Killarney · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
A tourist town with a national park attached — the park is free, the town is not.
Killarney town centre
Hostels sit on and around New Street and the station end, five minutes from both the pubs and the national park gates.
What a day costs
Around €55–85 a day, roughly $60–95: dorm €22–38, supermarket food and a pub carvery €20–30, bike hire €15–20.
Getting around cheap
Hire a bike — the park roads are closed to cars and reach Muckross and the Gap. Bus Éireann links Kenmare, Tralee and Cork from the station.
Free by day
Killarney National Park costs nothing: Torc Waterfall, the Muckross grounds, Ross Castle's lakeshore and the road through the Gap of Dunloe.
Where travellers meet
Courtney's and O'Connor's have trad most nights and no cover charge; hostels organise the Gap of Dunloe bike-and-boat day between them.