Should I choose the Ring of Kerry clockwise or anticlockwise?
Drive it clockwise: from Killarney take the N71 south to Kenmare first. Tour coaches travel the other way as a rule, anticlockwise from Killarney towards Killorglin, so going clockwise means you meet the coaches head on in short passes instead of spending the day in a convoy behind them. The honest trade off is those head on meetings on narrow sections, so start early, before the first coaches leave Killarney, and pull in at viewpoints to let any queue behind you clear. Either direction is legal and both use the same roads; clockwise is simply the calmer day for a car.
Useful pages: Driving in Ireland: the full guide · An Ireland road trip · Dublin · County Kerry · Scenic drives in Ireland · Killarney · Healthcare and emergencies · Plan your journey · Northern Ireland
Sources
- Irish Escapes road dataset: leg distances and drive times, shared/roads.json; Ring of Kerry length from the scenic drives guide, shared/articles.json
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