Kenmare is small enough to walk in twenty minutes and dense enough to keep you busy for two or three days. The headline sights are within strolling distance of the triangular market square: the stone circle at the end of Market Street, the Heritage Centre in the old courthouse, Reenagross Park along the river, and the pier at the end of the bay road.
A short drive in any direction opens up more — Cromwell's Bridge and the Old Cemetery on the Bantry road, the romantic ruin of Dunkerron Castle towards Templenoe, and the waterfalls of the Sheen river just outside town. The Ring of Kerry and the Beara Peninsula start at Kenmare and finish at Kenmare, which is why so many people end up basing themselves here.