West Kerry is small enough to cross in an hour and varied enough that where you sleep changes the holiday. Our sixteen homes sit in five places: three villages on the north side of the Dingle Peninsula, the harbour village of Fenit on Tralee Bay, and the market town of Listowel in North Kerry. This is how we would choose between them, with the beach at the front of the decision because that is what most guests ask about first.
Castlegregory: the beach base
Castlegregory is the village for a holiday that happens on the sand. The Maharees spit starts at its edge with a beach on each side, surf and kitesurf schools on the Brandon Bay side and calmer water on the Tralee Bay side, and the village itself has pubs, a shop and a café within walking distance of most of our holiday homes in Castlegregory.
The closest to the water is Elfin House on the Maharees, a house for eight about fourteen minutes on foot from the beach. Bedrock House sleeps ten and is the one we suggest for a large family or two families together. At Aughacasla, a few minutes east of the village, Woodside and the twin houses East Bay and West Bay are a short walk from the shore of Tralee Bay.
Cloghane: the walking base
Cloghane is at the quiet end of Brandon Bay, where the road runs out and Mount Brandon begins. It is a Gaeltacht village with one pub, a community shop and the Faha trailhead six minutes away by car. Fermoyle Strand, the western end of the bay, is three minutes away and usually empty outside July and August. Our holiday homes in Cloghane are the ones to choose if the plan is walking, or simply quiet.
The Old Schoolhouse sits right on the water in the village and sleeps six. Brandon Bay View is on the hillside above with the bay on one side and the mountain on the other. An Teach Beag is a cottage for four at the entrance to the village with a games room, the right size for a couple or a small family.
Camp and Aughacasla: the practical base
Camp is the first village on the peninsula coming from Tralee, which makes it the easiest to reach and the best placed for a holiday that uses both coasts. Derrymore Strand on Tralee Bay is five or six minutes from our two cottages, Inch Beach on the south coast is under half an hour, and Tralee with its supermarkets is twenty minutes. Our holiday homes in Camp are small by choice: Slate Cottage for five above the road with a view of the bay, and The Old Post Cottage for four in the village, next door to a café.
Fenit: the harbour base
Fenit is on the north shore of Tralee Bay, ten kilometres from Tralee, with the main port of the county, a marina, a sandy beach beside the harbour and the start of the Tralee to Fenit Greenway. It suits a family that wants a beach with a playground and toilets, a wood fired sauna by the sea, and the shops of Tralee close by. The Lighthouse is our home here, a house for eight about nineteen minutes on foot from Fenit Beach.
Listowel: the town base
Listowel is the odd one out: a market town in North Kerry rather than a village by the sea. The square, the pubs, the bookshops and the castle are all on foot, Ballybunion with its two Blue Flag beaches is eighteen minutes by car, and the golf links a minute beyond that. Our holiday home in Listowel, 59 William Street, is a townhouse for ten two minutes from the square. It suits a wedding party, a golf group or a family gathering that would rather have the house to itself than a hotel.
Which homes are beside the beach
If walking to the sand matters more than anything else, these are the homes to look at first, with the walking time from the door to the nearest beach:
- West Bay and East Bay, Aughacasla: about 12 minutes to the shore of Tralee Bay
- Elfin House, Maharees: about 14 minutes to the Maharees beaches
- Woodside, Aughacasla: about 18 minutes to Aughacasla Bay
- Lough Gill Lake House, Castlegregory: about 19 minutes to Castlegregory Beach
- The Lighthouse, Fenit: about 19 minutes to Fenit Beach
The Cloghane homes are a short drive rather than a walk from the sand, four to seven minutes to Cappagh on Brandon Bay, and the Camp cottages are five or six minutes from Derrymore Strand. Our beach guide compares the beaches themselves.
How to decide
Write down the three things you will do most: the beach, a mountain, a town in the evening, a golf course, a wedding. Then choose the village that puts the first of them within minutes and the other two within a short drive. For most families that is Castlegregory. For walkers it is Cloghane. For a first visit that wants to see both coasts, Camp. For a town holiday or a group event in North Kerry, Listowel.
Every home is let as a whole house with its own kitchen, and each house page shows the drive times to the beach, Tralee and Dingle town, so you can check your three journeys before you book. The full list is on our page of self catering holiday homes in Kerry, with live prices and availability, and the direct price is below Airbnb for the same dates.