireland since the eighteenth century. The Killarney National Park surrounding the view is one of the finest national parks in Ireland and contains the largest surviving area of native woodland in the country, the sessile oak and arbutus woodland covering the lake shores in a vegetation type that was once widespread across the moist Atlantic regions of Ireland and has been reduced to a few fragments of which the Killarney woods are the finest.

The Ring of Kerry is one of the most celebrated scenic drives in Ireland, a 179-kilometre circular route around the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry that encompasses some of the most spectacular Atlantic coastal scenery in Europe, including the MacGillycuddy's Reeks mountain range, the Kerry coastline with its islands and inlets, the monastic island of Skellig Michael visible offshore and the characteristic Kerry landscape of small farms, stone walls and the brilliant green of Atlantic Ireland. The route is one of the principal tourist circuits in the Republic of Ireland and passes through or near several significant heritage and natural sites. The mountain scenery of the Ring is dominated by the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Ireland's highest mountain range, whose peaks including Carrauntoohil at 1,039 metres provide a dramatic backdrop throughout the western section of the circuit. The Killarney National Park at the eastern end of the ring encompasses the famous Lakes of Killarney, the oak and yew woodlands of the Kerry mountains and Muckross House, combining to create one of the most significant natural heritage areas in Ireland. The view of the Skelligs from the western peninsulas of the Kerry coast is one of the great Irish seascapes, the two rock pyramids rising from the Atlantic horizon providing a dramatic focal point for the coastal scenery. Skellig Michael, the larger of the two, supports the ruins of an early medieval monastery whose isolation on this Atlantic sea stack provides the most austere and most dramatic example of the eremitic impulse in Irish Christianity. The towns and villages on the Ring, including Kenmare, Waterville and Cahersiveen, provide visitor facilities and reflect the character of rural Kerry with its music, food and hospitality traditions.