Overview
About Lord Brandon’s Cottage
Why stop
- A lakeside café break in a remote part of the park.
Heads up
- The Mass Path is rough and strenuous, with a 4 km one-way approach.
Map
Where it is
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Killarney Tour Guide
Your drive to Lord Brandon’s Cottage, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Killarney National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Derrycunnihy Church and the Mass Path“You're approaching Derrycunnihy Church and the start of the Mass Path. The small stone church dates from around eighteen ninety and makes a brief exterior stop.”
Plays as you drive up to Lord Brandon’s Cottage in the Parkwolf Killarney Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Ladies View
- Looscaunagh Lough Viewpoint
- Derrycunnihy Falls and Cascade
- Upper Lake Viewpoint: Rock Shaped by Ice
- 18 audio storiesacross Killarney’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, Sika Deer, Feral Goat, and 11 more
- Works offlinemaps, 29 trails, 32 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
More about Lord Brandon’s Cottage
At the southern end of the GapLord Brandon’s Cottage is an open-air café beside Upper Lake at the southern end of the Gap of…
Lord Brandon’s Cottage is an open-air café beside Upper Lake at the southern end of the Gap of Dunloe. Some boat trips from Ross Castle include it, and it’s the finish of the Mass Path from Derrycunnihy Church. Think of it as a useful pause between the lake and the Gap, rather than an easy roadside stop.
The Mass Path is a real hikeFrom Derrycunnihy Church, the Mass Path runs 4 km one way to the cottage.
From Derrycunnihy Church, the Mass Path runs 4 km one way to the cottage. The park grades it strenuous: rough underfoot and prone to flooding in winter. It descends into oak woodland, crosses streams and passes old ruins, so sort out your return before starting. This isn’t a short stroll to tack on just because you fancy a cup of tea.
A simple lakeside stopThe café has outdoor seating, with views across Upper Lake toward Purple Mountain and Tomies.
The café has outdoor seating, with views across Upper Lake toward Purple Mountain and Tomies. The park also lists privately run toilets here, but they’re seasonal, so don’t count on them being open year-round.
The tower is nearby, not the caféThe open-air café and the older tower ruin are separate.
The open-air café and the older tower ruin are separate. The ruined tower stands a short walk southwest and is the remnant behind the stories attached to the cottage. The dramatic tale that Lord Brandon kept his wife confined there is folklore, not settled history; the tower’s original use is uncertain.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Killarney
106 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
209 sightingsSika DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsFeral GoatMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
49 sightingsSwanMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
48 sightingsHeronMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
16 sightingsCormorantMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Killarney. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
