Gap of Dunloe

One of my favorite parts of my trip to Ireland was running through the Gap of Dunloe. This place is absolutely stunning and breath taking, granted it was raining and the winds was blowing against me. Running 6.5 miles and back through this mountain pass was such a great experience, especially since I got to spend 2 hours savoring this beautiful scenery and being in touch with nature. Everything from the mountain to the water and the strong currents running beneath were beautiful. There were sheep here and there. It was so much fun running downhill, feeling the winds under my arms and pushing me forward and gliding down the paths. I highly recommend it! If you are in the area in Novemeber, and want to run through the Gap of Dunloe, check out Run the Gauntlet, it’s a local half marathon that’s not too expensive and a worthwhile experience.

Beautiful scenery and would have been a wonderful hike if it wasn’t for my husbands suggestion for a jaunty ride.

Début juin, début de soirée, un petit passage en voiture.
La route est étroite et sinueuse.
Mais… on est seuls au monde !
Ce qui nous a permis de nous arrêter plusieurs fois en bord de route pour humer à pleins poumons ce paradis naturel. Cette petite vallée est traversée par un cours d’eau, jonchée de fleurs sauvages et habitée par des moutons. Le silence, le vent…
ça vaut vraiment le détour !!!

Während meiner Tour am Ring of Kerry ist der Gap of Dunloe einer der wundervollsten Orte, die ich gesehen habe.
Wir parkten unser Auto bei Kate Kearney’s Cottage. Dort gibt es genügend Parkplätze.
Anschließend gingen wir den asphaltierten Weg hinauf zum höchsten Punkt des Gap of Dunloe. Der Weg ist für Jedermann schaffbar und ich musste ständig stehen bleiben, um die atemberaubenden Panoramen und Aussichten zu genießen.
Der Weg zum höchsten Punkt lohnt sich, da man dann nicht nur das Panorama auf den bisherigen Weg hat, sondern auch die andere Seite –die Black Valley– bestaunen kann.
Mit dem Schießen von Fotos (bei mir waren es 200) und kleinen Pausen braucht man hin und zurück grob 4 Stunden.
Alternativ kann man auch mit einer Kutsche oder mit dem eigenen Fahrrad/​Auto fahren. Parkplätze gibt es zwar keine, aber einige schmale Haltepunkte.
Danach lohnt sich ein Besuch bei Kate Kearney’s Cottage.

Ein absolutes Muß, wenn man in der Gegend von Killarney ist.
Ich habe eine Tour mit Abholung beim B&B im Nostalgiebus für 30 ‚ — € über Ross Castle gemacht, dann ging es 2 Stunden mit dem Boot über die beiden Seen, traumhaft!
Dann kurze Kaffepause im Lord Brandon’s Cottage dann weiter mit der Pferdekutsche für nur 20 ‚ — € pro Person durch´s Gap of Dunloe zum Kate Kearney’s Cottage.
Die Preise sind absolut angemessen und die Tour ist wirklich empfehlenswert!

Okay, so I am mostly writing this review so at least ONE person has put this information out there. My friend and I spent literally hours researching on whether it is allowed to hike there and back through this gap (total approximately 14 miles). And the answer is yes! You do not somehow get stuck, and you are not forced to take a car or horse carriage. And this was the highlight of our trip, so I highly recommend it. Also highly recommend stopping at one of the lakes near the end of your journey and soaking your feet. Ahhh

Wer in Neuseeland die Wanderung über den aktiven Vulkan, besser bekannt als Tongariro Crossing, gemacht hat, kommt auch hier voll auf seine Kosten.
Wer Wanderungen hasst, sollte den Zeitraum zwischen September und April wählen, um mit dem Auto den Gipfel zu erfahren.
Oder man nimmt einer der Kutschen, die sich in einem angenehmen Tempo den Berg hochschleichen. Laut Internet kostet die Fahrt mit der Kusche 20Euro pro Person.
Da der Weg wirklich nicht zu unterschätzen ist, ist das meiner Meinung nach ein fairer Preis.
Was man jedoch nicht erwarten kann ist, dass sich nach jeder Ecke ein neues Bild ergibt. Hier ist es eher so, dass die schmalen Straßen die gewisse Herausforderung darstellen, und natürlich der sehr lange Weg bis an den höchstgelegenen Punkt.
Viele Wanderer sind hier mit höchst professionellen Equipment ausgestattet. Das sollte nicht unterschätz werden.
Ein sehr schöné Landschaft, die ich jeden Tourist nur empfehlen kann.

