Family Activities in Kerry

Kerry has a huge varierty of family activities, both indoor and outdoor. Click on any of the actvities below for more information.

• Aquadome, Tralee
• Eclipse Centre, Ring of Kerry
• Bonane Heritage Park, Ring of Kerry
• Play at Height, Dingle
• Kayaking on Killarney's Lakes
• Kerry County Museum, Tralee
• Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium, Dingle Town

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Aquadome
Most people know the Aquadome and know how impressive it is.
• realistic waves
• Rapids
• A huge slide

I must say I really enjoyed it. It was really great fun. I even went on the giant slide and frightened the life out of myself, twice.

Two things that really impressed me about the place;
1. the cleanliness
2. The amount of staff on duty all around the pool. Marvelous supervision.

Open: 10am - 10pm weekdays / 10am - 9pm at weekends.
Prices: Adult: E15 / Child: E12 / Family E43.20
Contact: Tel. 066 - 712 8899 / www.aquadome.ie

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Ring of Kerry - Eclipse Centre

Next we move to Blackwater outside Kenmare to the Eclipse Centre This is a beautiful, relatively new centre that provides for activities that sound great
• Falconry Demonstrations and courses
• Take the Assault course challenge
• Laughter Yoga
• Laser Combat
• mud surfing - dragged around a field by a quad bike on a modified surf board
• Off-road horse riding on their own estate, beginners or advanced
• Archery
• Kayaking
• Raft building

Prices and times vary according to the activity so it’s best to contact the Eclipse Centre for details or see kerrygems.com
Tel: 064 - 668 2965 / www.eclipseireland.com

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Bonane Heritage Park
While in the Kenmare area I would also recommend visiting Bonane Heritage Park on the N71 Kenmare to Glengarriff Road. This is really a credit to the local community in Bonane. They have taken a really historic area that was covered in forestry and transformed it into a most wonderful historic park. Here you can see;
• stone circle
• a magnificent ring fort
• fulacht fia
• and a pre-famine house

You can pick up an Activity Park Pack at the entrance and young and old will have an informative and fun visit.

Open: Daylight hours - all year
Prices: Adults E4 each / Family Ticket E10
Contact: www.bonaneheritagepark.com

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Dingle Peninsula - Play at Height
With Kerry’s weather being so unpredictable, indoor activities for locals and visitors are very important. In Kerry we have a tendency to do things on a grand scale, if you think of the great attractions we have like Crag Cave, the Aquadome and Dingle Oceanworld. When Mike Shea and his team at Play at Height got together they decided to continue the high standards and build a 12.5 metre (41 ft) climbing wall, possibly the highest in Ireland.

It really is magnificent. Young and old can choose from a variety of routes, with varying levels of difficulty. For the more experience there are over-hanging routes that really test the body.

Play at Height use an auto-belay system so there’s no need for any previous knowledge of rope climbing or rope work.

They also have the amazing Powerfan that allows you to experience the thrill of jumping 40 ft in total safety - giving a real feel of what it’s like to be a stuntman

And lastly - there’s the High Wire Adventure that features a series of aerial challenges - at a height.

Open: 11am - 7pm - 7 days
Prices: Adults: E10 / Juniors : E8 / Family : E32.
Contact: Tel. 066 - 915 2822 / www.playatheight.com

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Killarney - Kayaking on the Killarney Lakes
Last Sunday morning 5 of us set off in kayaks across Muckross Lake from near Torc Waterfall. It was a beautiful morning. We passed Muckross House, went in to some of the caves, passed under Brickeen Bridge and stopped off at the ruins of Glena Cottage under Tomies Mountain for a snack. Afterwards we headed up to the Meeting of the Waters and the Old Weir Bridge, with a quick stop at Dinis Cottage before we headed back across the lake to our cars. Fabulous trip!

The reason I’m telling you this is that I’m sure there are people listening that are thinking...”I’d love to do that”. The thing is, why not try it? Irish Adventures, Cappanalea and Outdoors Ireland would be delighted to take you kayaking on the Killarney Lakes.

For E40-50 euros you have a 3-hr trip and see if you like it. Kayaks vary in price from 500-1000 and you’ll need a buoyancy jacket and some other bits and pieces. But once you have the kayak and the gear you have it for life with little or no future expences.

