Buckle up because this post is a long one! On the third day of our Ireland road trip, we drove from Kilkenny to Killarney, visiting several stops along the way. There is so much to see and do in Ireland that it can be hard to decide on which sites to visit. After a lot of research, these three spots were the ones we chose on this particular day. I would highly recommend all of them! Continue reading to hear more about our visits to the Rock of Cashel, Midleton Distillery, and Blarney Castle, and how you can hit them all in one day!
Rock of Cashel:
From Kilkenny, we drove straight to our first stop, the Rock of Cashel. We arrived just in time to take one of the guided tours – it was about 45 minutes and described the history of the site and the area. We enjoyed wandering around the Rock of Cashel and the location is ideal – it sits up on the hillside with great views over the surrounding area. You can also see nearby Hore Abbey from here!
The Rock of Cashel was also our first taste of Ireland’s unpredictable weather. We arrived to beautiful, clear skies and warm temperatures. Shortly after, the clouds rolled in, the wind picked up, and it started to downpour! The rain only lasted for a few minutes and then just as quickly as it came, the skies cleared once again. Safe to say, each day you should be prepared for all weather conditions! Hence why I wore a raincoat and rain boots every day!
Hore Abbey:
If you’re visiting the Rock of Cashel, make sure you don’t miss out on nearby Hore Abbey! It’s a short walk down the hill from the Rock of Cashel and is not as well known, and therefore, is much less crowded. We only saw a handful of other tourists while we were here! This was honestly one of the highlights of our entire trip – we had so much fun exploring the ruins and imagining what life would have been like during these times. For me, it is a must-visit site!
Midleton Distillery:
From the Rock of Cashel and Hore Abbey, we continued on our way to our next destination: Midleton Distillery! Initially, we were planning to visit Cobh on our way to the distillery. I had read great things about this cute harbor town – and hello, painted ladies! However, we had a late start to the day and spent more time at our first stop than we were expecting. So, we had to skip Cobh and head straight to the distillery. In fact, that ended up being a recurring theme of the trip! I think I may have over planned a bit, and so many sites were worth spending quite a bit of time at, that the time seemed to get away from us. Oh well, it gives us another reason to go back!
Midleton Distillery was one place that my dad really wanted to visit as he is a bit of a whiskey aficionado! I don’t know much about whiskey, but I did enjoy learning about the whiskey-making process and even getting to taste a few. Although, I must admit… The signature whiskey cocktail that we had at the end of the tour was more my speed!
We made reservations for our tour and tasting online in advance. I would definitely recommend doing this as it’s a very popular destination, especially with the tour buses! We booked the Jameson Distillery Experience Tour. You can reserve your tickets online here.
Blarney Castle:
After our visit to Midleton, we jumped back in the car and sped over to Blarney Castle. The castle closes at 6:30pm with the last entry being at 5:30pm – we arrived with literally three minutes to spare! After buying our tickets, we made a beeline up to the Blarney Stone, where we took turns kissing the rock. If you haven’t heard the story of the Blarney Stone, the tale goes that if you kiss the stone, you will be granted the gift of eloquence. To be honest, it was actually scarier than we were expecting! Our legs were all shaking by the time we stood back up – haha!
Blarney Castle (and in particular kissing the Blarney Stone) is one of those experiences that tends to get blasted by many reviews. However, we always like to experience things for ourselves (such as with visiting the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin). We actually really enjoyed Blarney Castle! Kissing the stone was fun, but the real highlight for me was exploring the castle itself.
As Blarney Castle gets extremely crowded, I had planned our day so that it would be the last site that we visited. Due to that, there was absolutely no line to kiss the Blarney Stone! In fact, we only saw a handful of people at the castle! If you are planning to visit, I would definitely recommend coming later in the day (or probably early in the morning) to beat most of the crowds.
The grounds of the castle are also quite large and very picturesque. As we showed up so late, we didn’t have time to walk around them, which was a bummer! If visiting in the afternoon, I would try to get to the castle about two hours before closing. That way, you will have time to kiss the Blarney Stone and explore the castle, while also leaving time to walk around the grounds.
Killarney
We left Blarney Castle just before it closed and hopped back in the car to head to Killarney, where we would be staying for two nights. Truthfully, the drive from Blarney Castle to Killarney was very challenging. I’m not sure if it was just how our GPS routed us, but we ended up taking the tiniest road in the middle of nowhere. This also became a recurring theme of the trip. Driving in Ireland is honestly pretty scary because the roads are all two-lane but are incredibly narrow! It was always a bit of a white knuckle experience!
By the time we finally arrived in Killarney, it was pretty late (about 8pm) and we were starving! Unfortunately for us, Killarney is a popular place to stay, and as such, all the restaurants were packed! After searching for a bit, we ended up stumbling onto one (The Laurels) that had a shorter wait and a bar where we could sit and have a pint.
Where We Stayed:
As we were staying for two nights in Killarney, we decided to get an Airbnb. We booked this Airbnb. It’s a cute spot, had free street parking, and the location was great – a short walk away to the pubs and restaurants.
You can get $35 off your first Airbnb here!
What I Wore:
On this day, I wore a beige raincoat from Macy’s (runs TTS), a navy crewneck sweater from J. Crew Factory (I’m wearing an XS and it comes in many other colors), and my favorite high waisted jeggings (TTS) from American Eagle. My short rain boots are from Everlane!
If you saw my post on the pink puffer jacket that I wore in Finland, you know that I recently discovered the brand Everlane. They have quickly become one of my new favorite brands – I love what they stand for and their merchandise is such high quality! Last minute, I decided to buy these rain boots from Everlane and I’m so glad I did. I ended up wearing them most days on our trip (except when I was wearing my Hunter boots!) because they’re very comfortable, sturdy, and go with pretty much everything! Rain boots (and raincoats) are everyday essentials in Ireland due to the unpredictable nature of the weather!
If you’re planning your own road trip to Ireland, I hope you find this information helpful! I would definitely not miss visiting any of these sites – they were all incredible in their own way. If you would like to read more posts from Ireland, don’t miss these recaps of our time in Dublin and Kilkenny.
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