Explore Killarney

Ross Castle is a 15th-century tower house on the shore of Lough Leane near Killarney, built by the O'Donoghue Mór clan and later held by the Brownes, Earls of Kenmare. In 1652 it was one of the last strongholds in Munster to surrender to Cromwell's forces. The interior is seen on guided tours run by the OPW.

Muckross Abbey is a ruined Franciscan friary in Killarney National Park near Killarney, founded in 1448 by Donal McCarthy Mór. Cromwellian troops removed its roof in 1652, but most walls survive, including the church, the tower and a cloister around a yew tree. The graveyard holds the graves of Kerry poets of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Killarney National Park, beside the town of Killarney in County Kerry, was Ireland's first national park, created when the Muckross Estate was given to the state in 1932. It covers over 100 square kilometres of lakes, oak and yew woodland and mountains, is home to Ireland's only native red deer herd and is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Muckross House is a 65-room Tudor-style mansion near Killarney, built from 1839 to 1843 to plans by William Burn for Henry Arthur Herbert on a peninsula between Muckross Lake and Lough Leane. Queen Victoria stayed here in 1861. Given to the nation in 1932, it is seen on guided tours, with gardens and traditional farms beside it.

Torc Waterfall is a 20-metre cascade on the Owengarriff River at the foot of Torc Mountain in Killarney National Park, about 7 km from Killarney. The river drains the Devil's Punchbowl lake on Mangerton Mountain, and a short woodland path leads from the road to the falls. Its name comes from the Irish for 'wild boar'.