Killarney National Park is a nature lover’s paradise. It’s home to some of Ireland’s highest mountains and its largest remaining semi-natural woodlands. Nestled within this natural wonderland is a chain of beautiful lakes, an abundance of wildlife, and plenty of family-friendly activities.
With all of that natural beauty, we knew this would be a special stop on our August family road trip to Ireland, so we planned a five-day stay in Killarney National Park. We had an amazing time discovering so many wonderful things to do in Killarney National Park with kids.
We hiked, cycled, and boated our way through the highlights of Killarney National Park, including the Gap of Dunloe, which many people say is too hard for families. We didn’t find that to be true.
If you love spending time recharging in the great outdoors, we’re confident you’ll agree with us that Killarney National Park is one of the top places to visit in Ireland with kids.
Keep reading for our favourite things to do in Killarney with kids, plus a short video from our family trip so you can see what it was like for yourself.
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Best Things to Do in Killarney National Park with Kids
The Gap of Dunloe by Boat and Bike
The Gap of Dunloe is one of the best things to do in Killarney National Park. An incredibly scenic, yet narrow mountain pass, the Gap of Dunloe separates the Purple Mountains from MacGillycuddy’s Reeks (the highest mountain range in Ireland).
There are several ways to experience the Gap of Dunloe. You can walk it, take a horse and buggy, or cycle it. As active travellers, the boat-and-cycle option appealed to us most. You will likely read elsewhere that this is too hard to do with kids, but read our full post on Cycling the Gap of Dunloe with Kids and you can judge for yourself. We think that for many families it’s quite doable and is not really that bad.
If cycling is not your thing, but you still want to enjoy the magnificent beauty of this area, you can enjoy a more leisurely visit with a guided tour through the Gap of Dunloe by boat followed by a horse and buggy ride (locally called a Jaunting Car).
Torc Mountain Hike
One of our favourite experiences in Killarney National Park with kids was hiking to the summit of Torc Mountain. Most visitors to Killarney National Park, including us, head to Torc Waterfall near the base of the mountain, but the 8 km (5 mile) hike to the summit is a rewarding option for a reasonably active family.
See our blog post on Hiking Torc Mountain with Kids for full details on this excellent family-friendly Killarney National Park hike.
Before you head out, read our best tips for hiking with kids and see what we actually pack in our guide to hiking gear for kids.
Torc Waterfall Walk
Torc Waterfall is one of the most popular kid-friendly walks in Killarney National Park. We chose to visit on a rainy day because we’d heard it is especially impressive after heavy rain.
We began our walk to Torc Falls from the Muckross House parking lot. After passing the north side of Muckross House and cutting through the jaunting car area, we turned south and followed the signs to Torc Waterfall.
The rain had stopped by this point and we were lucky enough to see two separate rainbows back-to-back. Being in Ireland, the land of the leprechauns, we thought that we’d find a pot of gold for sure, but no such luck…
The walk to the Torc Waterfall trailhead is flat and easy, following either paved or crushed gravel paths. Most of this part of the trail is through a beautiful forest with views of Muckross Lake through the trees.
The last leg of this section is through a large open meadow with excellent views of the majestic Torc Mountain straight ahead. We were lucky enough to see seven deer in the meadow as we walked past.
After walking 2.8 km (1.7 miles) you’ll cross the highway through a fun little pedestrian tunnel to enter the Torc Falls parking lot, where you will also find a toilet for the kids. From this point the walk to the waterfall is quite crowded, but for good reason, it’s a really beautiful little walk.
The little trail runs through the forest alongside the powerful rapids of the Owengarriff River (there are safety rails the whole way). The Torc Waterfall is a beautiful, long cascading waterfall about 65 feet high and 360 feet long. After the recent heavy rain, the waterfall was very powerful as promised.
If you just walk from the parking lot to the falls, the walk is approximately 0.5 km (0.3 miles) with 30 m (100 feet) elevation gain.
If you want to extend the walk, the trail continues uphill past Torc Falls to another viewpoint higher up along the river. Rock stairs and a steep gravel trail lead you through lush forest to a viewing platform above the river.
See the Torq Waterfall trail map on AllTrails.
Muckross Lake
By the time we got back to Muckross House, the sun was shining and we were still in the mood to do some more hiking, so we turned west and followed the trail along the shores of Muckross Lake. The forest here has a lot of old oak trees, holly shrubs and wild blackberry bushes (we were just a little too early for the blackberries).
