Village · Co. Kerry
The Ring of Kerry town on the N70 — “Orgla’s Church” — where the August Puck Fair crowns a wild goat king, 26 km south of Tralee and 22 km west of Killarney.
Killorglin (Irish: Cill Orglan, meaning “Orgla’s Church”) is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. As of the 2022 census, the town’s population was 2,163. Killorglin is on the Ring of Kerry tourist route, and its annual events include the August Puck Fair festival, which starts with the crowning and parading of a “king” wild goat. The town is 26 km south of Tralee along the N70 road, and 22 km west of Killarney along the N72 road. It is in a civil parish of the same name.
The Puck Fair is the town’s festival and one of the oldest annual events in Ireland. It is held in August, and it starts with the crowning and parading of a “king” wild goat — a goat taken from the hills, crowned, and given a kind of ceremonial dignity for the three days of the fair. The custom is old, and the goat’s “reign” ends with its release back to the hills, which is the point the town makes: the animal is not sacrificed, it is honoured and returned. The fair draws visitors from across the country, and the town fills for the three days.
Killorglin sits at the eastern gate of the Ring of Kerry, where the N70 and the N72 meet, and it is the service town for the ring’s eastern arc: the supplies, the fuel, the crossing into the peninsula country. From it, the ring road runs west to Kenmare and the Iveragh, and the hills run up to the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, where Carrauntoohil stands over the whole of south Kerry. A day out of Killorglin can be the ring road, the Reeks, or the town itself on fair days.
Killorglin is 26 km south of Tralee on the N70 and 22 km west of Killarney on the N72; the town centre is where the two roads meet. The Puck Fair runs in August — confirm the current dates before travelling.
Where to stay
Killorglin puts the N70 and the N72, the Reeks and the ring road all within a short drive — the Puck Fair is the August bonus.
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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.