The Ring of Kerry

The Ring of Kerry is Ireland's best-known drive, and its busiest. Go round it anticlockwise, as the coaches do, and set off early: the Iveragh Peninsula's coast, passes and villages are worth every mile, and there are a good many of them.

The drive

From Killarney the N72 runs west to Killorglin, where the Ring proper begins on the N70. It follows Dingle Bay past Glenbeigh, where the road down to Rossbeigh's long strand is worth taking, and along the mountainside high above Kells Bay to Cahersiveen, where Daniel O'Connell was born.

Past Waterville, where Charlie Chaplin spent his holidays, the road climbs to Coomakista. From the top you look down on Derrynane and, on a clear day, out to the Skellig Islands. O'Connell's own house at Derrynane, now a museum, is a short way off the road below Caherdaniel.

Then it's east along the Kenmare River to Sneem, with Staigue Fort, an Iron Age stone fort, up a lane on the way, and on to Kenmare. The last of it is the N71 home over Moll's Gap and past Ladies View, through the national park to Killarney.

Worth knowing

• The coaches all go round anticlockwise, as this drive does, so you won't meet one on a narrow bend. Start early and you won't spend the day behind one either.
• It's a long day once you've stopped for things. Kenmare and Cahersiveen are the towns for lunch.
• Valentia Island and the Skellig Ring are a detour from Cahersiveen or Waterville, and a drive of their own.
• Through the national park the road is narrow in places, with deer, cyclists and jaunting cars about.