The further in we got, the more rugged the hiking trail became, with many slippery tree roots and rocks. We all had proper hiking shoes on, so we were ok. This was a nice way to find a little solitude in a very busy part of the park. We added an additional 2 km (1.2 miles) of walking before we got back to our car.
All told, between Muckross House, the Torc Waterfall and Muckross Lake, we hiked 10.4 km (6.5 miles) with 269 m (880 feet) of elevation gain. The walk took us about 4.5 hours to complete, which is a little faster than our usual pace for a hike this long.
Tip: Be sure to bring some midge spray as we got bit by the little buggers a few times on this hike.
Molls Gap Drive
Molls Gap is a scenic drive up-and-over the mountains from Kenmare to Killarney National Park. It’s part of the famous Ring of Kerry driving route. Our vacation rental home was in Kenmare, so it was a natural fit for us to get to the national park via this route.
The scenery on the southern half of the mountain pass is very nice with rolling hills all around scattered with large boulders. If you are driving this route towards the Killarney National Park, you will be rewarded with some excellent views of the park, its surrounding mountains and lakes. Be sure to pull over in Ladies View to enjoy some amazing vistas.
See the Molls Gap route on Google Maps.
Things to Do Near Killarney National Park
Rossacroo Forest
As we were driving from the Dingle Peninsula to our Kenmare accommodations, we needed to pull over to check our directions. With a touch of serendipity, I looked to the side of the road and saw a roadside turnout next to a beautiful patch of forest. I quickly slammed on the brakes and pulled into Rossacroo Forest.
We had never heard of this place, but we had an hour or two to spare before checking into our Kenmare holiday rental, so we decided to roll the dice and go for a walk through the forest. We’re very glad we did.
Rossacroo Forest is a lush old-growth oak forest. The undergrowth is vibrant, with ferns and moss growing everywhere. It’s a deep, dark forest which has a magical feel to it.
As part of a national initiative to celebrate the new millennium, sixteen woodlands around Ireland were chosen as the People’s Millennium Forests, including Rossacroo.
A total of 1.3 million native trees were planted in these areas, and a few decades later many of them are already well established. Many animals call this forest home, including deer, the famous red squirrel and the ever-elusive pine marten. We didn’t see any on our walk, but that’s the way it goes with nature. Perhaps you’ll have better luck?
We walked the entire pathway system within the park. The 2.2 (1.4 miles) took us just under an hour to walk.
Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve
Killarney National Park is stunning, and we could have easily spent all of our time there, but had heard some amazing things about the Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve.
Once part of Lord Bantry’s estate, the Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve is a 300 hectare forest which is now an important nature reserve. The old-growth oak trees share the forest with new, native trees that have replaced the non-native conifers which have recently been cut down. The replacement program happened long enough ago that you can barely tell it ever happened.
We love hiking in old oak forests, but the real reason we wanted to come here was a chance to see otters in the wild. Otters are one of our favourite animals, but we’ve never seen them in the wild.
Many of the trails in Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve follow the river closely, so they offer good chances of spotting an otter. We didn’t see any during our visit. It just makes you appreciate the times animal sightings do work out.
There are many different walking trails within the reserve offering hikers the chance to hike up to 8 km (5 miles). We tried to maximize our time alongside the river to increase our odds of seeing an otter, but we also walked along many different trails.
Besides the otter safari on the River Walk, other notable sections include the excellent lookouts along the Esknamucky Walk and the nice waterfall and river rapids on the Waterfall Walk.
Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve Tips
Many of the trails are flat crushed gravel and easy to walk. Parts of the Esknamucky Trail became rocky, so be sure to wear good hiking shoes if you venture up there.
The midges were out during our visit, so bring along some midge repellent (easy to buy while you are there).
There are several picnic tables in a meadow by the parking lot.
We ended up walking 4.5 km (2.8 miles) with 450 feet / 138m in elevation gain in just under two hours. We originally intended to walk all the paths there, but we skipped the Big Meadow Trail to go on an impromptu adventure to Barley Lake.
Barley Lake
As we were driving the beautiful mountain pass road from Kenmare to Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve, we looked across the valley and both said at the same time, ‘Is that a lake?‘. In the distance we could see a tall, rugged mountain with a barely visible lake near the very top.
A little research on our AllTrails hiking app enabled us to find out it was Barley Lake and there was a 4.6 km (2.8 mile) hiking trail around it.
