Dorf · Co. Kerry
The town at the head of Kenmare Bay — “the little nest” — where the Iveragh meets the Beara, with the Roughty River in the harbour and the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks over the town.
Kenmare (Irish: Neidín, meaning “the little nest”) is a town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of Ceann Mara, meaning “head of the sea”, referring to the head of Kenmare Bay. Kenmare had a population of 2,566 in 2022. It is also a townland and civil parish.
Kenmare is located at the head of Kenmare Bay — where the bay reaches the farthest inland — sometimes called the Kenmare River, where the Roughty River (An Ruachtach) flows into the sea. It is at the junction of the Iveragh Peninsula and the Beara Peninsula, and it is located near the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, Mangerton Mountain and the Caha Mountains, which makes it a popular hillwalking destination. The harbour is the town: the Roughty comes down through the street and out to the bay, and the walk along the quay is the walk that gets done before any of the hills.
Kenmare is the base town for the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, the range that carries Carrauntoohil — the highest peak in Ireland — and the whole hillwalking country of the Iveragh. Mangerton Mountain and the Caha Mountains stand to the east, and the town sits at the head of the bay where all of it comes together. A day out of Kenmare can be the harbour, the Reeks, or the Beara coast to the east, depending on the weather and the legs.
Kenmare is at the head of Kenmare Bay, where the Iveragh meets the Beara; from Killarney allow roughly an hour by road. The Roughty harbour and the quay are free, and the hillwalking country is open land — check the present track conditions before travelling in wet weather.
Übernachten
Kenmare puts the Roughty, the Reeks and the Beara all within a short drive — the hillwalking country is the point.
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The aquarium in Dingle town — penguins, sharks, Asian otters and rays under a glass dome on the main street, the classic rainy-day stop on the Iveragh and one of the best places in the country to do with kids.
A small, steep island off the Iveragh Peninsula, home to an early Christian monastery of beehive huts — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the great places in the country.
Two small islands off the Dingle Peninsula, home to a community until 1953 — now a nature reserve and one of the most important seabird colonies in Europe.
The principal settlement of the Iveragh Peninsula — “Little Sadhbh’s stone ringfort” — on the lower River Ferta, fifty kilometres west of Killarney, with the ringforts of Cahergall and Leacanabuaile in the townland.