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The hotel receptionist at Sheen Falls Lodge asked us our plans and we told her we were going to go drive the Ring of Kerry.

She said, “might I suggest something else?” and of course, we were intrigued as to what she was going to say.

She told us that we should try The Ring of Beara instead of the Ring of Kerry for these reasons:

  • Far less tourists on the road
  • It’s less popular; not a lot of people know about it
  • More rugged and beautiful
  • Sheen Falls Lodge sits right on the edge of The Ring of Beara so getting there would be extremely easy

Jason and I are very much two people who love being “off the beaten path” so when she suggested this to us, we decided to scrap our plans for the Ring of Kerry and do the Beara Peninsula.

We were certainly not disappointed and at the end of the day, we could not be more grateful for the lady who told us this.

The stay started out cloudy but it never rained. As the day went on, the skies opened up and it cleared up.

I’m not joking when I say this, but there were several moments on this drive that I just welled up in tears.

The scenery is so so beautiful. It is incredible that nature can be this beautiful.

The saying goes, “it brought me to tears” resonated so well on this drive because literally, I would be looking at the scenery and just burst out in tears.

It was a weird feeling but it truly evoked those awe-inspiring feelings in me.

I hope you enjoy the photos of our trip around the Beara Peninsula.

We didn’t go the entire way but we went all the way down to the little tiny fishing down, Castletownebere, and then turned around and drove up Healy Pass (which is INCREDIBLE).

I was reading some “reviews” on Healy Pass and some said to not go because the drive up is terrifying but that was definitely not the case.

When we made it to the top, we were so glad we made the drive!

The drive started out very rustic and very Icelandic.

It reminded us so much of our Iceland Golden Circle drive.

I love that sheep in Ireland just hang out on the side of the road and don’t even care about you!

This was when we got into the town of Castletownebere and we stumbled upon the cutest tea shop with pastries, tea, coffee, and sandwiches.

The owner is British and this was the most darling place!

I wanted ALL the pastries.

I settled for the peach and almond cake and I was happily surprised.

Super tender and moist and filled with fresh peaches! Ugh, I could’ve eaten four more slices.

We could’ve kept going around the Ring of Beara but since it was so much driving, we decided to turn around at this point and go up Healy Pass.

I would highly recommend this drive on a good day.

I can see why it can be slightly treacherous if it weren’t a good day, haha

The reward at the top is everything.

Haha, this was one of my favorite photos.

Just sheep walking on the road, not a care in the world!

This was the top of Healy Pass.

It’s so hard to grasp the grandeur landscape from a photo.

The next part of our drive was my favorite.

We were coming down the other side of the mountain from Healy Pass and you didn’t really know what it would look like.

Every time we went over a hill or blip in the road, the view ahead would literally open up into this gorgeous valley and we pulled over so many times to take photos.

At this point of the trip, the weather was clearing up as well so the sun was shining through the clouds and the blue skies were peeking through.

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