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Gap of Dunloe Day Tour: Explore Killarney National Park's Scenic Wonders
4.6
205 Ratings
Killarney
Embark on an amazing adventure tour to explore the scenic wonders of Killarney National Park, including the breathtaking Gap of Dunloe. Choose between a walking or horse-drawn carriage tour, and enjoy a boat ride through the stunning Lakes of Killarney. Book now!
Embark on an amazing adventure tour to explore the scenic wonders of Killarney National Park, including the breathtaking Gap of Dunloe. Choose between a walking or horse-drawn carriage tour, and enjoy a boat ride through the stunning Lakes of Killarney. Book now!
Duration:
5 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Gap of Dunloe - Considering a walking, rambling or hiking tour along with a fantastic boat ride through the Lakes of Killarney among spectacular scenery? Look no further than a Deros tour to the Gap of Dunloe (from Irish: Dún Lóich, meaning “Lóich’s stronghold”, otherwise known as Bearna an Choimín meaning “gap of the common-land”). The Gap is a…
- Gap of Dunloe - Considering a walking, rambling or hiking tour along with a fantastic boat ride through the Lakes of Killarney among spectacular scenery? Look no further than a Deros tour to the Gap of Dunloe (from Irish: Dún Lóich, meaning “Lóich’s stronghold”, otherwise known as Bearna an Choimín meaning “gap of the common-land”). The Gap is a narrow mountain pass between Macgillycuddy’s Reeks (west) and Purple Mountain (east) of just under seven miles long and your hike takes approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. There are daily tours to this magnificent landscape leaving from our office in the centre of Killarney daily at 10.30am
What's Included
- Unique Bus and Boat trip combo
- Professional driver/guide included
- Complimentary car park at Ross Castle with 24-hour notice
- Convenient transport to and from Kate Kearney’s Cottage
- Unique Bus and Boat trip combo
- Professional driver/guide included
- Complimentary car park at Ross Castle with 24-hour notice
- Convenient transport to and from Kate Kearney’s Cottage
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Jaunting Cart Ride ( EUR 35.00 pp cash only) 4 pax per Carriage can also be hired privately
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Jaunting Cart Ride ( EUR 35.00 pp cash only) 4 pax per Carriage can also be hired privately
Additional Information
Exceptional and premier excursion to Killarney National Park.
Considering a walk, stroll or trek tour? The Gap of Dunloe is the perfect choice, spanning 7 miles (11 kilometers) and taking roughly 2 hrs 30 minutes.
For those who prefer not to walk or trek, a traditional Irish Jaunting Carriage (horse and carriage) is available as an alternative to…
Exceptional and premier excursion to Killarney National Park.
Considering a walk, stroll or trek tour? The Gap of Dunloe is the perfect choice, spanning 7 miles (11 kilometers) and taking roughly 2 hrs 30 minutes.
For those who prefer not to walk or trek, a traditional Irish Jaunting Carriage (horse and carriage) is available as an alternative to travel through the Gap of Dunloe. Additional charges are E 35 per person for the Horse Carriages, payable directly.
Boats will be available to guide visitors through the spectacular three Lakes of Killarney, ending at Ross Castle.
An outstanding exploration tour.
- Jaunting Carriages are paid directly at Kate Kearneys Cottage at a cost of E 35 pp (cash only).There are 4 passengers in each carriage
- Carriages may be hired privately and the total cost would be E 140 per carriage.There is no pre booking for carriages as the booking may be made on arrival at Kate Kearneys Cottage.
- There is not enough time to visit Ross Castle before returning to Killarney but visitors may stay at Ross Castle and enjoy a lesisurely walk to Killarney through the National Park (30 to 40 minutes).
- Tours of the Castle takes 1 hour.Pre booking is advisable and can be done by phoning 353 64 6635851 or visit [email protected]
- There is free car parking at Ross Castle where the tour terminates and we can certainly collect customers at Ross Castle at 10am but prior notice has to be given by telephoning 00353 64 6631251 the previous evening.
- Pease advise at the time of booking if you are walking or wish to hire the Horse Carriages at E 35 per person-4 pax per carriage.
Location
22 Main St
Main Street
Our office is beside St Marys Church of Ireland on Main Street.
Please be at the Office no later than 10.15am
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.6
(205 Ratings)
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408karenn
Aug 20, 2025
Gap of Dunloe - Fabulous but take CASH! - We were told to make sure to see the Gap of Dunloe, and we are so happy we did. Deros Tours is really the transportation to the Gap and back home; other than that, you can either walk the Gap or take a cart. We knew 7 miles at a pace we had to maintain would not be fun for us, so we took the cart. Even with the cart, we had to walk up two hills, which gave us plenty of exercise. The scenery was gorgeous, the lakes spectacular, and the cart ride fun. Once the ride was over, we ate lunch and then had a nice boat trip back home, and again, because the lake was low today, we had one place where we had a tricky, but beautiful, walk. For someone unsteady on their feet, this is a walk for you to skip, and you would be allowed to stay in the boat. Once the boat ride was over, we grabbed the bus back to the hotel, and we were home by 4:00. The only thing we missed was that both the cart and any food purchased had to be in cash only. We highly recommend the experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
James_m
Aug 11, 2025
Walk fast - Absolutely beautiful views, and the tour guide on the boat was great! My wife got to drive the boat for a bit! If you're going to hike the gap, don't dawdle if you want to make it to the cafe before the boat tour with time to eat. If you take a horse and buggy you'll have plenty of time before the boats start leaving.
