Exploring Killarney National Park, Part 2: Islands, Waterfalls, and Scary Roads

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Travel dates: June 21-22, 2019

Killarney, Part 1 here

“How many do you have?” asked the boat skipper outside Ross Castle, where we were hoping to catch a ride across the lake to Innisfallen. When we told him there were ten of us, he nodded and said, “I’m licensed for ten.” We climbed aboard and donned ill-fitting life jackets and set off, and just as were realizing he’d never told us how much he was going to charge us, we noticed the prominent label on the side of the boat that read, “Maximum occupancy: 6.”

“How deep is the lake?” Dave asked.

“You don’t want to know,” he said.

But the boat did not sink, and we are not all very, very deep at the bottom of the lake. And the island was amazing:

So to recap: in Ireland, short distances seem longer and short mountains seem taller. And national parks are not as concerned with safety as in the US. Also, everything is really, really pretty.

Incidentally, I looked it up, and the deepest part of the lakes of Killarney is 246 feet, which falls well short of the deepest part of Yellowstone Lake, at 394 feet. We have also been out on Yellowstone Lake, albeit with a more legitimately licensed National Park concessionaire…so I guess the lakes in Ireland seem deeper than they really are, too, mostly because of the boat guys who tell you ominously that you don’t even want to know how deep they are while you’re out on the middle of them in unsafe boats.

Anyway. I’ll get back to the boat momentarily. When we left off, we were finishing up a very full and fun day of riding bikes all over Killarney and checking out some awesome ruins and some adorable farm animals. We planned a lighter day for our second Killarney day, with our only firm plan being to see Torc Waterfall. But we also needed to run into town for groceries, so Dave, and Milo, and I walked there on the bike path, stopped to see Killarney House and Gardens, and then took the scenic route back, all of which took longer than we’d meant for it to.

Killarney House is the visitor centre for the national park and also a genuine house with historical significance that you can tour. Touring the fancy rooms in the house requires a guide and a separate ticket, but there’s an area with exhibits about the park that is free, and that’s where we spent our time.

I think this section is pretty new, and it’s really nicely done, with tons of information about all aspects of the park: history, geology, wildlife, etc. We were kind of rushing through since everyone else was waiting for us back at the hotel, but if we’d known there was so much to see we might have brought everyone along.

Then we headed to the store to pick up some stuff for lunch. Killarney is a good sized town with plenty of shopping and restaurant options. Also accordion playing statues:

And then we started the longer than we really had been thinking walk back to the hotel (I believe it’s 3 kilometers; I think I kind of have the wrong perception of how much shorter kilometers are than miles. They’re shorter, but they’re not THAT much shorter). We took a detour on an alternate path away from the paved bike path, and were rewarded with some outstanding views:

And a field full of red deer:

And then we headed out after lunch to see Torc Waterfall. We drove over this time and opted to park at Muckross House, because there’s very limited parking near the waterfall. From there, it’s a 2.5 km pleasant walk to the waterfall, and sometimes you get to share the road with some of Killarney’s ubiquitous ponies and traps (pony and traps?)

There’s a short uphill walk past the parking area to the actual waterfall, though lovely, mossy woods, alongside a stream:

Maybe your six year old will make it halfway up and then decide he needs to go all the way back down to the bathroom!

The waterfall itself is very pretty, if not exactly jaw dropping or anything.

From here, there are steps that take you up and up and up–we weren’t sure where to–and some of us opted to continue walking to see what else was up there.

It turns out there’s a view of Muckross Lake and then you could keep going farther than that and make a loop if you’d like. Dave reports, “There was that nice view… but mostly a lot of hiking up hill. And there was a bridge over the creek which was a nice place to rest. That’s where we turned around.”

