The Ring of Kerry is an 111-mile circular route that buses and autos have been taking for decades, and a tourist magnet going on 200 years, showing off the beauty and charm of County Kerry, in Ireland’s southwest corner.

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KILLARNEY, Ireland — Tour buses on the Ring of Kerry in southwestern Ireland all make their treks go counter-clockwise. Consider it a policy of self-preservation.

Better to have the massive buses all moving in the same direction, and not just because of Ireland’s famously narrow roads. If you’ve got the buses moving in opposite directions, the parking problems of small towns hard by Ballinskeligs Bay might double.

All of which explains the Ring of Kerry, an 111-mile circular route that buses and autos have been taking for decades, and a tourist magnet going on 200 years, showing off the beauty and charm of County Kerry, in Ireland’s southwest corner.

The Ring of Kerry starts at Killarney, a tourist town of 14,000, and ends outside Killarney National Park. In between are majestic hills, villages that love the buses and the tourists of any transportation mode, and mountains that meet the ocean, creating spectacular views. Plus enough tight fits to make you appreciate the talents of bus drivers who can squeeze these machines through the tightest of spaces.

Joel was our bus driver and guide on PaddyWagon Tours’ Ring of Kerry excursion Monday. He was charming and informative, but truthfully, that’s hard duty, driving and guiding. Better to split those duties, as Wild Rover Tours did on our trip last week to Kilkenny.

Tour buses have their advantages and disadvantages. They are a tremendous and convenient way to see lots of things you wouldn’t know to see or enjoy as much, since you probably don’t have the knowledge, plus driving on the left side of the road, in either urban traffic or tight rural roads, is quite taxing.

But the disadvantage is relinquishing your own timetable and itinerary and sometimes even your seat. We had reserved seats on the bus last week to Kilkenny, but this was open seating. Trish the Dish and I found seats a little past the middle, with our traveling party, but after our first stop, a couple of guys who were the last ones to board in Cork, and thus found only single seats, were parked where we had been and where we had marked our territory with some left-behind items. Joel had to intervene and get our seats back. So be aware.

We were allotted about 70 minutes in Killarney and needed about twice that, even though Monday was a national holiday (May Day) and much of downtown was closed.

Berry Tramel’s Ireland travelblog: Getting to the Blarney Stone is a harrowing journey. Kissing the Blarney Stone is even more difficult. https://t.co/VKVXuRZB5d

— Sellout Crowd (@selloutcrowd_) May 6, 2024

We chose to jump aboard another horse-drawn carriage, and it was a wise decision. Be it in Chicago or Bricktown or the west coast of Ireland, the buggy rides never fail to deliver.

Our driver was Eric, a young man in his 20s who is a fourth-generation jaunter. Acid-tongued and quite witty, he had us in stitches as he and Ruby, his Irish draft horse, trotted us through the national park.

Eric and his family own 22 horses. A few facts: the horses get two days on, with three trips a day, then five days off. The beasts of burden work from ages 4-17, then are retired and generally live to about age 35. The horses work March through October.

Alas, the carriage ride meant no time to stroll around Killarney. Put it on the list with Kilkenny as places we must return.

Killarney is a town of 14,412 that relies heavily on tourism. And it long has been so.

Killarney first appears in recorded history as the site of a monastery founded in 640 AD by Saint Finian the Leper; that monastery lasted 850 years, until the danged British dissolved it.

Muckross Abbey was founded in 1448 in Killarney but was burned down by British ruffian Oliver Cromwell’s forces in 1654 and today remains in ruins.

The city appears to be proud of its rebellious streak, with history full of Killarney/British skirmishes before full independence was achieved.

A visit by Queen Victoria in 1861 gave the town some international exposure, but even before that, in 1858, Irish-born journalist Samuel Carter Hall wrote about County Kerry and its charms. Tours of the Ring of Kerry already had begun, including him touting carriage horses.

Roughly 1.1 million tourists per year visit Killarney. Roughly 60 percent are foreigners.

As we transitioned from Cork in County Cork to County Kerry, the topography of Ireland changed. In County Cork, the idyllic farmland on the side of hills is unlike anything I’ve seen in America, with the possible exception of a little bit of Ohio, at the right time of year, between Columbus and Cleveland. But that was a small stretch in Ohio. In Ireland, it’s farm after farm, kilometer after kilometer. 

But in County Kerry, the mountains appear, leading to the sea. And the landscape changes dramatically.

We stopped in at a tourist trap called Red Fox, for no apparent reason, since we were stopping for lunch about 15 minutes later. The girls got some Irish coffee, sans the whiskey.

Then it was down to the sea, and Waterville, a nice helmet right on the bay and at the base of the mountains. We had lunch at The Lobster, which was waiting on us and another tour bus, and was quite ready for the onslaught of business.

The Lobster had a cafeteria-type line set up. The Dish had beef & Guinness stew, which was really good, and I had seafood pie, which is shepherd’s pie, except with seafood. Shepherd’s pie is similar to Irish (beef) stew, except it comes without broth, and mashed potatoes line the top of the bowl, which then is baked. The combination of mashed potatoes and seafood wasn’t bad, but it wouldn’t be my favorite Irish dish.

The views turned majestic coming out of Waterville, with quick climbs into mountains overlooking the Atlantic. We made frequent stops for photo ops.

We didn’t make it as far as Dingle, which is too bad, since that’s where some of “Ryan’s Daughter” was filmed. The 1970 movie, starring Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles, had fabulous Irish coastal scenery, plus a plot that ejected you on Ireland’s troubled past with English rule. But the scenery around Waterville was very much like the movie.

The bus eventually got to Sneem, as we ventured away from the Atlantic. We stopped for ice cream and a little shopping. I have to believe the tour companies are getting kickbacks from the places they promote on the tour.

From then on, the 25,000-acre Killarney National Park dominated the trip, from huge valleys with picturesque lakes to Tork Falls, a massive waterfall inside a jaw-dropping forest.

We eventually made it back to Cork about 6:30 p.m. A 10-hour trip. The PaddyWagon bus had become our home away from home. It has its limitations, but touring Ireland from a bus is a great way to see the Ring of Kerry.