Review provided by Viator
Paula_b
Aug 9, 2025
Very well run tour. ... - Very well run tour. Deros Couch tours are the BEST! Boat captain was knowledgeable and entertaining.
Review provided by Viator
Culture22800284597
Aug 8, 2025
A great experience and top customer Service! - We called Deros-tour to accompany our family (2 adults and 3 children) to walk in the Gap of Dunloe. The organization was perfect: the punctual pick-up, the clear explanations and the course very well organized. It is a tourist tour that has existed for a very long time.
In addition, Catherine (Customer Service) was perfect. I was wrong in the original booking and she easily found a solution to change booking. Good job!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Landra_j
Jul 31, 2025
Beautiful scenery, lovely hiking and boat ride - The Gap of Dunloe is stunning and we thought the day was organized very well with the hike through the gap and the boat tour of the lakes with a funny and knowledgeable captain. We really enjoyed hiking the 7 miles versus taking the horse and cart. The only negative was the guys with the horse and cart finding us with 2.5 miles and 1 hour to go in the hike insinuating we weren't going to make it as "the boats might leave early today" (ahead of the scheduled 2pm departure) and telling us that we needed to pay them 50 euros to take us the rest of the way. We had been stopping to take a lot of pictures but we were watching the time and so we declined the cart. We made it with 20 minutes to spare (the boats left at 2pm as scheduled) but it did put a damper on the day.
Review provided by Viator
Charlesha1669hk
Jul 28, 2025
MUST DO TOUR - These were some of our favorite views in all of Ireland and what an AMAZING experience and adventure this tour was! We took a short bus ride overlooking gorgeous views from Killarney to Kate kearney’s cottage (about 20 minutes). Then we had the option to walk or take a horse and carriage ride through the gap of Dunloe. We cannot recommend requesting your horse and carriage ride in advance before your tour (€35 per person and 4 people per carriage) - it is SO worth it! Our guide, Paul, was extremely knowledgeable about the history and sights on our tour. He has been doing this for 27 years and added so much context and humor to the trip. Also, seeing the lakes and stunning views while in a carriage ride was just beyond magical and super intimate since it was only 4 of us! Then, in a good way, the boat ride was also much smaller than we expected (I think about 12 of us) so it was also intimate and personal. We loved our boat guide and it was amazing to have seen the views of the lake from land and then to be IN the lakes! If you are doing a ring of Kerry tour, we highly recommend doing this afterwards because they point the view points like Lady’s View and it was magical to put the landscape into context.
This tour was EVERYTHING! Highly recommend and would love to do again!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Slejana
Jul 24, 2025
- Must do during your visit DE the region! This excursion allows DE see magnificent landscapes (even in the rain 😉), from mountains to lakes, EN a day. Very well organized by Deros. Thank you!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Debbie_d
Aug 8, 2025
Be specific on what it’ll be like - I wish the original description was more accurate. The choices to get through Gap, what each choice entails, would be like.
Review provided by Viator
M5650tycolleend
Jul 14, 2025
Gap of Dunloe (Jaunty Car and Boat) - This was a great tour and we throughly enjoyed it. The Gap of Dunloe was beautiful. We took the Jaunty Car (horse drawn buggy) and it was fun and then the boat ride back to Ross Castle. There was also an option to walk but you had to finish the 7 mile walk within 2.5 hours and there was significant elevation gain.
I have some suggestions. The Jaunty Car rides need to be explained better or you should provide a website with details. It is a rough ride, at steepest hill, you have to get out of the car (carriage) and walk about a 1/2 mile on a very steep hill….we were fine, but if you didn’t know and had mobility issues it would be hard….also, the cost and details of the jaunty is for 4 people (€35 so if you have only 3 people you have to wait for a single to join or pay for an empty seat).
So, again, I thought this was a fantastic experience but just needed more information provided.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jacksonsmom129
Jul 15, 2025
Solo warning! Otherwise amazing - Gap of Dunloe- can not recommend this tour if traveling solo and plan to use the jaunting cart.
When we got to the site where they separate the group into carts, they were mostly taking pairs or even numbers. I was told each time, just wait we will get you into the next cart. Until there were no more carts. Each time a cart would leave the next guy would say, we will get you sorted. Until I was literally left standing alone on the curb. I had to ask out loud “am I just going to be left here?” My tour driver was no where in sight and the carts had left. The driver was still around but he was talking and walking around. He didn’t come over to try and help get a cart situated. Luckily a family of three came up so they got another cart ready. All was good until at the exact top of the mountain, the cart driver realized the family of three was not going to the boats. They had paid to go up and down again. So I was told, you’ll have to get out and into another cart. I was 3.5 miles up, in pouring rain and wind.
I definitely started freaking out and the cart driver was like, another cart will come. So I said “you’re going to leave me at the top of a mountain alone?????”. So he said I could get back in the cart until another cart came and he would wait for me. I chose to stand outside, but he did wait with me from inside the cart.
5 minutes later a cart came by, but was full. It had 4 people from the tour group in it. So they kept on going.
About 10 minutes later a cart came (no one from my tour group). They let me squeeze in and luckily they were all super nice and the driver was kind and understood. He said they never left people behind, I was like well someone should have explained that instead of me being the one to have to get out and find a new cart.
The boat ride and views both on the cart were amazing. But I’d never attempt this as a solo traveler. I don’t expect to be taken care of or receive special treatment, but I also don’t expect to be left first on a sidewalk alone and then 3.5 miles up a mountain.
I also did the Ring of Kerry tour the day before and it was really good.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
