Ring of Kerry vs Wild Atlantic Way — Which Ireland Road Trip Is Worth Your Time?
We drove both routes on our Ireland trip. Here is the honest comparison — what the Ring of Kerry vs Wild Atlantic Way debate actually comes down to, and how to decide which one belongs in your summer plans.
We planned our Ireland trip the same way we plan most of our trips: by reading every “Ring of Kerry vs Wild Atlantic Way” post on the internet and coming away more confused than when we started. Half the articles said the Ring of Kerry is a tourist trap. The other half said the Wild Atlantic Way is too long to do properly. Both can be true. Neither tells you what to actually choose.
We drove both — the Ring of Kerry in a single long day out of Killarney, and a solid five-day stretch of the Wild Atlantic Way from Galway down to Dingle. This is what we learned.
The Ring of Kerry is a concentrated, 180 km scenic loop best done in one or two days — spectacular but bus-heavy in summer. The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,500 km coastal route you pick sections from; it rewards slower travel and gives you far more breathing room. Short on time? Ring of Kerry. Want depth and fewer crowds? Wild Atlantic Way.
What each route actually is — and what it is not
The Ring of Kerry
The Ring of Kerry is a 179 km circular driving route around the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, southwest Ireland. It loops from Killarney through Killorglin, Cahersiveen, Waterville, Kenmare, and back. You can drive the entire loop in around four hours without stops — in practice, a full day feels right.
It is one of Ireland’s most iconic and most-visited scenic drives. That is a feature and a bug. The scenery is genuinely world-class: sea cliffs, mountain passes, fishing villages, and the Skellig Islands on the horizon. But in June, July, and August the road fills with tour buses, and some of the famous viewpoints feel more like open-air car parks than wild Atlantic coast.
The Ring in numbers
- Distance: 179 km loop
- Driving time (non-stop): 3.5–4 hours
- Realistic minimum: one full day
- Best base: Killarney or Kenmare
- Peak crowds: June–August, worst from 10 am–4 pm
The Wild Atlantic Way
The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,500 km signed coastal route running from Donegal in the north all the way to Cork in the south — the longest defined coastal driving route in the world. Nobody does the whole thing in one trip. You pick a section: the Connemara coast, the Cliffs of Moher stretch, the Dingle Peninsula, the Ring of Kerry itself (which is officially part of the WAW), the Causeway Coast approach.
It is not a single experience — it is a framework for building your own Irish road trip. That flexibility is its biggest strength and the thing that makes it hard to compare directly to the Ring of Kerry, which is a contained, bookable experience.
Highlights: what you will actually see on each route
Ring of Kerry highlights
Driving clockwise from Killarney (the direction most guides recommend to avoid the tour buses coming the other way), here is what you actually stop for:
- Killorglin: small town with good coffee stops before the scenery begins. Worth 20 minutes.
- Rossbeigh Beach: a long golden spit with views back toward the mountains. Almost always less crowded than the famous viewpoints further along.
- Cahersiveen: the largest town on the route, useful for fuel and a real lunch. The old RIC barracks is atmospheric.
- Waterville: a seafront village with a Charlie Chaplin connection (he holidayed here for years). The beach is gorgeous and mostly empty even in high season.
- Skellig Michael view from Ballinskelligs: on a clear day you can see the dramatic rock stacks from the shore. Getting to the island by boat requires advance booking and depends on weather.
- Ladies’ View: the most photographed spot on the Ring. Genuinely stunning, and genuinely very busy. Go early or late.
- Kenmare: the best town on the loop for dinner and a night’s sleep if you split the drive across two days.
Related reading We covered our full Ireland in Summer experience — including what surprised us most about the west coast.
Wild Atlantic Way highlights (southern sections)
The southern WAW sections we drove — roughly Galway to Dingle via the Cliffs of Moher — gave us these standout moments:
- The Cliffs of Moher: yes, they are on every postcard. Yes, they are worth it. Go on a weekday morning and walk 20 minutes south of the main visitor centre for half the crowds and the same cliffs.
- The Burren: limestone pavement with wildflowers growing in every crack. Bizarre, beautiful, and almost surreal after the dramatic coastal scenery.
- Connemara (if you extend north): the emptiest, most dramatic bog and mountain landscape in Ireland. We only passed through but it is next time’s destination.
- Dingle Peninsula: arguably the best 50 km stretch on the entire WAW. Slea Head Drive, the beehive huts, Connor Pass, Dingle town itself — this alone is worth a two-night detour.
- Inch Beach: a four-kilometre stretch of sand backed by dunes where you can park and walk into the wind and feel entirely alone even in summer.
Ring of Kerry vs Wild Atlantic Way — the honest comparison
Pros: compact, easy to plan, one of the most visually dramatic stretches in Ireland, Skellig Michael is nearby, Killarney is a great base. Cons: heavily touristed in summer, the route is well-known enough that every “hidden gem” is already on TripAdvisor.
Pros: far more flexibility, Dingle is phenomenal, Burren is unlike anything else in Europe, you can find empty places even in July. Cons: requires more planning, harder to “do” in a single trip, some sections are less dramatic than others.
Ring of Kerry, no contest. It is designed for exactly this. Drive from Killarney, do the full loop, stop at four or five viewpoints, have dinner in Kenmare. Done.
Wild Atlantic Way (southern sections). Spend two nights in Dingle, one night near the Cliffs of Moher, drive through the Burren, and you will see more of the real west of Ireland than any tour bus ever could.
Ring of Kerry gets genuinely crowded at the main viewpoints between 10 am and 4 pm. If you are doing it in high season, either start before 8 am or plan to overnight on the route. The WAW’s length naturally spreads the crowds.
Ring of Kerry for the iconic experience, plus at minimum a half-day on the Dingle Peninsula which is technically part of the Wild Atlantic Way. They are 45 minutes apart from the right base.
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