County Cork Travel Video Guide

County Cork Travel Itinerary

• Maps and flag of Ireland
• County Cork travel photos
• County Cork travel forum
• Flights to County Cork
• Hotels in County Cork
• Hostels in County Cork
• Buy the guide book!

Cork , Ireland's largest county, is the perfect place to ease yourself gently into the exhilarations of Ireland's west coast. Cork city , the south's self-proclaimed cultural capital manages to be at one and the same time a relaxed and a spirited place. There are no spectacular sights, but Cork is one of Ireland's most pleasurable and accessible cities. Always a port, and with an island at its core, Cork nestles well inland on the estuary of the River Lee, which sustains the city with that same clear, soothing atmosphere that characterizes most of the county, and in particular its coast and rivers. In the east of the county maritime history is still more richly distilled, in the small ports of Cobh, Youghal and - most of all - Kinsale , all suggestive of a prosperity that Ireland could have had throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were it not for the strangulation of its overseas trade by Britain. On the other side of this coin are the riches of the Anglo-Irish legacy, most in evidence at Bantry House with its outrageously sumptuous art treasures.

In the main the charms of the Cork countryside are those of a gently rural backwater, but as you head west along a fabulously indented coastline of hidden bays and coves to the wild peninsulas of the extreme southwest, or through the ravine of Gougane Barra high above Glengarriff and Bantry Bay , the soft contours of a comfortable and easy prettiness slip away to reveal beauty of a more elemental kind. There's not as much of this as you might find in, say, Kerry, but in the Caha Mountains careering north from Bantry Bay, the scintillating cliffs of Mizen Head or the seascapes of Sherkin and Clear islands , teeming with birdlife, Cork has scenery as exciting and dramatic as you'll find anywhere.

Public transport around the county is fairly extensive if infrequent. Bus Eireann covers the whole of Cork except for the extreme west of Mizen Head and the Beara Peninsula. Major towns have daily connections - though there's only one bus a week along Sheep's Head and one linking Kenmare with Castletownbere. Small towns and villages off the main roads are served less frequently, so if you are relying on public transport it's worth taking details of times and days of services you are likely to want while in a major bus station. Ask about return fares - often they are as cheap as single tickets if used on certain days. On certain routes private buses provide the only transport. The intricate landscape of west Cork, in particular, is

best explored at a slow pace, making it ideal country for touring by bike or hitching . The N71 is the main coastal road, but it's much more rewarding to meander off along the minor roads through remoter areas, past sandy coves and small communities.

If you have a tent, you can camp almost anywhere along the coast if you ask permission first, though the Beara Peninsula and the Caha Mountains are very rocky. The few official campsites are listed in the text.

Your Tips For County Cork

• Wexford Carlow and Kilkenny Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  The southeast of Ireland is not the most obvious of areas to visit, especially if this is your first time in the country. - Ireland
  

• County Kerry Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  If you've come to Ireland for the scenery and the remoteness, you'll certainly find them in County Kerry : miles and miles of mountain-moorland where the heather and the bracken are broken only by the occasional lake; smooth hills whose fragrant, tussocky grass is covered with sea pinks, speedwells, thrift and red campion, and that fragment into jagged rocks as they reach the sea. - Ireland
  

• County Clare Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Physically, County Clare is clearly defined, with Galway Bay and the Shannon estuary to the north and south, massive Lough Derg forming its eastern boundary, and the Atlantic to the west. - Ireland
  

• Louth Meath Westmeath and Longford Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Stretching from the borders of County Dublin to the frontier with the North, and from the coast to the heart of Ireland, the four counties of Meath, Louth, Westmeath and Longford epitomize green and rural Ireland, yet provide a total contrast to the west of the country. - Ireland
  

• County Donegal Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Few would disagree with the assertion that County Donegal has the richest scenery in the whole of Ireland. - Ireland
  

• Cavan and Monaghan Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Cavan and Monaghan sit side by side as if one were a physical imprint of the other - Monaghan all small hills, Cavan all small lakes. - Ireland
  

• Wicklow and Kildare Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Kildare and Wicklow, close to Dublin, provide a welcome respite from the capital's urban bustle. - Ireland
  

• Dublin Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Dubliners are fiercely proud of their city, and while DUBLIN is the Republic of Ireland's capital it is quite apart from, and can be dismissive of, the rest of the country - one Dublin wag once remarked with characteristic caustic humour that "the only culture outside Dublin is agriculture". - Ireland
  

• Sligo and Leitrim Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Counties Sligo and Leitrim pair up well, offering a luscious and gentle scenery that contrasts with the wilder streaks of Donegal and Mayo, yet is equally far removed from the dullness of Longford and Cavan to the east. - Ireland
  

• Galway Mayo and Roscommon Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Galway, Mayo and Roscommon mark a distinct change in the west of Ireland scene. - Ireland
  

• Waterford Tipperary and Limerick Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Fertile, rolling farmland typifies the landscapes of Waterford, Tipperary and Limerick generating prosperity, but offering a fairly bland experience for the visitor. - Ireland
  

• County Cork Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  Cork , Ireland's largest county, is the perfect place to ease yourself gently into the exhilarations of Ireland's west coast. - Ireland
  

• Northern Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  On May 22, 1998, the people of Northern Ireland turned out in unprecedented numbers to vote on what had become known as the Good Friday agreement , the latest inter-governmental attempt to create a political solution to the violence that has afflicted the North since the late 1960s. - Ireland
  

• Laois and Offaly Ireland Travel Videos
  Ireland Travel Itinerary
  If you've come to Ireland for the scenery, the wild remote places, or the romance of the far west, then the central counties of Laois and Offaly probably don't hold a great deal to entice you. - Ireland