Castlegregory and Cloghane sit on the north coast of the Dingle Peninsula, off the R560. Whichever direction you come from, the last stretch is the same: leave the N86 at Camp and follow the R560 west. Allow more time than a map suggests. The roads here are narrow, hilly and winding, and Dingle Peninsula Tourism's own advice is blunt about it: maps do not show how narrow and windy the roads are.
Take the N86 west out of Tralee, keep right at the junction just after The Railway Tavern, and follow the R560. After about 8km there is a right turn to stay on the R560 into Castlegregory village; the village is not simply straight on. Roughly 25km, about half an hour. Cloghane is about 40km from Tralee, about forty minutes.
The direct route is the Conor Pass, about twenty minutes to Cloghane. See the warning below before you take it. The alternative is to go east on the N86 towards Tralee, turn off at Camp and come back west on the R560, which is longer but has no restrictions.
From Killarney take the N22 to Tralee, then the N86. From Limerick the M20 to the N21 through Adare, Newcastle West and Castleisland to Tralee: be aware that the N21 is known for delays in the Limerick county towns and the Adare bypass is under construction. From Cork either the N22 through Macroom and Killarney, now much improved by the Macroom and Ballincollig bypasses, or the N20 and N72 by Mallow. From Galway the M18 and N18 to the N21.
Kerry Airport at Farranfore, between Killarney and Tralee, is the closest, about 35 minutes' drive. Six car hire desks operate from the long-term car park a minute from the terminal: Avis, Budget, Payless, Enterprise, Europcar and Hertz. There are also taxis, buses to Tralee and Killarney, and a railway station 1.4km away.
Shannon Airport is about two hours away by road and has five car hire companies in the arrivals hall. Cork and Dublin are both further; from Dublin, the train to Tralee is often easier than the drive.
The R560 over the Conor Pass is the highest asphalted mountain pass in Ireland, 456m at the summit. It is genuinely single-track in places, with hairpins, sheer rock on one side and a long drop on the other, and water running across the surface after rain.
Vehicles over two tonnes are not permitted north-east of the summit car park. In practice that rules out coaches, campervans, caravans and lorries. A length limit of 7.2m is also widely quoted, though sources disagree over whether the figure is length or width, so check the signs on the day. If you are driving anything large, use the N86 and Camp instead.
For ordinary cars the pass is fine in good weather if you take it slowly, use the passing bays, and put your headlights on in cloud. It can close in bad weather and does so in winter. Cloud comes in fast at that height, and the temperature at the summit is noticeably lower than at sea level. Kerry County Council publishes closures on its roads pages.
Castlegregory village. Kerry County Council's own village plan records summer congestion from beach traffic and difficulties caused by haphazard parking in the village centre. There is no formal public car park that we could find, so park considerately on the street and walk.
Strand Street. There is a car park near the end of Strand Street, about 1.1km from the village centre, a fifteen-minute walk. The approach roads are narrow.
Magherabeg, or Béal Geal. The main beach car park, 3.4km north of the village, six minutes by car. Kerry County Council has run a summer car park here and credits it with taking pressure off the dunes. Blue Flag beach, lifeguards in season, portable toilets.
Cloghane. This is the one to plan for. Kerry County Council's settlement plan for An Clochán states plainly that parking is limited and that there is no formal car park: people use small roadside spaces or the limited parking beside the restaurant. Come early, park considerately, and share a car if you can.
Brandon Point has a car park beside the viewing deck, and the summit of the Conor Pass has free parking, with a smaller pull-in on the north side near Pedlar's Lake.
Expect sheep. Expect walkers and cyclists, and give them a metre and a half. Use the lay-bys to let following traffic past, and pull in for oncoming cars on the single-track stretches. Dingle Peninsula Tourism asks visitors to follow the local road signs rather than a sat-nav on the Conor Pass and Slea Head, which is sound advice.
One more, specific to the Maharees: there is a single road in and out, and blown sand buries it repeatedly. In the three months to February 2016 the county council had to clear the same stretch at least twelve times. Drive it expecting sand, and never drive on the dunes.