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Ireland travel tours: Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry tour

Our Ireland travel tours take you from Cork to the Dingle Peninsula and the famous Ring of Kerry. Enjoy a small group exploration of the coast with expert guides.

Highlights

Discover one of our most scenic Ireland travel tours, focusing on the Dingle Peninsula and the famous Ring of Kerry, and unravel the geological and historical stories that created these extraordinary and dramatic landscapes.

Experience Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, with coastal exploration. Immerse yourself in the geology of the landscapes, deep time, and human history, as well as the folklore of south-west Ireland.

Local and expert guides will take you to the dramatic coastlines, mountains, castles, and harbours to uncover the astounding layers of history held in the rocks, landscapes, and people of this beautiful part of Ireland.

Visit Valentia island and hear about its fascinating history – from the first transatlantic cable being laid in 1865, to hosting Ireland’s oldest slate quarry, and the discovery of tracks of early vertebrates from 385 million years ago!

Enjoy a taste of traditional Ireland, meeting native speakers, hearing folk music, and tasting authentic Irish cuisine.

Slea Head, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

Slea Head, Dingle Peninsula

Overview

Take a trip to south west Ireland, enjoying a six-day, five-night journey through its history and culture. Begin your vacation in the city of Cork, then travel to the spectacular Dingle and Iveragh Peninsulas to uncover natural wonders and the stories of their origin.

Take inspiration from the wild landscape, with soaring cliffs, crashing waves, hidden sandy beaches and towering mountains. Gain new insights from expert tour leaders and local guides and unearth the geology behind Ireland’s most famous landmarks.

See how natural and human forces have shaped the Irish landscape, with visits to castles and cliffs, towns, and towers, and more on your journey across Ireland. Take to the sea to get a new perspective on the incredible coastline and hear tales of resilience and determination on remote islands.

Learn how south west Ireland has evolved from deep time to its historical traditions, native language, and music, through folk music sessions, pub visits and tours.

See Ireland’s most spectacular sights, including the famous Ring of Kerry, the eye-catching Dingle Peninsula, the distant Blasket Islands and picture-perfect Inch Beach. Discover scenic mountains and gorges, isolated islands, storm-wracked coastlines, and seaside communities.

  • Start / finish: Your tour will start and finish in Cork, Ireland.
  • Activity level: Moderate. Walks are generally less than 5km (3 miles) long, on graded trails, rocky paths, coastal outcrops and beaches.  (view our activity level definitions). This tour includes boarding and disembarking boats, for those wanting to visit the Blasket Islands.
  • Transport: We will use a small comfortable coach. This tour also involves an optional trip to Blasket Islands, with transport by passenger boat.
  • Weather: West of Ireland ranges from lows of 4° to highs of 19° (40°F to 66°F), rain is always possible, so you should bring suitable lightweight warm and waterproof clothing.
  • Accommodation
    • One night at Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry, County Cork, an award-winning Georgian country house hotel, offering guests ‘farm-to-fork’ menus based on sustainable principles with homegrown or locally sourced ingredients;
    • Two nights at the Pax Guest House, County Kerry, on the Dingle Peninsula with ‘one of the top ten views in Ireland’; and
    • Two nights at Ard na Sidhe Country House, County Kerry, a welcoming manor house surrounded by 32 acres of gardens.

Where you will visit…

Colourful Houses in Cork, Ireland.

Your journey begins in Cork, the second-largest city in Ireland and a great introduction to Irish hospitality and history. Among Cork’s attractions are the English Market, a covered food market which has been trading for over 200 years, not one, but two cathedrals, and the old town.

If you’ve arrived early, you could also visit the picturesque harbourside town of Cobh, famous as a departure point for mass emigration to the United States, and the last stop for the Titanic before its fateful voyage across the Atlantic. Both events are commemorated by heritage and experience centres, and the town also holds the tallest cathedral in Ireland, St Colman’s.

After exploring the area, in the late afternoon you’ll meet up with your tour leader, and your fellow guests at Ballymaloe House, a historic castle-turned-manor house hotel. After an introductory talk, the group will enjoy dinner at the hotel, ahead of your journey to the Wild Atlantic Way the following day.

Inch Beach, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland.

Today we’ll travel from Cork to Dingle, journeying from what can feel like ‘modern’ Ireland back to its traditional past. The scenic Dingle Peninsula juts out into the Atlantic Ocean and features mountains, castles, beaches and a sizable population of native Irish speakers!

On the way we’ll visit historic towns, and Inch Beach, a sweeping, dune-covered spit of sand reaching out into Dingle Bay which boasts excellent views over the water, and of the neighbouring Iveragh Peninsula. We’ll also take in views of distant mountains, and much closer, rare Inch conglomerate.

For lunch, we’ll be stopping into the South Pole Inn, a reminder of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Opened and once run by local Tom Crean, the Inn is a testament to the bygone age of Antarctic discovery, and Crean’s own exploits on the expeditions of both Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.

