An on the road through Dingle, Ring of Kerry and Ring of Beara, the three peninsulas of Ireland where the wild beauty of the country is found.
If you are going to do a car tour of Ireland, in the most south-western part of the island you can travel 3 small peninsulas that will certainly not disappoint you; in order, coming from the north: Dingle Peninsula, Ring of kerry e Beara Peninsula. All three will be able to give you unique landscapes and strong emotions.
Dingle Peninsula
Coming from Tralee, a good alternative to cross this peninsula and reach the town of Dingle is to take the Connor Pass; in this way both driving along the coast and driving in the mountains can be combined. A narrow and quite steep road, but still in good condition, will lead you up to Connor's step, the highest in Ireland (456 m); once you get to the top, if the weather is not too cloudy, you can stop at the small parking lot and admire from above the blue shades of the ocean that meet the various greens of the surrounding hills.
Continuing the descent you will arrive in the pretty town of Dingle, very charming thanks to the harbor that surrounds it and the numerous pubs where you can eat excellent fish. Continuing along the coast, towards the westernmost part of the peninsula, you can skirt the ocean along narrow streets completely immersed in nature; what you will meet will be cliffs, grasslands, sheep, rocks, ruins and some houses; if you are lucky, as happened to me, you will also be able to see i in the distance Dolphins.
A Dunquin I advise you to stop even for a moment in the little one white beach from where you can admire two very characteristic rocks, found in several photos and paintings of Ireland, which owe their fame to their particularly pointed and cutting shape. What can I say, here you will really feel at peace with the world and with yourself.
Ring of kerry
Continuing south, you can enter the next peninsula and travel the famous Ring of Kerry, Ireland's longest loop route (179 km) between coastal landscapes, lively and colorful villages, green meadows and incredibly colorful flowers in summer that give the landscape an even greater beauty. Traveling along the north coast to the west I recommend you visit Valentia Island, connected by a bridge to County Kerry and therefore easily accessible by car.
It is a very quiet island (as it cannot be reached by tourist buses), very windy and very impressive thanks to its ruins and the homonymous lighthouse (Valentia Island Lighthouse), which can also be visited inside for € 5. The latter is definitely worth a visit as the scenario that will present itself will be truly unique: very high waves that hurl themselves violently against the rocks thanks to the strong wind, green grasslands, ruins and the blue ocean. It is curious to know that, from a fortress not far from the lighthouse, the first transatlantic cable was laid in 1866 for Morse communications that reached as far as Canada, amazing!
Continuing the journey south, another breathtaking place that is worth a visit is the Cliffs of Kerry reachable from the colorful town of Portmagee. Once you leave the car at the parking lot, you will have to walk a small path at the end of which a wonderful landscape will open up: gray and green cliffs overlooking the sea against which the waves break, forming eddies of white foam. From here you can also admire the wild in the distance Skellig Isalnds. Compared to the more famous Cliffs of Moher, the Cliffs of Kerry are visited by far fewer tourists, certainly a positive note to savor the show more deeply. The visit costs around € 5. One tip, bring a jacket as that the area is very windy.
Traveling along the last stretch of the peninsula, the one further south, you will encounter very pretty and colorful towns such as Waterville, where the statue of Charlie Chaplin is placed, and Kenmare.
Ring of Beara
Compared to the two previous rings, the Ring of Beara owes much of its charm to its desolation; this peninsula, little frequented by tourists, in fact seems almost forgotten by the world; here nature is certainly the undisputed protagonist and can be admired through very narrow streets, sometimes even tortuous, which make the tour even more suggestive.
What you will see, especially in the northern part, will be grasslands strewn with rocks, cemeteries, ruins, flocks of cows and sheep, very few houses and lots of flowers, mostly heather that give a touch of pink to the green and gray of the surrounding grasslands. In the southern part you can also meet some fishing villages.
