The Gap of Dunloe is the narrow mountain pass that cleaves MacGillycuddy's Reeks from Purple Mountain. For nearly two centuries it's been one of the classic Kerry experiences — jaunting car or on foot, up through old stone bridges and past small tarns, with the mountain walls rearing up on both sides.
The classic way: take a boat from Ross Castle across the Killarney lakes to Lord Brandon's Cottage (book in advance, Easter–October), then walk north through the Gap to Kate Kearney's Cottage. Or walk south from Kate Kearney's Cottage to the Black Valley and return the same way. Both directions are described in the audio tour.
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Welcome to the Gap of Dunloe. You're about to walk one of the most famous mountain passes in Ireland — a narrow, U-shaped glacial valley cutting between the MacGillycuddy's Reeks and Purple Mountain, connecting the Black Valley to the south with Kate Kearney's Cottage to the north. The walk is eleven kilometres one-way, on a narrow tarred road closed to cars but open to walkers, cyclists, and the famous jaunting-car drivers who carry tourists through the Gap in horse-drawn carriages. Allow three hours. It is, if done in the right direction, almost all downhill.
The Gap of Dunloe was cut, geologically, by a glacier during the last ice age — around twenty thousand years ago. As the glacier advanced, it ground away the softer rock between the mountains, leaving a near-perfect U-shaped valley with steep sides, a flat floor, and a chain of small lakes that you will walk past today. The cliffs on either side rise to over five hundred metres.
The name Dunloe comes from the Irish Dún Lóich — Loch's fort — a reference to a legendary early chieftain whose fort, the records say, once stood at the northern entrance to the Gap. Whether it was real is uncertain. The name, and the romance, remain.
Most walkers do the Gap in this direction: starting at Lord Brandon's Cottage in the Black Valley, taking a boat from Ross Castle across the Killarney Lakes to get there, then walking north through the Gap to Kate Kearney's Cottage. This is the way we'll describe the tour. If you're doing it in the reverse direction, this audio still works — just imagine it playing backwards. The landscape looks different depending on which way you face.
Set off from Lord Brandon's Cottage. The Cottage itself is an unusually luxurious stone-built shelter, constructed in the 1830s as a hunting lodge for Lord Brandon. It operates today as a small café serving tea, scones, and soup. Fortify yourself. The first kilometre is flat, following the river south-east through the Black Valley.
The Black Valley. So called, according to local tradition, because it was the last valley in Ireland to be electrified — power arrived in 1976. Before that, the scattered farms that still dot the valley floor were lit by oil lamp and candle. The population has always been small — fewer than forty people live here today — and the quiet is its most striking feature. You may walk for an hour without seeing another person.
The path turns north, and the climb into the Gap begins. A steady, gentle uphill, following the road as it winds up past the first of the Gap lakes — Auger Lake, small and dark, with a small wooded island near the southern shore. Look up. The cliffs on either side rise vertically. You are now in the jaws of the Gap.
You pass the second lake — Black Lake — and then the third, Cushvalley Lough. Each lake is separated from the next by a small waterfall, and all five lakes in the chain are connected by the same river, which you will now follow for the rest of the walk. The road crosses the river at a series of stone bridges. The best-known is the Wishing Bridge, about two-thirds of the way through the Gap. Tradition says that any wish made while crossing the Wishing Bridge is guaranteed to come true. It is, of course, a gentle invention of the jaunting-car drivers. The view from the bridge is genuinely good.
The highest point of the Gap is around three hundred metres above sea level, and comes just past the Wishing Bridge. From here, the road descends steadily for the next three kilometres, dropping you down through a narrower, more dramatic section of the valley, towards the northern entrance.
As you descend, the cliffs close in. The western side — the MacGillycuddy's Reeks side — becomes particularly vertical, and in the right light you can see the bands of weathered rock that run horizontally across the cliff face. Ravens nest here. So do peregrine falcons. So, occasionally, does the white-tailed eagle — re-introduced to Killarney National Park from 2007, and now a regular sighting in the Killarney Lakes area. If you see a very large bird of prey here, it is worth stopping for.
The road emerges from the Gap at Kate Kearney's Cottage — a former shebeen, or illegal drinking house, named for a nineteenth-century proprietress who was widely rumoured to be beautiful, dangerous, and the maker of the best illegal whiskey in Kerry. The cottage operates today as a conventional pub and restaurant, with food, live music in the evenings, and — unfortunately — extensive tourist bus parking. Time your arrival for lunch if you want the best experience.
From Kate Kearney's, buses and taxis run back to Killarney. Your walk is done.
Thank you for walking with us. The Gap of Dunloe is a classic, and for good reason. Come back. Do it in the other direction. See it in autumn, when the bracken on the cliffs turns copper.