Free entry for English Heritage members
This place is cared for by the Office of Public Works, which runs Ireland's national heritage sites as Heritage Ireland. English Heritage members are entitled to free entry to all OPW sites from the first year of membership. Show your current membership card at admissions.
More information
Standard price, sold at the door only; there is no online booking and tours are first come first served. OPW's general rule gives free admission to children under 12 and to visitors with disabilities and their carers. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's Child/Student rate; no age band given on the page, and OPW says children under 12 visit free. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's Group/Senior rate; no age given on the page. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's family ticket; the page does not define the family. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
No charge for anyone.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service, which owns the park around the castle, says parking within Killarney National Park is free and that Ross Castle has two car parks open 24 hours a day (no overnight camping). The nearer one is on Ross Island at the end of Ross Road, a short walk up a slope to the courtyard; the second is beside Reen Pier just across the Ross Road bridge, about 200 m away. Cycle parking at the castle; a network of surfaced tracks through the Ross Island, Knockreer and Muckross areas suits bikes.
Driving pin: the Ross Island car park, 143 m east of the castle. Ross Castle is 2 km from Killarney off the N71 Kenmare road. No shuttle bus runs; jaunting cars go from Killarney House demesne to the castle, and the walk from Killarney House and Gardens through the park takes about an hour. Transport for Ireland's journey planner lists a Killarney, Ross Castle stop.
Ross Castle stands on an inlet of Lough Leane inside Killarney National Park, a fifteenth-century tower house probably built by the chieftain O'Donoghue Mor, who in legend sleeps beneath the lake and rises on a white horse every seventh May morning. It was the last place in Munster to hold out against Cromwell's forces: its defenders trusted a prophecy that only a ship could take it, so General Ludlow floated a large boat onto the lake and the surrender followed. Guided tours of fifteen, sold at the door, climb the worn spiral stair past the Guard Room and furnished Parlour to the Great Hall at the top, and a free exhibition room shows a model of the castle. Dogs on leads are welcome in the national park and on the Ross Island trails, and the Mining Trail, Library Point and Governor's Rock walks start at the castle car park. Visitors praise the lake and mountain views, the free parking and the garden cafe; arrive early in summer, as tours fill.
Prices, non-members
Open 5 March to 3 November 2026, daily 9.30am to 5pm; the first guided tour is at 10am and the last at 4.55pm as OPW publishes it. The interior is seen by guided tour only, first come first served, with at most 15 people on each tour; the site is very busy in summer and OPW warns of delays. Closed in winter; 2027 dates are not yet published. The surrounding national park, its trails and car parks stay open all year with 24-hour pedestrian access, and the exhibition room is free. Free admission on the first Wednesday of each month during the season for individual visitors and families, tickets at the door.
Access is challenging for visitors with mobility difficulties: a steep slope from the car park to the courtyard, a couple of steps into the castle and a very old spiral stair with worn steps of uneven height and a handrail, low narrow doorways and stony uneven ground at the back; the tour is not suitable for wheelchair users, though the courtyard and exhibition room are reached from the slope. Toilets are on the far side of the castle by the cafe kiosk, reached by old concrete steps, run by the national park with seasonal hours; OPW says one accessible toilet is available. Ross Castle Garden Cafe serves coffee, cakes, cold drinks and ice cream in the grounds. Boat trips to Innisfallen Island and around the lakes, the Pride of the Lakes waterbus and jaunting cars leave from the castle and are run by other operators at their own prices. Card payments accepted; no drones in the national park.
Dogs: OPW lists 'Dogs on lead' among the castle's restrictions; whether a dog may join the guided tour inside the tower house is not confirmed. Dogs on a lead are welcome throughout Killarney National Park around the castle; no ticket is needed for the park. Dogs on a lead are permitted on all the national park's trails, including the Ross Island trails that start at the castle car park.
Photo: Ross Castle's tower house and bawn walls in evening light, with the mountains of Killarney National Park behind. Christopher Fitzgerald, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CF_Ross_Castle.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Dog friendly
3 km easy loop, mostly flat and gentle, starting and finishing at the Ross Castle car park past the castle and the old copper mines along the shore of Lough Leane; free, no ticket needed.
5 km easy return from the main path to the left of the castle to the viewpoint over Innisfallen Island and its twelfth-century monastery, about 2 km each way, extendable by the Copper Mines loop; free.
4 km easy loop on Ross Island starting and finishing at Ross Castle and passing the copper mines; can be combined with Library Point; free.