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festivals · Saturday 4 July 2026 · Various 
Kerry Wild Bee Festival
At Tralee Bay Wetlands · Tralee Bay Wetlands Ecology Park, Tralee, Co. Kerry
At Tralee Bay Wetlands · Tralee Bay Wetlands Ecology Park, Tralee, Co. Kerry
Every fourth of July weekend, Tralee Bay Wetlands becomes one of the more quietly extraordinary places in Kerry - a free, two-day festival dedicated entirely to wild bees and the pollinators that keep Irish landscapes alive. The Kerry Wild Bee Festival draws together conservation groups, biodiversity experts, community Tidy Towns volunteers and curious members of the public for walks, talks and hands-on activities at the edge of a Special Area of Conservation. It suits families, nature lovers, gardeners who want practical advice, and anyone who has ever wondered what actually distinguishes a bumblebee from a solitary bee.
This year’s festival runs on the theme of developing community resilience with the help of pollinators. The programme combines expert-led nature walks with community conversations and creative workshops.
Transition Kerry hosts an interactive session with Ballybunion Nature Group, Castlegregory Tidy Towns and Tralee Tidy Towns, sharing what local groups are already doing on the ground for pollinators. There is also an ecological corridor walk with Save the Green, exploring how Tralee’s green spaces and wetlands connect to support bee populations across the town.
Practical workshops cover how to identify wild bee species and how to submit records to the National Biodiversity Data Centre - a small act that genuinely contributes to national pollinator monitoring. The creative strand returns too, with Mary Burke’s TIMBER plant-matching workshop and nature-based art activities with Phil McSweeney using willow grown in the Wetlands grounds.
Tralee Bay Wetlands itself is worth arriving early for. The park has a 20-metre viewing tower, bird hides, a nature boardwalk and a lakeside café. Guided nature boat tours run separately. The whole site is a functioning wetland reserve - bog, reedbeds and open water - so the festival’s pollinator focus sits naturally in its surroundings.
Tralee is served by Bus Eireann from Limerick, Cork and Killarney, with the main bus station near the town centre about two kilometres from the Wetlands at Ballyard. Trains from Cork and Dublin connect to Tralee station on the same route. By road, the N21 brings you in from Limerick and the N22 from Cork via Killarney. Car parking is available on-site at Tralee Bay Wetlands.
Tralee is a lively county town with the Kerry County Museum and the Siamsa Tíre national folk theatre a short walk from the town centre. The Rose of Tralee festival route and the Dingle Peninsula are both within easy reach. There is more to see in Tralee and across Co. Kerry.
Heading to Tralee Bay Wetlands in Tralee? Kerry has plenty more to see. Read the Tralee area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.