Ireland holiday recommendations

[Helpaladyoutplease]

Another poster suggested may get more answers on here so fingers crossed!

Thinking of holiday to Ireland May half term with my 7 and 4 year olds and DH. Probably flying into Cork and will hire car for around 5 days. What would you recommend?!! Not massive beach types so don't particularly want to do beach day (aware could be raining May anyway!) but keen to keep the kids amused!

Fota wildlife park. The Titanic Experience in Cobh. The English market in Cork city.

May has been better weather than July and August over the last few years here.
I'd recommend West Cork, but biased. What type of holiday would you like? Driving scenic routes, with nights in different places?

Scenic routes aren’t really what a 4 and 7 year old want to see though is it? Lord knows when I was 7 all of Ireland roads were scenic routes and boy was I fed up of looking at them for hours on end as we where driven for hours to see relatives all over the country!

I would recommend staying close to Fota zoo... There is lots for your kids ages - Blarney castle, Leahy's Pet Farm, Cobh & Spike Island.

All the suggestions above are excellent but I've one to add, we visited Smugglers Cove in Rosscarbery last year and all the kids had a super time. Even stuff for adults too. Would definitely recommend to anyone staying in the area.

Dingle is about a 2.5 hour drive from Cork but has a great aquarium that your DC might like. It also has several beaches nearby but aware you’re not keen on those, so not sure the aquarium is enough of a draw on it’s own. It’s a tourist town so lots of cafes, restaurants etc. Stunning scenery.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to have research of these tomorrow night!

If you’re staying in cork then Fitzgerald’s Park is worth a visit, there’s a small museum and a great playground.
Not far from there is the lifetime lab, great for primary age kids. It’s on the site of a Victorian waterworks, there is a nice interactive exhibition and a good playground up at the back. That was always a good outing when my kids were young.
close to the city centre Nano Nagle place is lovely to walk around, no need to do the full museum, but the gardens, cafe and gift shop are great.
near there is Elizabeth Fort, great views of the city, kids can run around a bit and you can stroll in and out.
My youngest is autistic and we always favoured places that don’t require a big time
committment, and you can easily leave after 10 minutes if it’s not working.