Ladies View

Ladies View is a bend in the N71 with a very good habit of stopping traffic. Perched high on the Killarney-Kenmare road, well inside Killarney National Park, it looks back down the valley over the Lakes of Killarney laid out one behind another, with the mountains folding away into the distance. On a clear day there are few finer panoramas in the country, which is why it turns up on so many postcards and calendars. It is the kind of view that makes people who had meant only to drive through pull over anyway.

It is worth knowing what you are actually looking at, because almost nothing here is signposted. Nearest to you, filling the floor of the valley, is the Upper Lake, the smallest and highest of the three Lakes of Killarney. Out of its far end runs the Long Range, a slow, silver channel that curls north through the woods and carries the water down to Muckross Lake and, beyond that, to Lough Leane, the biggest of the three and the one Killarney town sits beside. To the left the ground climbs to Purple Mountain, and the ridges behind it are the edge of the high country that runs on to Macgillycuddy's Reeks. Everything in the frame is inside the national park.

The name reaches back to 1861, and to Queen Victoria's visit to Killarney. As the royal party toured the lakes, the queen's ladies-in-waiting were brought to this spot and were reportedly so taken with the prospect that it was named after them ever after. Victoria herself spent her time at Ross Castle, Muckross and Torc; the ladies got the view. There is nothing built to see here and nothing to pay, and the significance is entirely in the looking. It is a small piece of royal folklore, but it has stuck fast, and it captures something true about the place.

There are two free car parks, a few hundred metres apart, and the difference between them matters. The first you meet coming from Killarney sits right on the bend and is the busier and tighter of the two. The second, a little further towards Moll's Gap, is the one to aim for: it is easier to pull into, and a short level walkway leads from it to the best vantage, where the Upper Lake and the thread of the Long Range come properly into frame. A café and craft shop stand at the site, though the opening is seasonal, so do not plan a stop around it out of the main months.

Getting there is straightforward. Ladies View lies roughly 19 km south of Killarney on the N71, a drive of about twenty-five minutes, and the road passes Muckross House and Torc Waterfall on the way, so most people arrive having already stopped twice. From the Kenmare side it is a similar run north over Moll's Gap, which is the next great view along the same road. There is no bus stop and no footpath: this is a place you reach by car, by tour coach or on a bicycle, and cyclists grinding up from either direction have earned the look at it more than anyone.

Time your visit if you can. The tour coaches work this road through the middle of the day, and the two car parks fill and empty in waves, so early morning and the last hours of the afternoon are quieter and the light is kinder. More importantly, pick a clear day. The viewpoint sits high enough to be in cloud when the town is not, and in low cloud there is, frankly, nothing to see. When the weather is moving the opposite is true and it becomes the best show on the road, with squalls crossing the valley and the lakes turning from pewter to silver in minutes. Even at its busiest there is room to step aside and find your own patch of railing.