5 Days in the Kingdom of Kerry

I lived in Kerry for four years, and this is roughly the route I give people when they ask what to do with five days there. It covers the Dingle Peninsula, Killarney National Park, a day in the mountains, and the good half of the Ring of Kerry. This Kerry itinerary is built for depth over coverage, since five days is enough to see Kerry properly but not enough to see all of it.

You need a car. Kerry's public transport will not get you to most of this, and several of the best stretches are on roads no bus goes down.

At a glance

• Start and end: Dublin, though it works better if you fly into Kerry or Shannon
• Base towns: Dingle for two nights, Killarney for two, Kenmare for the last
• Driving: manageable daily legs after the first long one across the country
• Best months: May, June, September

Day 1: Dublin to Dingle

The long drive of the trip, straight across the country. Break it at Adare shortly after you come off the motorway, which is worth thirty minutes on its own.

Get into Dingle around lunchtime and go straight to Harrington's for fish and chips. It is a plain, family-run spot with locally sourced seafood, no fuss, and it sets the tone for the food on this whole route: good, unpretentious, and close to the boats it came off.

Afternoon is a boat trip out along the peninsula coastline, the best possible introduction to where you have arrived. A Dingle Sea Safari gets you close to the cliffs and the Blasket Islands from the water, and you have a decent chance of dolphins, seals or even whales along the way. Evening in Dingle town, which has more good pubs per square metre than anywhere else in Ireland. Dick Mack's is the one to know: part pub, part old hardware shop, still selling boot leather alongside the pints. Stay in or near the Dingle Skellig, on the edge of town with the bay right outside.

Day 2: The Blaskets and Slea Head

Ferry out to the Blasket Islands in the morning, weather permitting. The islands have been uninhabited since the 1950s and the walk around them is quietly extraordinary. Book the crossing the evening before if you can, since it only runs when the sea allows it.

Back in Dingle for lunch at My Boy Blue, a relaxed cafe with a strong coffee and a menu that covers vegetarian and vegan without making a production of it.

Afternoon on the Slea Head Drive. Drive it clockwise, the roads are narrow and everyone else is going that way. Coumenole Beach is the stop most people rush past and should not, some of the bluest water on this coast for a beach with no name recognition at all. Dinner at Out of the Blue back in town, a small seafood place with a menu that changes on whatever came in that day. It has no problem shutting early if the catch runs out.

Day 3: Dingle to Killarney

Inch Beach on the way, one of the few beaches in Ireland you can drive onto.

Then Killarney National Park for the afternoon: Ross Castle on the shore of Lough Leane, and Muckross House with its gardens. Both are busy. Both are worth it anyway, and the further you walk from either car park the quieter it gets.

Lunch at The Tan Yard in Killarney town if you time it right, a relaxed spot built around local, seasonal produce that vegetarians in the group will actually thank you for. For dinner, The Lane at the Ross Hotel is the one people talk about, inventive food and a cocktail list worth lingering over. Stay at The Brehon, which has one of the better spas in Kerry if two hard days of driving and walking have caught up with you.

Day 4: MacGillycuddy's Reeks

The mountain day, and the one with a decision in it. Start out from the Hydro Track car park.

An out-and-back to the Hydro Dam and the twin lakes runs two to three hours, no scrambling, and takes in some of the best views in Kerry for relatively little effort. That is what I would send most people to do.

If you want Carrauntoohil itself, Ireland's highest mountain, budget six to eight hours round trip. You need proper boots and a real weather window, and it will eat the whole day, so leave the rest of Day 4 loose if you are going for the summit.

Whichever you choose, lunch afterwards at Kate Kearney's Cottage, right at the entrance to the Gap of Dunloe, traditional Irish food in a room that has been feeding walkers for a long time. Then the Gap itself in the afternoon, driven slowly, since the road does not reward hurrying. Back to Killarney and The Brehon for the evening. If you still have legs for it, the Killarney Grand does live music most nights, and the Shire Bar and Cafe is the one for anyone in the group who grew up on Lord of the Rings.

Day 5: Valentia and the Ring

Bray Head on Valentia Island first, a walk up to a view out over the Skelligs and the Kerry coastline. Then the Kerry Cliffs near Portmagee, which rise over 300 metres and get a fraction of the attention the Cliffs of Moher do.

Lunch at The Lobster Bar in Waterville, which does exactly what the name promises alongside the rest of a solid seafood menu.

Derrynane Beach in the afternoon, and the abbey ruins in the dunes behind it. Finish in Kenmare, and if it is a night to make an occasion of it, The Lime Tree does the best dinner in town, in a nineteenth century building that has held onto its character. Sheen Falls Lodge just outside Kenmare is the stay to book if you want the trip to end on a high note, three hundred acres of grounds and a waterfall you can hear from the room.