What is the Wander Wild Festival? Outdoor Festival in County Kerry

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When you think of a festival, you may think of jumping up and down with a crowd to electro music or rocking backwards and forwards on a friend’s shoulders trying to catch a glimpse of your favourite band. You may think of sloshing through muddy fields, colourful wellies sinking into the earth as you try to find your tent. But the Wander Wild Festival in Killarney Ireland, is a festival with a difference. It’s Killarney’s own Great Outdoors Festival for all the adventurers out there!

The Wander Wild Festival has adventure, wellness, food events and film events – there is something for everyone! And the festivities run over a weekend in March. I was lucky enough to be invited along to experience it for myself, and I am so glad!

Where is Wander Wild Festival? Where does the Wander Wild Festival Take place?

The Wander Wild Festival takes place in Killarney Co Kerry, in Ireland. While some events take place right in the town, there are a few locations. The “adventure” events take place in various locations from The Gap of Dunloe to Ross Castle, Torc Woods, Carrauntoohil, Mangerton and Deenagh Lodge. The Wellness events took place in ANAM Cultural Community Centre and the Film Festival took place at St Mary’s Church. There were brochures available around the town, in restaurants and hotels, as well as the basecamp – which noted each event and the location.

The Festival Venues for Wander Wild Festival

Festival Basecamp:

Basecamp was located between the Killarney Plaza Hotel and St. Mary’s Church. This was the go-to for any information on the festival.

ANAM Cultural Centre:

This is where the wellness events took place. There were various yoga classes for all levels and also events for children.

St Mary’s Church:

St Mary’s Church was the location for the Film Festival. Numerous films played throughout the weekend from “A Plastic Ocean” to “Yellowstone 88” and “Viacruxis” just to name a few!

Various restaurants and hotels in Killarney also took part in the festival, providing special offers for festival-goers!

If you’re enjoying this post and are going to be visiting Kerry, or Ireland, be sure to check out:

The different events | Schedule for the Wander Wild Festival

While I’m sure the schedule will look a lot different for 2023, here is a look at how it looked this year. It will give you a good idea of what to expect. You’ll see there really is something to suit everyone, from hiking, to rock climbing, boat rides, yoga and more!

Check out Wander Wild Festival to keep an eye out for 2023 details!

Is Wander Wild Festival Suitable for Children? Are Children Allowed

Absolutely! Each time I passed basecamp, the church garden would be filled with children playing. There were a number of events for children, from children’s orienteering to the kid’s trail race, as well as art workshops!

My Experience at the Wild Wander Festival in Killarney

I was lucky enough to attend Wander Wild Festival in Kerry this year and can admit that it really is a festival created for those with adventures on the mind. The festival has a brilliant range of events to enjoy, from hiking Carrauntoohil, to kayaking Ross Lake at sunset. Try a sunrise dip or rock climbing at the Gap of Dunloe. Or if you want something less active, try out some yoga, or a viewing at the Film festival. The whole town of Killarney is transformed for the weekend. And the local business, hotels and restaurants get involved too. I had such a great weekend. And of course, a rare week of fantastic weather in Ireland only added to the experience.

Having a fair bit to travel, I only arrived Saturday afternoon. I took Eoghan with me and as soon as we arrived in the town, we could feel the friendly buzz around the place. With bunting draped across the busy streets and Wander Wild signs at every street corner.

We checked into the Randles Hotel and we were absolutely thrilled that our room had a view of the purple mountains off in the distance. The hotel was beautiful both inside and out and after checking in, we enjoyed the terrace as we ate in the sun.

I attended a yoga class, which was at 5 pm Saturday. Our hotel was only 5 minutes walk to the town centre so I walked to the ANAM Centre. It was a perfect contemporary space for yoga, with the sun shining through a wall of enormous glass windows. They stretched the length of the studio allowing light to flood into the room. The yoga was fab and was tailored to suit all levels.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Porterhouse. I opted for the vegetarian curry while Eoghan went for fish and chips. Everything looked (and tasted) incredible. I had to snap a few pics for the ‘gram before eating. You know how it is…! And I must say, I had the most insane brownie I have ever tasted!

Afterwards, we headed for the “Wander Wild Hooley” which was a music event in the back of “The Laurels Pub”. A Celtic folk band “The Sharon Langston Band” played traditional Irish music which had every person present tapping their feet! And there was also a performance by Cathal Flaherty, who I had not heard of but he was absolutely fantastic!

On Sunday, after an amazing sleep, we headed to Muckross to do a “sunrise dip”. Now I’m not gona lie, our bed was so comfy we slightly missed sunrise (the clocks changed too!!) but I made sure to get the dip in. Nothing like freezing cold water to wake you up!

After breakfast at the hotel, we took off to explore some other events happening around the town. We enjoyed the sun in the Killarney House Gardens and then strolled around in the shade for the inside tour as well as the “Park Ranger Photography Exhibition”. The images were just stunning, with the nature and wildlife of Killarney perfectly preserved.

It really was a great weekend and if this was just the first year, I can’t even imagine how great Wander Wild 2023 will bring. Before we had even left, Eoghan was already talking about attending the next year!

We certainly will! Will you?

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