Easter Sunday and it’s a wonderful day in the Kingdom.
We had brought our bikes with us to Kerry and we picked the Gap Of Dunloe to venture out on our two wheeled steeds. A bit apprehensive about how strenuous it might be, we head off. It was a fabulous day weather wise. It could not have been more perfect.
We soon passed out the walkers, who probably headed out about 30 mins before us. There were no horse and carriages to overtake at this time of the day.
Some of the up-​hills were steep, so we got off and walked our bikes up those. But there wasn’t too many of these and they were mainly near the top at the gap.
The top was heavenly, the views on either side amazing. It was such a fabulous experience, but then again the weather really added to the day.
I would advise you to either walk it or cycle it. You can drive it and we met at least six cars on our trip. If you are going to drive it, then I advise you come from the Black Valley direction. This way you avoid the wrath of the horse and carriage folk at the Kate Kearney Cottage side.
If you do cycle, you can do the round trip back to the carpark at Kate Kearney Cottage over 30 miles via the National Park and Killarney town, which is what we did. The cycle down the Black Valley on the other side of the gap was amazing — make sure your brakes work before you try this!
You can also get a ferry from the bottom of the Black Valley to Killarney, which will reduce your cycle by a fair amount — not sure by how much. But check the ferry times and co-​ordinate your cycle to them. We got to the ferry dock at 11:30 am but the first ferry back to Killarney was not due to depart until 2pm, so we decided to kick on and cycle it all.
Highly recommended, the Gap of Dunloe.
PS Arrive early on nice days to get a parking space. And on hot sunny days, park on the same side as the toilets in the carpark to shade your car from the hot sun.

WOW! Also wer sich in der Nähe aufhält, muss einfach hier hin! 10 KM ausserhalb von Killarney befindet sich eine kleine Straße die immer kleiner wird, und noch kleiner und noch kleiner. Dann quasi geradeso einspurig. Viele Haltebuchten und eine schier endlos wirkende Traumstraße führen zum Ziel.
Aber eins nach dem anderen.
Bis Ende April kann man die Straße bis ans Ende auch mit dem Auto fahren. In der Hauptsaison unmöglich! Denn wenn sich gleichzeitig 10 Auto auf den 10 km befinden, dann herrscht hier schon viel Verkehr. Durch Gegenverkehr und Wanderer auf der Strecke wird es dann unmöglich sein hier zu fahren.
Dann bricht die Zeit der Kutschen an. Die auch jetzt schon gewieft versuchen einem zu erzählen, dass die Straße geschlossen ist und man nur mit dem Pferd nach oben kommt. Das stimmt grundsätzlich nicht. Es macht im Sommer nur einfach keinen Sinn mit dem Auto.
Sommer:
Auto stehen lassen und eine Tageswanderung einplanen. Und die lohnt sich! Einfach ausreichend Getränke und Snacks mitnehmen. Sportschuhe reichen hier aus, da der Weg asphaltiert ist.
Winter/​Frühling:
Mit dem Auto bis ans bittere Ende nach oben. Immer mal wieder nach hinten in den Rückspiegel schauen, denn manch ein Ire hat es hier besonders eilig. Dann die Haltebucht bemühen und gemütlich weiter nach oben.
Der Ausblick ist atemberaubend. Zwischen den Zwei Bergketten diese «Straße» hinunterzuschauen ist umwerfend. Dabei ist aber hier wirklich auch der Weg schon das Ziel. Ein Abendteuer das ich gerne täglich eingehen würde. Mehr Irland geht nicht!