The road to Barley Lake is the same road you access Glengarriff Woods from, so it’s a natural pairing. Be warned, though: this is a very steep, winding, narrow road, so it’s best for confident drivers only.
We made it to the top and we were only the second car there. Due to recent heavy rains, the ground was quite muddy and marshy; I’m not sure if it’s always like this…
We climbed up on some rocks to avoid the muddy main trail and discovered that the rocks keep coming in waves. They were perfect kid-sized climbing rocks and it didn’t take long for our monkeys to start playing on them.
We stopped to eat our lunch and admire the beautiful mountain lake behind a rock to shelter us from the persistent wind. From this vantage point we could see the trail was muddy as far as we could see. The kids were having a great time on the rocks, so we decided to abandon the hike and give the kids some well-deserved time to let loose and play.
Our Killarney National Park With Kids Video
Want to see what our family trip to Killarney National Park looked like? This short video includes all the places we visited and gives you a better feel for the park, our favourite hikes, and what it was like exploring Killarney with kids.
After watching, keep reading for more Killarney National Park family travel tips, our 5-day itinerary and links to our related Ireland posts.
We’re slowly adding more of our family travel videos to our YouTube channel, so feel free to subscribe if you’d like to follow along.
Family-Friendly Places to Stay in Killarney National Park
Killarney National Park is quite large and is surrounded by many towns where you can find accommodations.
For most, the natural choice will be to stay in one of the many family-friendly Killarney hotels. Killarney is a medium-sized city located along the northern border of the national park with plenty of restaurants and shopping options.
We had heard that Killarney can get overrun in the high-season, so we elected to stay near the coast in Kenmare. Although it was a little further from the national park, it allowed us to enjoy the comforts of a larger town without the high-season madness in Killarney.
We rented a wonderful townhouse in Kenmare. This two-story, three-bedroom house was probably the nicest and biggest place we stayed in our entire summer in the British Isles. Check out the family-friendly Kenmare hotels and Killarney National Park vacation home rentals for your family trip.
How to Get to the Killarney National Park
The closest major cities to Killarney National Park are Limerick and Cork, each of which is approximately a 1.5 hour drive away.
We drove to the Killarney National Park after a couple of days on the Dingle Peninsula with kids, the previous stop on our driving tour of south-western Ireland. We got our Killarney National Park car rental from the Shannon Airport, which is just outside Limerick.
You can reach Killarney by train from Dublin, Cork with a stop in Mallow. You’ll require 2 stops from Limerick. Train tickets to Killarney can be purchased on RailEurope.com.
You can also reach Killarney by bus. Dublin Coach offers direct bus service to Killarney from Dublin and Limerick, while Bus Eirann offers direct bus service to Killarney from Cork and to Limerick.
There are several multi-day, family-friendly organized tours which stop in Killarney National Park. These tours range from 2-10 days and include many other highlights of Southern Ireland, such as the Cliffs of Moher, the Ring of Kerry, the Blarney Castle and more.
5 Day Killarney National Park Itinerary with Kids
Day 1 in Killarney National Park Itinerary with Kids
As we were driving toward the Killarney National Park from the Dingle Peninsula, we stopped in Rossacroo Forest we went for an hour-long walk through an old growth oak forest.
Day 2 of our Killarney Itinerary with Kids
We went for a walk in the rain from the Muckross House to the popular Torc Waterfall. Afterwards, we extended our visit by taking a scenic walk along the shores of Muckross Lake.
Day 3 in Killarney with Kids
We drove the scenic drive Molls Gap into Killarney National Park where we enjoyed an outstanding, yet windy hike, to the summit of Torc Mountain.
Day 4 of our Killarney Itinerary with Kids
We drove to the Beara Peninsula to the Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve in hopes of seeing a wild otter. We then drove to secluded Barley Lake to play on the rocks and enjoy amazing mountain views.
Day 5 in Killarney National Park Itinerary with Kids
An epic day boat & bike trip through the Gap of Dunloe.
Follow Along our Family Trip to Ireland
We arrived in Killarney National Park after a visit to the Dingle Peninsula with kids. We spent five amazing days in Killarney National Park, before making our way to visit Cork with kids.
If you are planning a family trip to Ireland, don’t miss our favorite things to do in Ireland with kids. We also have a helpful family packing list for Ireland with kids.
Our Travel Journal for Kids
Based on our family travels, our kids helped us design this Travel Journal for Active Kids! This engaging travel journal encourages kids to document their adventures, spark creativity, and stay entertained on the go – grab yours now on Amazon!
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