Ballaghbeama Gap — Kenmare to Glencar via the Iveragh Peninsula’s Forgotten Pass

While tourists queue for the Ring of Kerry, head inland from Kenmare on the R569 and drop into one of Ireland’s most dramatic and underdriven mountain passes. Ballaghbeama Gap punches through the heart of the Iveragh Peninsula at roughly 330 metres, connecting the Sheen River valley to Glencar — flanked on both sides by the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks and Stumpa Duloigh ridgelines. The road narrows to barely one vehicle wide on the northern descent, with a series of blind bends over exposed bedrock and a sheer drop to the valley floor. No barriers, no second chances. The surface is paved but crumbled at the edges, with loose stone scatter and seasonal bog wash across the road from the hillsides above.

This is not a technical 4×4 trail — it’s a tarmac mountain road that demands respect, high clearance for the rocky edge runs, and a vehicle narrow enough to thread the tightest pinch points. Wide-body trucks and caravans have no business up here. Best run in dry conditions from May through September; winter brings ice on the northern face with zero gritting. No fuel between Kenmare and Glencar, no cell service at the summit. What you walk away with is an authentic Kerry mountain pass experience entirely devoid of tour buses — just ravens, red deer, and Atlantic weather rolling in off the Reeks.