Breathtakingly beautiful!
There’s lots of options for traveling through the Gap of Dunloe — walking, cycling, jaunting car or on horseback. You can drive through, but I wouldn’t recommend it as during the day it’s busy with tourists and at night it is a truly terrifying drive — believe me, I’ve tried! It’s about 11 km all the way through, so be prepared!
A friend and I rode through on horseback and then hopped into a boat at Lord Brandon’s cottage, which took us for an hour-​and-​a-​half long ride through the lakes to Ross Castle.
Docked one star because the locals running the horses and jaunting cars are a bit pushy and loud — and you’ll spend 11 km alongside them, or not far from them. But sure, guess it’s part of the experience.
Indescribable natural beauty!

No trip to Ireland would be complete if you didnt do the gap trip with the bus, boat ride, jaunty cars, kates cottage and return. It is the history, the stories, the views, and animals, the original historical use of the road.
Now its not a cheap day, horses and busses and Ross Castle tour and Kates Cottage and tips for the boat guide/​storytelllers adds up, maybe 80 bucks for the whole day, food and transportation.
and worth every euro.

Probably the most magnificent views of our trip. We took the boat tour and then attempted to walk it. We were with our family, who are Killarney locals, and they had never walked it before. Of course, we attempted this on one of the hottest days of our trip! We were exhausted and ended up hitch hiking just after we finished about half the trek. We met a great little family that rearranged their children for us and took us to the end!

It’s beautiful! definitely worth a trip up if you have the time and physical ability. Definitely a must see.
Must agree with Yee Gan O.‘s review… it’s a trek on foot… do-​able if you’re in decent health, but don’t under estimate it.
My friends and I went in the off season so it was empty. Literally. We ended up driving up to to the gap (or at least what I think was it, just to the bridge) w/​o knowing it… stopped b/​c we didn’t want to get flooded in and stuck and turned back. BUT not till after getting out and take some great pictures of the lake and the mountains and the gap. I was so beautiful even if we didn’t go all the way (maybe we did, not sure?), even though it was cloudy and drizzly, even though i was frozen.
There road up is very narrow… seriously, if two cars were to come face to face there is little to no way you can get around each other.
We apologize if we weren’t suppose to drive up in a car but saw no signs. Luckily we didn’t come across any other drivers or hikers.
Again we went in the off season so i can’t say much about boats or jaunting cars… it was empty when we went up.

Save the walk for Muckross Lake or Torc Mountain and take a horse drawn jaunting car up through the gap to the overlook with a great view of the Killarney Lakes. A fine older fellow named Eugene drove us for about two hours and the fare was 80 euros. Through the gap and back is just 30 euros. Eugene gave us a lot of good local information and none of it was boring. Whatever you do — don’t drive it yourself. You may be able to do it but you will be a real pain to everyone else. The road is narrow and curvey. The mountains and lakes and especially the view through the gao itself are wonderful!

The Gap of Dunloe walk is highly recommended by the guidebooks and locals. However, don’t believe the Irish assertion that it’s a small walk — it does have a few significant gradients, bits where you share narrow paths with motor traffic and a fair distance to walk
Having said that, it is worth doing the trek to see the local landsacape and vistas
Some people start at Kate Kearney’s cottage and take a horse trap ride back to the top of the climb and back.
However, quite a few people combine the walk with a trip on the lake by boat and I think this offers more variety (and exercise!) Be aware that the boat trip may be cold, so dress in layers which can be taken off when you tackle the more physical parts of the walk.
The boat trip is great as you pass from lake to lake, some of the which may involve jumping out and pulling the boat through the narrower channels. You then travel upriver to the start point of the walk
There’s a café where the boat docks for some sustenance before the walk. Coming from this direction, the initial direction is up and there’s a good climb to the peak before descending on a shallower gradient to eventually reach kate Kearney’s Cottage, passing 5 lakes along the way.
Picturesque trip but be prepared for an active day!