Today is a road-trip day in the very best sense of the word.

Leaving West Cork, we head toward Kenmare, where we join the legendary Ring of Kerry.

From here, we travel through the colorful villages of Sneem and Waterville, following the coast west.

But we’re not sticking to the standard route.

At Waterville, we detour onto the spectacular Skellig Ring, a wilder and less-traveled section of coastline.

We’ll stop at Coomanaspig Pass, visit the dramatic Kerry Cliffs, and continue through Portmagee before crossing onto Valentia Island, where we’ll see real dinosaur footprints that are hundreds of millions of years old!

Weather permitting, we’ll also hike out toward Bray Head, where the Atlantic stretches endlessly below us and the Skellig Islands rise offshore.

Eventually, we continue toward Killarney, where we’ll settle in for three nights.

TOTAL DRIVING TIME: Approximately 4h15m, broken into drives of about 1h15m to Kenmare, 30m to Sneem, 30m to Waterville, shorter drives through the Skellig Ring and Valentia Island, and 1h15m to Killarney.

OVERNIGHT: Killarney Court Hotel

MEALS: Breakfast