Killarney Lake District

Visitors who want to see the Killarney lake district have the choice between doing so on their own or taking advantage of the sightseeing trips organized by local agencies. Most people opt for a package covering travel in a jaunting car (a light open horse-drawn car), on ponyback and by boat. One such trip - almost the standard tour - is the following: by jaunting car from Killarney round the north side of the Lower Lake to Kate Kearney's Cottage; from there on a pony, in a jaunting car or on foot over the Gap of Dunloe and down to the Upper Lake; then by boat from the south end of the lake by way of the Middle Lake to Ross Castle; and finally back to Killarney by jaunting car.

The lakes around Killarney, of varying size, lie in a breathtakingly beautiful landscape of mountains and hills formed by glacial action. The largest of the lakes is the Lower Lake, also known as Lough Leane, immediately southeast of Killarney. It is separated by a tongue of land from the smaller Middle Lake or Muckross Lough. A narrow channel links these two lakes with the Upper Lake, the smallest of the three. 4mi/6km away to the east is Lough Guitane. To the south, where the hills rise to 2,700ft/820m are numbers of smaller lakes, mostly mere hill tarns. The shores of all these lakes have a dense covering of woodland - oak, arbutus, bamboos, giant ferns, etc. In early summer the roads are bordered by banks of tall foxgloves and the hillsides are covered with huge and brilliantly colored rhododendron bushes.