How to get to Atlantic Bay Rest
Atlantic Bay Rest is located in the quiet village of Smerwick, on the Dingle Peninsula, where the only traffic occurs when sheep or cows take to the roads. It’s lovely here. We are close to Dingle but out of the hussle and bustle. The best parts of the Slea Head drive are about 10min away. So here is how to get to us.
By plane
The closest airport is Kerry airport, which has direct routes from Dublin, London, Brittany, Manchester, Frankfurt-Hahn, Faro, and Alicante. If it suits your holiday plans better, you can also fly to Cork or Dublin airports.
By car
As long as you are ready to drive on the left side of the road, you can hire a car from any Irish airport or big enough city.
If you’re using a navigation system, simply enter “Atlantic Bay Rest” into GoogleMaps or use the eircode V92 RX30. Both stop at the beginning of our driveway so keep going all the way down the lane until you arrive to the parking area overlooking the sea.
If you’re not using technology, head in the direction of Ballyferriter from Dingle. Turn left at the roundabout on the way out of town along the water and go over the small bridge, past the distillery and take the first right turn. There is a sharp left turn towards Ballyferriter once you get to the top of the windy mountain road. Keep driving past the Dingle Peninsula hotel, the West Kerry Brewery and the village of Ballyferriter. After about 300m out of Ballyferriter, take a right turn towards the ‘Golf Links’.
After a few kilometres, do NOT follow the direction of the golf course anymore and turn right before the small stone bridge on a long narrow tar road (about 1 km) up to a T-junction where you see a sign with handwritten ‘Smerwick’ or in Irish ‘Ard na Caithne’. Turn left at this junction into the village. You should see a pink house on the right shortly after the turn. After the pink house, drive slowly not to miss the sign for Atlantic Bay Rest and take a sharp right onto a very narrow road. Atlantic Bay Rest is the last property so, again, continue all the way down to our car park right on the sea.
If you have time (it takes about 20min extra, or more if photos), we recommend the Slea Head drive along the coastline from Dingle via Ventry, Coumeenole, Dunquin pier, and Clogher. During high season, you must drive it from Dingle only as per local regulations. If you take this route, turn left following the ‘Golf Links’ just before Ballyferriter village. Then follow the rest of the instructions as above.
By train
The closest train station is in Tralee Casement which is one stop away from Farranfore (the station near Kerry airport). You can check the timetable and fares on the Irish rail website here. The Dublin to Tralee fare cost approximately 26EUR at the time of writing.
By bus
If you’re starting from Dublin, get the bus 300 from Dublin city to Tralee bus station.
From Tralee bus station, which is conveniently located across the parking from Tralee Casement train station, you can hop on bus 275 to Dingle.
Once in Dingle, the Kerry local link can bring you to Ballyferriter. You can do the rest on foot as per the explanations below. When possible, we like to help and can sometimes pick up guests from the Ballyferriter bus stop however, please do not rely on this as we won’t usually know until closer to the date if this will be possible for us.
By taxi
Please contact us after booking for numbers of local taxi drivers. Make sure you prebook if possible as that’s usually customary in the area. Spontaneous bookings may incur waiting time. Most taxi drivers prefer dropping you off at the beginning of the narrow road that leads to our place. From there, it’s just a 5 minutes walk.
On foot or by bicycle
We love slow travellers! If you’re walking the Dingle way or arriving from Ballyferriter after taking the Kerry local link, the most pleasant and fastest way to walk to Atlantic Bay Rest is via Smerwick harbour and Beal Ban beach. GoogleMaps would give directions via the road which takes longer so go analog and stroll via the beach. It’s a beautiful part of the peninsula. There is usually enough wet sand for bikes but take the road if you want to avoid salt on your gear.
If you’re a hiker and prepared for it, you could also hike to Atlantic Bay Rest via Sybill head and the Three Sisters. We are located nearby the foot of the last sister.
Don’t get lost! Or do! It’s part of the experience…