This part of Dingle, and the peninsula as a whole, is a great way to start ‘reading the rocks’ of Ireland’s 485-million-year-old geological history, when this part of the country was south of the equator. Highlights include signs of ancient sand dunes from when the area was a desert, evidence of a deep ocean, and a variety of exposed sediments and tectonic faults on Trabeg Beach.

After exploring the area’s cliffs and castles, we’ll round off day two of your Ireland vacation by checking into the Pax Guest House, a free evening to explore Dingle and a look forward to the morning view!

The striking Cathedral Rocks on the Blasket Islands, County Kerry, Ireland.

Yesterday was only a taster of the Dingle Peninsula; today, you’ll be travelling to its very western end, taking in plenty of incredible views along the way.

This leg involves plenty of geological and human history, including Fahan’s curious ‘beehive huts’, striking old red sandstone cliffs and views of the isolated Blasket Islands. Once home to purely Irish speakers, the island populations gradually shrank as residents emigrated to mainland Ireland or elsewhere, eventually leaving them a silent testament to generations of persevering islanders.

We’ll be discovering the island’s lost people and cultures at the heritage centre, and after lunch, catching a boat out to the islands proper to see the abandoned village, Silurian and Lower Devonian rocks and the resident seal colony.

Alternatively, if conditions aren’t right for the boat trip, we’ll take a scenic walk from the heritage centre to a filming site from the Robert Mitchum film Ryan’s Daughter with Silurian fossils, then travel to Clogher Head, to take in volcanic rocks and an excellent panoramic view of the Blasket Islands and Dingle’s neighbouring peninsulas.

Rock on Brandon Beach, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland.

Your last day on the Dingle Peninsula starts with a trip to the town of Ballyferriter to do a scenic circular walk in the area of Clogher Strand, seeing more evidence of Ireland’s volcanic past. Above the Strand, we’ll visit Louis Mulcahy Pottery, and hear the story of how a competition win led Louis to gamble by moving his entire business across country from Dublin to Dingle.

Other points of interest include the Gallarus Oratory, a well-preserved early-Christian church, and one of the best examples in Ireland.

The afternoon will be free to discover the delights of Dingle town, which holds plenty of art galleries, churches, and craft shops. If you’re up for a walk, you can also head out of town to visit Hussey’s Folly, an ‘artificial ruin’ built during the Great Famine to provide local citizens with employment.

Weather-permitting, we’ll then head up to the Conor Pass, up a winding mountain road, capped with spectacular views of the Owenmore Valley and the Brandon Mountains. The viewing spot is an excellent place to better understand the glacial forces that shaped the incredible landscape into its present day state. Later on, we’ll bid a fond farewell to Dingle and depart for your accommodation for the next two nights, Ard na Sidhe Country House, a secluded, spacious manor house hotel on the shores of Lake Caragh.

  • Hotel: Ard na Sidhe, County Kerry
  • Group dinner in the hotel

Valentina Island Lighthouse at Cromwell Point, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland.

From our new starting base on the Iveragh Peninsula, we’ll be heading off after breakfast to explore Valentia Island, one of Ireland’s largest islands. We’ll take a scenic drive down the north coast, visit an Iron Age ring fort then cross the bridge onto Valentia Island proper, passing Ireland’s highest mountain, Carrauntoohil, before crossing the bridge onto Valentia Island proper.

Valentia is full of history from across the timeline, stretching from the first transatlantic cable being laid in 1865, to hosting Ireland’s oldest slate quarry, to even showing tracks of early vertebrates from 385 million years ago!

Other attractions include the Skellig Experience Centre, which tells the story of the remote Skellig Islands, the larger of which still holds a monastery founded in the 6th century. While we won’t be visiting the islands first-hand, the Skellig Centre does an excellent job of showing what life was like on the isolated, storm-battered islands for their devout residents.

View over Dunquin Pier towards Blasket Islands, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland.

It’s time to enjoy the final breakfast of your Ireland vacation, but we’ve saved a pair of surprises until last.

First up is a spectacular valley on the way out of County Kerry, the Gap of Dunloe – take your pictures while you can! We’ll then get on the road to Cork, stopping off at Muckross House and Gardens in Ireland’s ‘Lake District’.

Built in the Victorian era, Muckross House is an incredible mansion to behold, with equally pleasing grounds holding a variety of different garden types to explore and enjoy.

After some light refreshments at Muckross, we’ll drive the rest of the way back to Cork, to wrap up this epic tour of Ireland late afternoon.

 

Note: If required for reasons beyond our control, GeoCultura reserves the right to substitute alternative accommodation of equal or higher quality or adapt the itinerary if required.

Double room for single occupancy is £425.

Your tour will start and finish in Cork, Ireland.

