Ballybunion has two Blue Flag beaches, a cliff walk, hot seaweed baths and one of the most famous golf courses in Ireland, and in summer the town fills up. We do not have a house in Ballybunion itself. What we have is a townhouse for ten in Listowel, seventeen minutes inland, and for a group this is often the better arrangement: a whole house in a town that is lively all year, with the beach a short drive away. This is how that works.
Ballybunion in a day from Listowel
The drive from Listowel square to the beach car park is about seventeen minutes on the R553. The beaches sit either side of the headland with the castle ruin on it: the Ladies Beach and the Men’s Beach, both with Blue Flags, lifeguards in summer and a surf school on the sand. The cliff walk starts from the castle car park and heads south past sea arches, caves and the Nine Daughters Hole; the loop takes under an hour, and the Virgin Rock is the view most people stop for. The seaweed baths on the front have been running for over a century and are the thing to do when the weather turns.
For golfers, Ballybunion Golf Club is a minute past the town, and the Old Course needs a tee time booked well ahead. Tralee Golf Club at Barrow and the Dooks links are within an hour, which is why North Kerry golf groups base themselves here for a week.
Why stay in Listowel rather than on the coast
Ballybunion is a seaside town: busy from June to August and quiet in the off season, when much of it closes. Listowel is a market town with a square, pubs that open all year, bookshops, a castle over the river and restaurants that do not depend on the beach trade. Staying in Listowel means an evening out on foot, a full choice of places to eat, and parking without a search. The beach is a seventeen minute drive, which for a family with towels and a surfboard is the same as the walk from the far end of Ballybunion car park.
Our house there, 59 William Street, is a restored townhouse for ten, two minutes from the square: four bedrooms, five beds, two and a half bathrooms, a dining room that seats the whole group, a kitchen with a dishwasher, a washing machine and a tumble dryer, one free parking space at the house and paid parking in town. It is let as a whole, so a wedding party or a golf group has the place to itself. Our page on holiday homes in Listowel has the drive times to everything else in North Kerry.
Getting to Ballybunion and Listowel
Kerry Airport at Farranfore is about 37 minutes from Listowel and 49 from Ballybunion. Shannon Airport is about an hour and a half from either, and the Tarbert ferry across the Shannon to Clare is 20 minutes from Listowel, which makes Loop Head and the Cliffs of Moher a day trip without driving round through Limerick. Tralee, with the train station and the big supermarkets, is 27 minutes from Listowel. A car is needed; there is no bus that works for a beach day.
When to book
July and August in Ballybunion book out early, and so does Listowel in two weeks of the year: Writers’ Week, 2 to 6 June 2027, and the Listowel Races Harvest Festival, 20 to 26 September 2027. If your dates fall in any of those, book the house first and plan the rest around it. Outside those weeks there is usually space, and the beach in May, early June and September is at its best, with the water warmest in September.
Other beaches within reach
Banna Strand, a long Blue Flag beach on Tralee Bay, is about 40 minutes from Listowel, and Fenit, with its harbour, sandy beach and wood fired sauna, about 35. On the Dingle Peninsula side, our beach guide compares Castlegregory, Brandon Bay and Inch, an hour and more from Listowel and better suited to a stay in one of our self catering holiday homes in Kerry on that side.
Booking
Open the house page, choose your dates and the number of guests, and it shows the live total and the minimum stay for those dates. Pay online or send a request to the local team. There is no booking fee, and the direct price is below the Airbnb price for the same dates.