Being One With Nature in County Kerry

We used Killarney as a base for exploring County Kerry – Killarney National Park and Dingle Peninsula. We stayed at Larkinley Lodge, a cute B&B right in the center of Killarney. Thankfully everything was pretty close and we took a tour bus to Dingle so Darsh got a break from driving.

Killarney National Park is huge. It’s full of lakes, hikes, bike trails, and even a waterfall. Luckily, the day we decided to hike it didn’t rain much….although I was really cold. We did a 2-hour hike around Muckross Estate and Torc Waterfall. It was really pretty and great to finally get some kind of exercise.

The next day we toured around Dingle Peninsula. It was really nice being driven around because the streets are insanely tiny. Honestly I have no idea how the bus maneuvered itself around some of these roads. We also covered so much ground – we would have never been able to do this on our own.

The Dingle Peninsula is really, really pretty. It’s full of rolling green hills with some stone age ruins, stone walls, and some great beaches. We liked Inch – you could see some surfers braving the cold – and it was freezing at the beach! Driving through different towns I kept thinking I’ve never seen so much green! And everything is perfectly manicured. People really take care of their yards, lawns, even cities. (Fiona later told me that Ireland has competitions between cities for cleanliness….I totally think this is a good idea!) The Dingle Peninsula is also part of the Gaeltacht region (traditional Irish speaking region). So you see signs in Gaelic and some people speak in Gaelic….kinda cool and also weird for us because after being in non English speaking countries for so long we got used to speaking in English again.

Finally the food…..I gotta say I’ve been pleasantly surprised! They even had vegetarian options for my dad. It sounds weird but some of our favorite meals were at the Visitor Centers (in Killarney National Park and somewhere on Dingle Peninsula) – really yummy, organic food. We also liked Murphys (pub food with some healthy options) and Bombay Palace (good Indian). And if you want to listen to some good music, Scott’s in Killarney was pretty good.