Most Killarney guides assume you are here to walk. If you have arrived with knees that disagree, weather that makes hiking pointless, or just a preference for sitting and watching the lakes from the right side of a cafe window, the town has plenty.
Muckross House
The Victorian mansion at Muckross was built in 1843 and has been preserved with most of its original furniture intact. Queen Victoria visited in 1861 and the suite she stayed in is preserved as it was. The guided tour takes about an hour and gives you the family history, the architecture, and the gardens through the rear conservatory. The tea rooms in the basement do proper afternoon tea. Free to walk the gardens; the house tour is around ten euros.
Killarney National Park, by jaunting car
The jaunting cars (horse and trap) leave from the gates of Muckross and from Mews Park in town. The driver gives a running commentary on the lakes, the deer, the local folklore, and stops at the spots that look best from a horse drawn carriage. Around seventy euros for a couple, ninety minutes. Yes it is touristy. The drivers are uniformly good and locals do this with their own families.
Killarney Brewing Company
The brewery on Muckross Road runs tours twice a day with a tasting at the end. Their Helles lager and Stoker's Stout are both worth drinking. The taproom does proper food, brick-oven pizza, and a charcuterie board that goes well with the beer. Not raining? Sit in the courtyard. Raining? Sit inside with a window onto the brew tanks.
What is good if I have small children?
The Aquadome has a pool with slides and a wave machine and is the wet-day saviour of Killarney for any family with children under twelve. The Killarney Falconry at Killarney House does flying displays year-round. Crag Cave at Castleisland (about thirty minutes' drive) is a properly impressive cave system with a guided tour and decent rainproof entertainment for an hour and a half.
Where do I shelter from a downpour with a coffee?
Petit Delice on College Street does excellent coffee and pastries. The Reeks Bar in the Killarney Park Hotel has armchairs, a fireplace and a long lunch menu. Quinlans Seafood Bar does a chowder and a Guinness in front of an open fire. None of them will rush you, even if you make a coffee last an hour.
Are there any indoor cultural things?
The Killarney Cathedral, designed by Pugin and finished in 1855, is open and quiet most weekday afternoons. The Museum of Irish Whiskey on Muckross Road has a tasting room and a small but well-curated collection of old labels and bottles. The Killarney Outlet Centre has the standard mall shops if shopping is your wet-day option.
Is the Ross Castle tour good in bad weather?
Yes. Ross Castle is a fifteenth century tower house on the shore of Lough Leane, fifteen minutes' walk from the town centre. The interior is preserved, the guided tour is forty minutes, and the views from the upper floors over the lake are dramatic in any weather. Five euros. Open year-round, with reduced winter hours.
An afternoon plan if it is properly raining
Coffee at Petit Delice, taxi or short walk to Muckross House for the guided tour, lunch at the basement tea room, taxi back to town for an hour at the Killarney Brewing Company, dinner at Bricin or Quinlans. That is six hours covered without putting on a waterproof.