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City of Cork (Corcaigh)

Ireland’s South West is an excellent location for a weekend or long break with its many attractions, beautiful countryside and coastline. Whilst many stray no further than Dublin and its many pubs after jetting into Dublin International; a forgotten Irish city is in fact Ireland’s 2nd city, Cork.

The City of Cork (Corcaigh) was Europe’s Capital of Culture in 2005 and continues to grow in popularity thanks to its showcasing of world arts and cultural treasures. A growing airport with regular direct flights from Central Europe have helped make Cork a favourable alternative to Dublin as an Irish City tourist & business destination.

Cork is a city built upon the River Lee with its City Centre located on an island just upstream of Cork Harbour which is linked by no less than 16 bridges many of which are built in a fine architecture. Despite its inclusion of the amenities found in most large cities, Cork retains a pleasant atmosphere without the flooding of tourists, traffic and noise pollution. For visitors with limited time Cork is a small enough city to explore without exhaustion.

Blarney Castle

A top attraction in Ireland is Blarney Castle, near to Cork, where the legendary Stone of Eloquence can be found and kissed. Built nearly 600 years ago by Cormac McCarthy; Blarney Castle has since attracted millions of tourists, world statesmen and international entertainers (not inc George W Bush). Blarney Castle is a mere 15-20 minutes drive away from Cork and can also be got to by Bus Éireann’s N.o. 224 or combined with their City Tour bus which operates twice a day. Also at Blarney is the Blarney Woollen Mills which opens 7 days a week with a wide variety of Irish gift shops, clothing shops and jewellery shops.

Getting to Cork

The City of Cork can be accessed by road, sea, air and rail by a choice of routes. Many arrive at Cork by air thanks to a number of airlines which now operate regular direct services to Cork Airport including from Poland, Spain, France, Canary Islands, Italy, Hungary and Great Britain. A bus service (SkyLink) operates every 30 minutes from the Airport to 30 of the city’s hotels, guest houses and centre locations (Adult Single €5). For €3.70 Adult Single you can use Bus Éireann’s Air Coach from Cork Airport to Cork’s Parnell Bus Station. Both services operate 7 days a week and tickets can be purchased onboard the bus.

Brittany Ferries provide a direct link between Cork and France with their ferry service to Roscoff. The location of Cork’s commercial ferry harbour is located at Ringaskiddy (12 miles from Cork) which is a 25 minute drive from the City Centre. Further sea routes are available via Rosslare (122 miles from Cork, 2hrs 45min by road) which has all year round services from Fishguard by Stena Line & Pembroke by Irish Ferries; plus a catamaran service in the summer from Fishguard by Stena Line.

Entering Cork by road can be done by a growing number of improved roads and some motorways throughout Ireland from Dublin, Limerick and Galway. For rail users Iarnród Éireann’s Cork Kent station is located near to the City Centre and provides through services to Dublin via Limerick Junction (for Limerick/Rosslare Europort), Mallow and Cobh. Train frequency on the Dublin route is about one train every 2 hours and is a little under 3 hours in duration onboard Iarnród Éireann’s new rolling stock which were brought into service during 2006.

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