Muckross Abbey - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

The Traditional farms at Muckross offer an experience of what life was like in the Irish countryside during the 1930s and 1940s prior to rural electrification and widespread mechanisation. This is not a museum tour in the traditional sense. It is a working farm that utilises the tools and practices of the time to re-enact a way of life that is slowly fading from memory.

Killarney National Park, was the first national park in Ireland, created when the Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish Free State in 1932It contains many features of national and international importance such as the native oakwoods and yew woods together with an abundance of evergreen trees and shrubs and a profusion of bryophytes and lichens which thrive in the mild Killarney climate.

Muckross House is the quintessential Victorian mansion, built in a Tudor Style. This beautiful house rises from superbly designed gardens, the light from nearby Muckross Lake glinting off hundreds of diamond-paned windows. It is situated close to the eastern shore of Muckross Lake, taking full advantage of the magnificent views which can be enjoyed from this location. Most of the house has been preserved as a late 19th century mansion, with furniture and artefacts from that period.

A superb waterfall located at the heart of Killarney National Park in Ireland, in one of the numerous wild forests of the park. It is one of Killarney’s most well known tourist attractions and a traditional stopping point for bus and coach tours. As a result it can get busy and congested around this area in the peak summer months. The waterfall and its cascades are among the most impressive due to their height

Muckross Lake is one of the deepest lakes in Ireland and is home to many types of fish. It is one of the three famous Lakes of Killarney, along with Lough Leane and Upper Lake. It is also a habitat for the critically endangered blunt-snouted Irish char.

Ross Castle sits on the edge of Killarney’s lower lake and was built by O’Donoghue Mór in the 15th century. The Castle came into the thands of the Brownes who became the Earls of Kenmare and owned an extensive portion of the lands that are now part of Killarney National Park. It is the ancestral home of the Chiefs of the Clan O'Donoghue, later associated with the Brownes of Killarney.The castle is operated by the Office of Public Works, and is open to the public seasonally with guided tours.