That evening we went into town for dinner and ended up at the Uptown Restaurant, which had great reviews and intrigued us by having Indian, Thai, and Chinese sections on their menu. And everyone found something they liked and enjoyed it:

We had long planned to spend one of our Killarney days touring the Gap of Dunloe. But the more we looked into it the more complicated and/or expensive it started to seem. The day involves a bus ride, either a long walk or ride via pony and trap, and then a boat ride. From what I remember, you can book a tour that includes the bus and boat ride, but you have to bring cash to hire a pony and trap (or multiple ones for our big group) when you get up there. Or you can break things up and book the components separately to save some money, but then it gets more complicated….I’m sure it’s an awesome experience and well worth it, but…we only had three days in Killarney and weren’t going to be able to see everything there, so we finally decided to find something a little less involved but, we hoped, also fabulous for our last day.

And we landed on the experience I started this post with–our boat ride out to the little island of Innisfallen. Innisfallen was the longtime home to a monastery; today it has no permanent residents, but you can hire a boat (or get their on your own power by rowboat or kayak, if you’re feeling adventurous)to take you on the quick trip across Lough Leane to explore the 12th century ruins and take in the beautiful views:

You can find a boat at the dock near Ross Castle. As far as we could tell, there was no way to book in advance; you just turn up and there will likely be a guy with a boat there (generally a small open boat with a motor). If there’s not, I guess you wait around until there is. As I mentioned before, our boat guy didn’t tell us in advance what he would charge–he just told us he’d give us a “family rate.” In the end, he charged us 10 euros a person which, from what I’ve read, is pretty much what everyone charges. Make sure you bring cash as we just handed them the money after we got off the boat.

The ride across the lake only takes a few minutes and, of course, it’s a chance for some more great views. Our boat guy asked us how long we wanted on the island. Word is that sometimes they’ll just tell you they’ll come back in 45 minutes or something, but that often they’ll give you longer if you ask. You should definitely ask, because 45 minutes or something isn’t enough time!

We asked for two hours, and that was just about right for us. There are no services on the island (including bathrooms!) so you don’t want to stay too long. Two hours was enough time to explore the ruins, eat the snacks we brought, and walk the short trail around the island.

It will be hard for me to pick just a few pictures to put here. But here are some of us exploring the ruins:

There are monsters!

We had the place almost to ourselves. I don’t know if it gets more crowded later in the summer, or if it’s often more crowded and we just got lucky, but we only encountered maybe one other group while we were on the island.

The kids found this campfire that still had some embers in it and attempted to get it going again:

There’s a short trail around the island. If you’re lucky, you might spot some of the red deer that swim out to the island to graze. We saw a few, but, sadly, didn’t get a picture. But there’s lots more to see!

We were a little nervous that our boat guy would forget to come back and get us. He was, truth be told, a little eccentric. He told us a ghost story. But he came back! Right on schedule. We made it back to Ross Castle, land of public restrooms.

From here, we decided to do a little driving to check out some of the farther out areas of the park. This is when we learned that driving in Killarney can be very scary. The famed Ring of Kerry begins in Killarney, so driving in the park means driving on part of this route. There are two schools of thought on the best way to tackle the Ring of Kerry: if you go counter clockwise, you risk being stuck behind tour buses, which, as I understand it, are only allowed to go counter clockwise. If you go clockwise, on the other hand, you’re going against the flow on some very narrow roads. There is something to be said, in other words, for being behind a tour bus that’s big enough to insist on the right of way.

If you’re only driving a short distance on the Killarney part of the road, however, you don’t really have a choice; you go clockwise for awhile and then you turn around and go the other way. So, after a very close call when one of the tour buses squeezed past us, I can say that I will be firmly on the counter clockwise side of the debate, letting the buses set the pace, should I ever do the entire Ring of Kerry.

But when we weren’t nearly colliding with tour buses, we were seeing a lot of awesome stuff. Our first stop was a pull off where we could get a view of Eagle’s Nest AND the kids could splash over to this tiny island thing:

And then we made our way to Ladies’ View. Dave and I have a difference of opinion about Ladies’ View. He says it was totally amazing; I say it was pretty but not worth playing chicken with tour buses to see. Maybe I’m not cut out for the Ring of Kerry. Anyway, it’s called Ladies’ View because Queen Victoria’s ladies in waiting were really into it. It is, I have to admit, very nice: