The Kerry Way

County Kerry occupies Ireland's far southwest, where rocky peninsulas reach out into the Atlantic. The Iveragh Peninsula holds ancient oak woodland, glacial lakes, open bog and wave-battered sea cliffs — some of the wildest landscape left in Western Europe.

The Kerry Way circles this peninsula for 215 km, making it Ireland's longest waymarked trail. We walk the route anti-clockwise from Killarney, south through the national park, west along the Atlantic coast, and back east through Kenmare. This direction keeps the prevailing wind at your back and saves the dramatic Old Kenmare Road mountain crossing for the final stage.

Along the way you'll pass Skellig Michael — a UNESCO World Heritage Site perched on an Atlantic rock 12 km offshore — Derrynane House, where Daniel O'Connell grew up, and fishing villages where the day's catch reaches your plate by evening.

Kerry Way walking tours

Our Kerry Way walking tours are self-guided. You walk the trail at your own pace, and we book your B&Bs, move your luggage every morning and give you route notes and a GPS app for every stage. The tours run from 5 to 12 days, so you can walk one section or the whole circuit:

• 5 or 6 days: the mountain heart of the trail, from Killarney National Park through the Black Valley and Glencar to the sea at Glenbeigh, or on to Cahersiveen.

• 7 days: the same start, continuing over the mountains above Bolus Head to Waterville and the Skellig coast.

• 8 days: the coastal half, from Glenbeigh round through Cahersiveen, Waterville, Caherdaniel, Sneem and Kenmare to Killarney.

• 10 days: Killarney to Kenmare, taking in the National Park, the Lack Road and the Skellig coast.

• 12 days: the complete circuit back to Killarney, with a rest day in Cahersiveen and the chance to visit Skellig Michael.

Not sure which suits you? Compare the Kerry Way tours above or ask us: we have walked every stage and are happy to help you choose.

Kerry Way stages, distances and difficulty

These are the nine walking stages on our complete 12-day Kerry Way tour, anti-clockwise from Killarney, measured on our own GPS tracks. We use short transfers from Cahersiveen back to Foilduff and from Sneem to Blackwater Bridge, so the stages stay a comfortable length.

The full waymarked circuit is longer than the 170 km we walk, because our two short transfers skip parts of it.

How hard is the Kerry Way?

The Kerry Way is a moderate walk. Most stages are 14 to 21 km with 290 to 560 metres of climbing, which means five to seven hours on the trail. The exception is the day from Foilduff to Waterville: 23.5 km and about 760 metres of ascent over the open hills above the Skellig coast. It is the hardest and the finest day of the circuit.

The trail never goes very high (the top of the Lack Road is about 380 metres), but the mountain sections are boggy and exposed to Atlantic weather. On our tracks, about 40% of the route is quiet road, a fifth is gravel track and 40% is footpath, bog and woodland trail. Bring good waterproof boots.

Kerry Way map

The route map on this page shows every stage. Choose a tour to see its walking days on the map. For day-by-day tips, read our complete Kerry Way walking guide.

A Walk Along the Edge of Europe

Our Kerry Way tours begin in Killarney, a lively market town at the head of three famous lakes surrounded by Ireland's largest surviving native woodland. The first stage crosses Killarney National Park, passing Torc Waterfall and the ancient yew and oak woods around Muckross Lake. The air smells of damp moss and wet bark. At dawn, red deer move through the trees — descendants of Ireland's only surviving native herd.

From the national park the trail climbs into the Black Valley, one of the last places in Ireland to receive electricity — in 1976. The landscape here is raw and quiet: stone-walled fields, stacked turf, a handful of farmhouses tucked beneath mountain ridges. The silence is the kind you notice.

The route then turns west towards the Atlantic. The terrain opens into high bogland, and the coast appears — first as a distant shimmer, then as a crashing, salt-spray presence. Cahersiveen and Waterville are the main overnight stops on the western leg. They're small towns with strong characters. Waterville was Charlie Chaplin's favourite holiday retreat; he returned every summer through the 1960s, and the town still celebrates the connection with an annual comedy film festival.

South of Waterville the trail passes Derrynane House and the stunning beach at Derrynane Bay, then the massive drystone walls of Staigue Fort — a 2,000-year-old ringfort on a hillside overlooking the Kenmare River estuary. The fort is 27 metres across, its walls nearly four metres thick at the base, built entirely without mortar.

The eastern stages wind through Sneem — a village of painted houses on the Kenmare River estuary — and on to Kenmare, a Georgian market town with the finest restaurant scene on the entire trail. From Kenmare, the final stage follows the Old Kenmare Road back to Killarney — an ancient track over the mountain saddle between Peakeen and Mangerton, with views that make nine days of walking feel like a proper send-off.