Gap of Dunloe

wendyanne75 · Member

Gap of Dunloe

Michele Erdvig · Host

Wendy,

Doing the whole Gap of Dunloe takes most of the day. You depart around 10 am and return at about 4 pm. Most people get the tour because it provides transportation to and from the Gap. A bus takes you out to Kate Kearney's Cottage where you can choose to walk, bike, take a jaunting car or horseback ride to Lord Brandon's Cottage. Then you get on boats, which take you across the lakes to near Ross Castle. A bus picks you up and returns you to Killarney.

If you do it yourself you will drive to Kate Kearney's Cottage and do the Gap. The problem is getting transportation back to Kate's. You will have to get a taxi.

http://www.discoverireland.ie/Activities-Adventure/killarney-national-park-walks/62318

There are some shorter walks such as Cherry Tree Walk that skirts town, passes Killarney House mansion, goes along a river and comes out near the cathedral or Ross Castle. Enter through the gates opposite the Avenue Hotel.

A walk to Muckorss Abbey & Torc Waterfall.

Michele

Michele Erdvig · Host

http://www.kerrygems.com/killarney/maps_killarney.html

Judy · Guru

Wendy,

As Michele said, the full tour of the Gap of Dunloe by jaunting car takes a full day with the boat ride. By the time you would be dropped off at Ross Castle, the tours of Ross Castle would be finished for the day.

Here is my suggestion to do all three, Muckross, Ross Castle and part of the Gap of Dunloe. Do Muckross House and Ross Castle in the morning, then go to the Gap entrance at Kate Kearneys Cottage in the afternoon when all the jaunting car drivers return from dropping off tourists at Lord Bandons Cottage. The drivers will be looking for passengers for a shorter trip through part of the Gap. Or you could walk part of the 7 mile Gap of Dunloe on your own.

I would certainly recommend the tour of Ross Castle and at least part of the Gap of Dunloe. In my opinion the Gap of Dunloe is one of the most beautiful parts of the Killarney area.

Judy M.

wendyanne75 · Member

Thank you! I might actually keep one whole day aside then for the Gap of Dunloe and then maybe on our way to Dingle from Kenmare we could do Muckross House and one of the walks that start and end there...
If we do the Gap of Dunloe Tour would you recommend we book ahead online and drive from Kenmare into Killarney to be picked up there? It looks like a couple different tour companies are providing this tour. Do they all give you the option of walking or biking vs. the jaunting car?

wendyanne75 · Member

Michele - you mentioned we could drive and park at Kate Kearney's cottage but we would have trouble getting treansportation back to Kate's....do you mean if we did the boat tour also? It looks like we could just hike the Gap of Dunloe from Kate Tierney's cottage in a few hours in the AM, have lunch - then get back in our car, and hit Ross castle on the way back to Kenmare? That would allow us to do both and then also do Muckross House and a hike on our way to Dingle. Does that make sense, or is the boat ride really something special that we should do along with the tour?

Judy · Guru

Wendy,

If you are going to do the full day tour-bus-jaunting car-boat, keep in mind that some tours will quote a price just for the bus from Killarney to Kate Kearneys, the boat trip and the bus from Ross Castle (drop off point) back to Killarney. The jaunting car ride through the Gap is an extra cost on some tours. For example, you may pay 30Euro for the bus/boat and another 20 or 25Euro to the driver of the jaunting car. So know what you are paying for if you pre-book. If it were me, I would pay at the point of departure, because if the weather is really bad you may want to postpone or cancel the tour. You would probably not get a full refund.

We did the full tour thought Deros Tours, located on Main Street, Killarney. You can check them out at;

www.derostours.com

You can also email them at;

Info@derostours.com

We also drove to Kate Kearneys Cottage and took a round trip jaunting car ride through part of the Gap and back on one other occasion. But there is nothing better than the full day trip if you have the time and the weather is half way decent.

If you do the full day with boat you need to take the tour bus, leaving from Killarney. The tour bus will meet you at Ross Castle (drop off point) after the boat trip and take you back to Killarney. If you want to hike, then drive to Kate Kearney's, hike as far as you what and return to Kate Kearney's where you parked.

Judy M.

wendyanne75 · Member

Thanks Judy, that makes sense. I guess we will play that day by ear, but if we have time and weather is good enough we will most likely do the full day tour from Killarney and make sure they only charge us for boat and bus so we can walk the Gap....that would mean that we would miss the Ross castle tour, but we could always add it back in with Muckross on our last day if the weather isn't cooperating enough for a walk...

Judy · Guru

Wendy, if you do walk the full gap be sure to find out what time the boats leave Lord Brendan's. Also allow enough time for lunch there. I never walked the gap, but I heard it takes 90 minutes. I would check that estimate with the tour office.