Tralee is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County Kerry. The town’s population (including suburbs) was 23,691 as of the 2016 census, thus making it the 8th largest town, and 14th largest urban settlement, in Ireland. Tralee is well known for the Rose of Tralee International Festival, which has been held annually in August since 1959.

Places of interest

Tralee is a tourism destination, and there are a number of visitor attractions in the area:

• Kerry County Museum: incorporating the theme park ‚Kerry: The Kingdom‘ and an exhibit which depicts life in medieval Geraldine Tralee.
• Siamsa Tíre: Ireland’s National Folk Theatre, offering traditional music and plays in Irish.
• Blennerville Windmill: located about 2 km outside the town, Ireland’s largest functioning windmill.
• Tralee Aquadome: A large indoor water leisure facility with a mini-golf course.
• Ballyseedy Wood: Is located 2 km outside Tralee off the N21. It consists of 32 hectares (79 acres) of woodland dating back from the 16th century where Kerry County Council have developed public entrances at the north and south of the wood with car parks and 4 km of gravelled looped pathways. Ash, Oak and Beech trees are part of the wood as are a number of ruins and folllies, dating back to the 17th century, with the River Lee (from which Tralee takes its name) forming the woodlands northern boundary.
• Tralee Town Park: Tralee has a town park located in the town centre (opposite the Kerry County Museum) with a rose garden comprising over 5,000 roses of different varieties. The park is the location for the annual Féile na mBláth / Tralee Garden Festival – a free midsummer weekend festival of gardening demonstrations, flower arranging, garden tours, musical and choral events. The Basin, Tralee Ship Canal
• Tralee Bay Wetlands and Nature Reserve: Tralee Bay Nature Reserve covers approximately 2,500 ha (8,000 acres) and stretches from Tralee town westwards to Fenit Harbour and Cloghane, encompassing Tralee Bay, Brandon Bay and the Magharees Peninsula. It includes extensive mudflats at the eastern end, the beaches of Derrymore Island, the sand dunes and lagoons of the Magharees Peninsula. Both the River Lee and Brandon (Owenmore) estuaries feature wide expanses of sheltered intertidal flats, often fringed with saltmarsh vegetation. The Wetlands Centre which opened in 2012 is designed as a microcosm of the wild nature reserve where visitors are introduced to the fresh and saltwater habitats. Visitors can travel on a safari boat ride through the recreated reed and freshwater channels in the centre.
• Tralee Ship Canal: Opened in 1846, this 2 mile long canal connects Tralee to Tralee Bay where it passes by Blennerville Windmill. The Dingle Way runs along the towpath of the canal.
• Dingle Way: (Irish: Slí Chorca Dhuibhne) A 162-kilometre (101-mile) long National Waymarked Trail that begins and ends in Tralee and is typically completed in eight days.
• Ratass Church: a 10th-century medieval church, with a 6th-century ogham stone. Located in the eastern suburbs of Tralee.

Rose of Tralee

The Rose of Tralee festival is an international competition which is celebrated among Irish communities all over the world. The festival, held annually in August since 1959, takes its inspiration from a nineteenth-century ballad of the same name about a woman called Mary, who because of her beauty was called The Rose of Tralee. The contest, which is broadcast over two nights by RTÉ is one of the highest viewed shows on Irish television with over a million people watching.

To commemorate the Rose of Tralee tradition, the Rose Garden in the Tralee Town Park is a home to a life size bronze statue depicting the original Rose of Tralee Mary O’Connor and the author of the Rose of Tralee ballad William Pembroke Mulchinock sculpted by an Irish sculptor Jeanne Rynhart (unveiled in 2009), as well as the Rose Wall of Honour – a series of glass panels that will contain the name of every Rose who has participated in the Festival since 1959 (unveiled in 2013 on the 55th anniversary of the Rose of Tralee International Festival). Both statues were commissioned by Tralee Town Council.

Archaeological sites

Archaeological sites around Tralee and throughout the County of Kerry, including a number of ring-forts, are listed for preservation in the Kerry County Development Plan 2009–15. These include Casement’s Fort, an ancient ring fort where Roger Casement had been hiding before his arrest. There is also an Iron Age fort at Caherconree, overlooking Tralee Bay.

An example of a Sheela na gig is now located in the Christian Round Tower at Rattoo, Ballyduff, a few kilometres north of Tralee. There is also a monument to Saint Brendan the Navigator at Fenit, with reproductions of ancient Irish structures