The activity level is rated as MODERATE, requiring an average level of fitness (view activity level definitions). Walks are generally less than 5km (3 miles) long, on graded trails, rocky paths, coastal outcrops and beaches. Good walking boots are required.

If walking is an issue, alternative arrangements can be made during the scheduled longer walks, so please let GeoCultura know in advance.

Transport will be by comfortable small coach. This tour also involves an optional trip to Blasket Islands, with transport by passenger boat.

Weather in the west of Ireland ranges from lows of 4° to highs of 19° (40°F to 66°F), rain is always possible, so you should bring suitable lightweight warm and waterproof clothing.

The tour includes:

  • The services of your expert tour leader who will be with the group throughout the tour, providing pre-visit briefings, fully guided walks and will be available to answer questions.
  • All transportation costs from the start to the end of the tour, including the services of a professional driver.
  • All accommodation costs for the nights stated, assuming two people sharing a double room. Single occupancy rooms are available for a surcharge. See Single Supplement in ‘Need to Know’ tab.
  • All breakfasts, lunches, and four dinners.
  • Entry fees, local guide fees and activity fees, where arranged as part of the tour.
  • All service charges and most gratuities.

The tour excludes:

  • Travel insurance. Guests should carry their own health and travel insurance.
  • Extra or optional activities not described in the itinerary
  • Dinner on free evening of Day 2, personal expenditures, any alcoholic drinks with meals, and extras at hotels such as laundry bills.
  • Transportation to the start venue or from the end venue of the tour (air fares are not included).
  • Passport and visa fees.

Our tour leader is happy to provide suggestions for alternative activities for guests who prefer not to participate in certain parts of the tour walks, visits or group dinners.

Night 1: Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry, near Cork

Ballymaloe House Hotel, County Cork, Ireland.

Legendary Irish Country House hotel, founded 60 years ago and still run by the Allen family. A tranquil 33-bedroom countryside retreat with its own farm and extensive kitchen garden, offering its celebrated ‘farm-to-fork’ dining experience.

Nights 2 & 3: Pax House, Dingle

Pax Guest House, County Kerry, Ireland.

This chic 16-bedroom licensed guest house is a 12-minute ‘downhill’ walk into Dingle and has amazing views over the harbour and Dingle peninsula. Enjoy the large sitting room with its artwork, books and comfortable seating. There are fresh flowers and binoculars in the bedrooms and previous guests report “delicious breakfasts, beautifully presented”. (Photo credit: Barry Murphy and Marie O’Leary)

Nights 4 & 5: Ard na Sidhe Country House, County Kerry.

Ard na Sidhe Country House Hotel, County Kerry, Ireland.

Located on the shores of Lough Caragh, with extensive grounds, this is a welcoming 18-bedroom traditional hotel with elegant restaurant. No TVs here, but enjoy the peaceful surroundings, the grounds and gardens, and the views.

Note: If required for reasons beyond our control, GeoCultura reserves the right to substitute alternate accommodations of equal or higher quality.

Deposit: A deposit of 10% of the tour price is due upon registration for a tour.

Final payment: Full payment is due 60 days before a tour begins, or upon registration if within the 60-day window.

Cancellation by participant: A participant may cancel a registration after securing a confirmed place on a tour for any reason. The following refund terms will apply:

  • Greater than 60 days before tour begins: Any monies paid plus half of the deposit will be refunded
  • 30 to 59 days before tour begins: 35% of tour price will be refunded
  • 15 to 29 days before tour begins: 25% of tour price will be refunded
  • Within 14 days of tour or during the tour: No monies will be refunded

Cancellation by GeoCultura: GeoCultura reserves the right to cancel any tour due to low enrolment, inability to run the tour or concerns about the safety, health or welfare of participants. If a tour is cancelled before it begins, all monies paid will be refunded (including any deposit).

Please refer to our Terms and Conditions page for additional details.

Testimonials

We had never been on a private tour before and I had my trepidation, but you could not have picked a better guide for us than Ali Motion…her knowledge, her enthusiasm, her flexibility, her sense of humor, her joy at what she is doing, and her personality all made for an exceptional experience…but above all, Ali listened and did her best to modify plans and have the days match our desires with some surprises that delighted – like the unexpected walk with the Highland Coos!
I would not hesitate to use GeoCultura again and have highly recommended you to our friends.

Scotland and Isle of Skye | Gina & Dave B, June 2024

The tour was a great success for us. We do not normally do tours as they are often too “touristy”. This tour was a bit like taking an advanced class that was fun and enjoyable throughout. Dinosaur Provincial Park was spectacular. 

The Geology and Dinosaurs of Alberta, Canada | Jeanine S, June 2024

We had the absolutely best trip to the Highlands! We have been on many tours, and our guide, Ali, was one of the best ever! We would highly recommend this adventure!

Scottish Highlands, Scotland | Lisa H, September 2023

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Neist Point lighthouse on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

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