Kinsale/The Wild Atlantic Way

[GiraffeInABath]

Hi all,

A recent (and unexpected) finding in my family history has lead me to a new interest in Kinsale (I live in London, born here). I’ve never been to Ireland and am now trying to plan a trip…. I’m not a confident driver abroad so would it be possible to do Kinsale and the wild Atlantic way by bus? I love hiking so not sure if I would be able to access good hikes? Would 5 days be long enough to get a feel for the area or do I need a week?
Any suggested trips/sights? I’m not sure where to begin but wish to get a feel for Kinsale and then explore rurally.
Sorry if this sounds naive!

It's very easy to get to Kinsale from Cork airport via public transport - there is an hourly Bus Eireann service https://www.buseireann.ie/

Travelling the Wild Atlantic Way without your own transport isn't really possible. What you possibly could look at doing is spending a few nights in Kinsale and then maybe using a day to travel to somewhere like Bantry via bus. You could base yourself there for a few days and possibly use public transport to travel to Glengarrif and do some walking locally there.

To do that would be a lot more time consuming than having your own transport but it is possible.

There is a Local link service between Kinsale and Bandon (Google that and it will give you the timetable), if you take that route via Kilbrittain it follows a small bit of the WAW. There you could use either a Bus Eireann service or a West Cork Connect service ( again Google those to get timetables) to travel to Bantry. From Bantry you could bus back into Cork city and on to the airport.

Alternatively you could take a bus from Kinsale back into the city and catch a bus from there.

The Beara Way is a way marked way along the Beara peninsula or Google Glengarrif walks or trails.

Again if you have your own transport it opens up a lot more options and reduces your travel time but the roads are narrow and windy!

Kinsale is a small town not far from Cork, and easily accessible by bus from Cork, but the WAW is pretty much the entire west coast of Ireland, so it’s not an ‘area’ you can explore in five days, or by bus, no. Have a look at a map. Is it specifically Kinsale that interests you? You could easily spend five days in west Cork, which is gorgeous, and there are buses between towns, but you would struggle to get to good walking from towns.