Two of the operators I contacted told me that you don’t need to be able to swin to do kayaking buy I think you’re less likely to have a panic attack if you capsize when you have some few strokes.

Kerry must be one of the best counties in Ireland for kayaking. We have great rivers, lakes, beaches and miles and miles of coastline. Yet, so few people take advantage of it. With a kayak you’ll see part of Kerry that most people will never see.

With the great range of sit-on kayaks available, these are like a plastic boat, almost everyone can go kayaking.

So why not give it a go?

The people to contact are;

Cappanalea O.E.C.
Tel: 066 9769244 • www.cappanalea.ie

Irish Adventures
Tel: 087 - 419 0318 • www.irishadventures.net

Outdoors Ireland
Tel: +353 (0) 86 860 45 63 • www.outdoorsireland.com

Minimum Age: about 8 years.

Experience Necessary: Complete beginners to advanced catered for.

Note: You need to get a permit from the National Park if you wish to kayak on the Killarney Lakes. You can contact the Park Rangers through Muckross House, tel. 064-6631440. There is no charge for it.

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Tralee / North Kerry - Kerry Museum
Our last item for this week is something kids will really enjoy!

Visit Kerry County Museum in Tralee. You might imagine that the biggest job in the museum would be dusting all those ancient relics that have been on display for years. Well, Kerry Museum is not that kind of museum.

Last Wednesday the museum was just hectic with school children having the time of their lives. One gang of them that I saw were wearing little high-visibility vests and were busy doing an archaeological dig. Using little trowels they were carefully scraping away soil and finding all sorts of little treasures and putting them into trays. There were shrieks of excitement when they discovered the really big find of the day. (I won’t say what it was because it would only spoil it for any children listening).

In another corner of the same room a group of children were being told all about life in medieval Tralee by one of the museum staff. They were in awe when shown a real bone with visible sword marks.

In another room some children were trying on some clothing from the Tom Crean Antarctic Exhibition.

This museum is anything but boring. Helen O’Carroll, along with Claudia Köhler and Griffin Murray deserve great credit because they have really brought history to life. No wonder it was Ireland’s Museum of the Year in 2009!

Admission Charge: Kids are free, adults €5.

As they say on that ad on tv, so what’s your excuse for not having brought your kids to the Kerry Museum. So go on, you head off to the Museum with the kids and I’ll do the lawn and paint the house ... only joking!!

Opening Times: 7 days / 9.30 - 5.30
Contact: 066 - 712 7777 • www.kerrymuseum.ie

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Dingle Peninsula - Dingle Oceanworld
A few years ago Audrey, if I said to you that “there are Sand Tiger Sharks and Penguins in Dingle” you’d have through that I was insane. But that’s exactly what over 2,000 people turned up to see at Dingle Oceanworld’s open-day this year.

To make eye to eye contact with a huge shark, just inches away from your face or to have a giant turtle swim right up to you is an amazing experience. Although I must say the biggest enjoyment I got when I visited Oceanworld recently was seeing the penguins. They are really amusing to watch. It’s like they’d all be gathered in a group and one of them would decide to go for a swim and all the rest would follow. The speed and grace of them in the water was amazing. And then, one by one, they would rocket-propell themselves out of the water, with the ones already on the ice carefully making room for the next one to land.


If possible be there for 1 o’clock to hear a talk on the penguins and see them being fed. There are more feeding times during the day so check with the staff when you arrive.

Other attractions at Oceanworld include;
— the colorful nemo tank
— piranhas
— the Touch Pool where you can get to handle star fish
— Tom Crean display.

Check out the marvelous statue of Tom Crean in Anascaul village, 10 miles (16kms) east of Dingle and afterwards cross to the street and call in to the pub he once owned, The South Pole Inn where there’s a marvelous collection of Crean and the Antarctic memorabilia.

Opening Times: all year round, from 10am.
Admission: Adults 13.00 euros, Children : 7.50 euros, 9.50 euros for seniors and students. Children under 3 are free. Family passes are 38.00 euros for 2 adults and up to 4 children, or for great value check out weekly and yearly passes.

Tickets are valid all day and visitors are able to come and go as they please.

Contact: Máire Treasa O'Shea, General Manager, Tel: 066-9152111
Location: The Wood, Dingle
www.dingle-oceanworld.ie

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