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Things to do in Kenmare

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Kenmare

A planned estate town of three streets in an X at the head of the Kenmare river, laid out in 1775 and now the quiet alternative to Killarney for anyone doing both the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara. The tunnels of the Killarney road climb over the mountains behind it and the sea inlet below is warm enough for a resident group of harbour seals. It has more good cooking per head than anywhere else in Kerry.

6 places on record

Things to do

6
  1. Gleninchaquin Park

    Waterfall · 3 hr

    A private hill farm at the head of a glacial valley with a hundred-and-forty-metre waterfall dropping in stages into a hanging lake, and marked loops that climb beside it. It is reached down a long dead-end road off the Beara side and there is a gate fee at the farmhouse.

  2. Kenmare Stone Circle

    Archaeological Site · 30 min

    A bronze age circle of fifteen stones around a boulder dolmen, the largest circle in the south-west, in a field a few minutes' walk from the square. There is an honesty box at the gate.

  3. Molls Gap

    Viewpoint · 30 min

    A pass at two hundred and sixty metres on the Killarney road where the rock is scoured into long parallel grooves by ice, looking back over the Reeks. It is the pivot point of the Ring of Kerry and has a shop and cafe at the top.

  4. Park Hotel

    Hotel

    An 1897 railway hotel above the Kenmare river with terraced lawns running down to the water and a spa built into the garden. It is the older of the town's two country-house hotels and closes for part of the winter.

  5. Sheen Falls Lodge

    Hotel

    A former fishing lodge on a hundred and fifty hectares where the Sheen drops over a wide rock ledge into the tidal water, with the falls floodlit under the terrace. It has its own stretch of salmon river and is a few minutes from the town.

  6. Uragh Stone Circle

    Archaeological Site · 1 hr

    A small circle of five stones with a single outlier over three metres tall, standing on a spit between two lakes in the Inchiquin valley with a waterfall behind it. The setting is the reason to go and the last kilometre is a rough track.

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