Information about Killarney


Killarney (church of the sloe) is one of the most well known towns in Ireland. It is a town that has a 250 year history in tourism. Travel writers and the old English gentry made Killarney and its surroundings famous. Magnificent holdings such as the Kenmare Estate and Muckross Estate are well worth mentioning.

The landscape with the highest mountains of Ireland, the magnificent Killarney Lakes and gardens (due to the mild climate) are breathtaking. Killarney’s National Park is home to Ireland’s only native herd of red deer.

Killarney also has another side to it, some of the oldest copper mines were on the lake shore and date back to 2400 BC, and astonishingly copper has been mined there well into the late 19th Century a period of approximately four thousand years.
One of the famous people working as manager in the mine was German Professor of Geology and Mineralogy R.E.Raspe who was also the author of Baron Munchhausen’s narrative of his marvellous travels and campaigns in Russia.

History of Killarney


Killarney was garrison town; a castle was built in 1500 AD on Ross Island in Killarney’s largest lake. In the 17th C the castle changed hands twice before it was granted to the English Land Surveyor, Sir Valentine Browne.
By the mid 18th C the castle had become a garrison. Most of the outer walls had to be demolished to extend the accommodation sections. In the 1970’s the castle was restored to its former glory. Today, Killarney is a Cathedral town for the dioceses of Kerry.

Killarney Today


Killarney is still a flourishing tourism centre. Killarney is the ideal venue to stay a few days and explore the surrounding countryside. There are many daytrips, such as the breathtaking Dingle Peninsula, the world famous Ring of Kerry or the astonishing Beara Peninsula. Located in the immediate vicinity are Muckross House and Gardens, which form the centre part of the Killarney National Park which is also ideal for walking, jogging or just relaxing.

Walks between 30 minutes and up to several hours are waiting to be explored. The demesne, accessible directly from the town centre is ideal for a peaceful walk by the lake and Ross Castle. Killarney is famous for its horse drawn vehicles known locally as jaunting cars and elsewhere as pony and traps. The drivers of the jaunting cars are known as jarvies and they offer a variety of daytrips most famously the day trip to the Gap of Dunloe which is a gap in Ireland’s highest mountain range returning to Killarney by open boat trip through all three Killarney lakes. Eckhard Gogsch, the owner of PG Tourism Services in Killarney, welcomes the opportunity to introduce you to the many wonders of the Kingdom of Kerry. Contact PG Tourism to learn more about what awaits you in Killarney.