Tag Archives: Killarney

Ireland 2025 – Day 2

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First part of the day was going around the Ring of Kerry (recommended stop we followed were mainly from chatGPT). We started at our hotel in Killarney, The Lake Hotel, and drove 15 minutes south to our first stop, Torc Waterfall. After parking we followed the yellow trail to get to the waterfall. It was a moderate hike in terms of elevation, but definitely recommend doing it. Waterfall was also a good view. The area in general is a good area for hiking trails (and is part of the Killarney National Park).

We then headed to the next recommend stop, Ladies View. It was a quick stop of a high scenic view of the lakes. Worth the stop.

The third stop was Moll’s Gap. Definitely worth skipping (nothing really to see).

Fourth stop was at a town called Sneem. Main attractions are the scultpure park and the bridge. I would say it’s optional to stop by, but would recommend getting lunch there if you hadn’t eaten yet.

Next stop was Kerry Cliffs (which itself is slightly off the Ring of Kerry. It’s in the Skellig Ring). Definitely recommend visiting it for the views.

Next we visited one other site that was off the Ring of Kerry, Valencia Island, to view the Tetrapod footprints (the animals were supposedly one of the first animals to set foot on land on earth, and they are 1 meter long)). Not sure if it was worth the detour, since not sure if the footprints were real.

Last stop was Roseebeigh beach. Not worth the stop (just a plain beach).

In summary, the must sees are the Torc Waterfall, Kerry Cliffs, and Ladies view. The skippable ones are Moll’s Gap and Rossbeigh beach. If there is a next time might spend 20 minutes hanging out in Glenbeigh along the way. And might try and do the west most European islands, Skellig Michael. Also, fyi, driving the ring is pretty intense because half the time the roads do not fit two cars (you have to give way to people coming on the opposite side).

Afterwards, we headed for a 2 hour drive to our hotel in Cork, the Clayton Cork Hotel, located in the center of the city.

Soon after arriving we had a reservation at a seafood restaurant a block away called Goldie. Details here:

Goldie

In terms of exploring the city for nightlife, you basically have Oliver Plunkett St happening with lots of bars and pubs. St Patrick St is filled with shops, and has the classic Burger King open late. For a touristy Irish dive bar with folk music, we churches out Sin E (recommended by a waitress). It is small, but there was Irish music. For electronic music, Resident Advisor said an event with Katie Butler (no Spotify and many sound cloud accounts with the same name) was happening at Dali. Music was all over the electronic spectrum, but ended up staying there for 1 hour. Crowd was my scene 😉

FYI the above is mainly around the St Patrick neighborhood. There is also the Victorian Quarter as well as others that would be good to visit next time.

Ireland 2025 – Day 1

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Flew out of IBZ around 11am, and arrived at DUB at 1pm local time. Immigration was fairly fast.

We ended up renting a car, and driving west towards a town called Limerick.

At Limerick, we stopped by King John’s Castle. Learned 4 things about the castle:

-Henry II invaded Ireland and ordered the castle to be built for his son King John

-King John never actually entered it since he died 6 years after it was ordered to be built (died of dysentery)

-For some reason there was a siege/rebels (I think in the 1500s)

-lots of purses (to activate people speaking in the museum you had to lift these coin purses)

We then stopped by town to grab an early dinner. Parts of the town reminded me of the lower east side inn New York, while others were clearly more gentrified (and others looked like buildings were falling apart). Here is the restaurant we ate at, called Coqbull (and yes it is a play on what you’re thinking because the WiFi password is whipitout).

Coqbull

After we drove another 2 hours to Killarney. We passed by towns that looked similar to Aberlour, and lots of greenery.

At Killarney, first thing we did is check into our hotel, The Lake Hotel. It is actually pretty beautiful with the lake beside it (and a castle that is dilapidated).

The town of Killarney is also fairly nice, where you can definitely see people have their weddings here. We also ventured into town and checked out one Irish bar, Tinh Mary Donald’s, and got a Guiness (they also had trivia night going on). Also hopped into one other place, Kaynes Bar and Restaurant, to try Killarney whisky. It’s not bad, but also wouldn’t be my first choice.

Then ubered back to the hotel to get a complimentary night cap at the hotel bar.