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seasonal · Thursday 15 October 2026 · Various 
Samhain Chiarraí - A Kerry Halloween
At Various venues countywide · Killarney, Co. Kerry
At Various venues countywide · Killarney, Co. Kerry
Samhain Chiarraí is Kerry’s countywide Halloween season, running from mid-October through to the start of November across towns and villages throughout the county. It is built around the folklore of An Cailleach Chiarraí, the Kerry goddess of winter, and is backed by Fáilte Ireland’s Home of Halloween Pilot Destination Development Scheme, part of a national push to build Ireland’s Halloween tourism the way Mexico has built Day of the Dead or Salem has built its own October season. The 2026 programme runs from 15 October to 1 November.
The season opens on 15 October with the Kerry International Film Festival in Killarney, now in its 27th year, which runs to 18 October with feature films, documentaries and shorts screened around the town. From there, the county’s programme builds toward its biggest weekends after the school mid-term break begins, with Tralee staging fireworks, parades and a Cailleach Awakening street spectacle around 25 to 27 October, and Killarney following with light projections, fire shows and Halloween rituals on 30 and 31 October. Alongside these set-piece nights, smaller community events run throughout the season across Kerry’s towns and villages, music, food, storytelling and folklore-themed gatherings organised locally rather than centrally. Family-run attractions also open for the season, including pumpkin picking near Killarney, though these operate on their own separate opening dates and ticketing rather than as part of the official council programme.
Killarney, the anchor town for the opening film festival weekend, is well served by rail and Bus Eireann from Cork, Limerick and Dublin, with Kerry Airport a short drive away. Events elsewhere in the county are spread across towns from Tralee to Dingle, so a car is the easiest way to follow the programme beyond Killarney.
Killarney makes a good base for the opening weekend of the season, with Killarney National Park a short walk from the town centre for daylight hours before the evening’s film screenings or Halloween events. There is more to see in Killarney and across Co. Kerry.
Heading to Various venues countywide in Killarney? Kerry has plenty more to see. Read the Killarney area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for Various venues countywide? These Kerry tours book out in summer.