Our holiday in Cork

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2 adults, 2 teens, a 12 yr old, 10 days in and around Cork in early July.

What should we do? Where should we stay?
We'd appreciate any tips.

We're probably looking for a self catering house rather than a hotel, we'll have a car. We like being outdoors, visiting a few castles or historic sites. Picking self catering cottages off air bnb or whatever seems a bit random, I'd love a couple of recommendations.

A place with other holidaymakers around might be nice, but probably not a holiday park with static caravans. Our teenagers are full man-size now so we need plenty of space and big beds.

We might do a day trip to Dublin but we're undecided about that one, it's quite far.

Thank you

Spend a day or two in Cork visit, visit Cobh which was the Titanic's last port of call before crossing the Atlantic. Drive along the coast to Kinsale - very scenic. Go to Blarney to kiss the Blarney stone - assuming you can now (and visit the huge millshop and cafe next door to the castle). Visit Clonakilty. Outside the city of Cork it's pretty rural. We have family not far from Blarney so usually visit them and tag a visit to somewhere on to that.

The roads are frequently very narrow or single track and not in the best of condition (unless things have changed in the last five years) so expect car journeys to take a while.

Don't expect to find shops open all day in rural areas or lookout for branches of SuperValu supermarket, etc if you need to do food shopping, pick bits up.

We had a lovely stay in one of the cottages at Killeena House. Children enjoyed the games room and I spent some time in the sauna and plunge pool. We had wanted to stay in one of the properties on the Inish Beg estate but it was fully booked.
We did a sea safari from Baltimore, hired bikes and did a few local trails (www.westcorkcycles.ie/bike-rental.html), sea kayaking and lots of walking.

Head out to mizen head lighthouse. I love garnish island and glengarriff

If you’re in the Cobh area, don’t miss Spike Island!

As in, if you’re visiting the Titanic Experience or the Queenstown Heritage Centre, try a trip to Spike too.

The first line of my post was meant to read, "spend a day or two in Cork city".

If you head west of Cork City, the West Cork coastline is lovely (and affluent - lots of great restaurants) and you're not that far from Kerry actually. Might also be worth looking at a day trip up to Tipperary to see the Rock of Cashel (about an hour's drive from Cork City). Tip also has Cahir Castle and a lovely medieval abbey I've completely forgotten the name of! And definitely visit Cobh (pronounced 'cove'). You probably know this already, but Heritage Ireland is roughly the Irish equivalent of the National Trust and used to have a really good value pass scheme.

Thanks, what a brilliant list of things to see. It looks like a great part of the country.

I'm worrying now about finding somewhere to stay. I'd love a holiday park type place with a playground on site, ideally a swimming pool. But lots of places are just a single cottage or house on their own.

I saw a place in Cork itself called Brookfield (I think) which is some sort of student accommodation rented out for the summer with a pool and leisure centre on site. Is that worth staying in or is it not very nice?

It's on TripAdvisor - you can read reviews there. It's generally a great resource.

Me too! We're going back this summer. Cannot wait. The Healy Pass is calling to me...

Brookfield would be fine as a base for exploring the city but very basic. I learned to swim in that pool as a child 😁

We stayed in at Carleton Village in Youghal, Cork several years ago. Had an outdoor heated pool. We had a great time. FOTA wildlife park is great.

Another place I had looked at was Fota Island Resort which has leisure amenities

We just did County Cork at Easter. It was very wet but had a great time! Our highlights were Mizen Head, Cobh, the Titanic Museum, Spike Island, Fota Wildlife Park (the cheetah cubs are amazing!), the Cork Observatory (tiny but brilliant informative guide and inflatable planetarium), whale watching, Smuggler's Cove @ Roscarbery, Blarney Castle, Incheydoney beach and a drive up to Killarney and Muckross House.

We stayed here, easy to get to everywhere, lovely hosts, newly refurbed, highly recommend: kilcolmanrectory.com/

Oh and this place is lovely for dinner, amazing views: www.pinkelephant.ie/

Or you've got loads of foodie places in Kinsale too

Another vote here for Garnish Island at Glengarriff. For utterly stunning scenery take a drive along the Beara Peninsula or go through the Cork and Kerry mountains into Kenmare. We are going back this summer and I can’t wait. I would try and book some accommodation if you can because Ireland have taken refugees from Ukraine and I think some hotels are being used to accommodate them. Have a lovely holiday.

The holiday park with pool scene is not really a thing in Ireland tbh. Have a look at Inishbeg near Baltimore - probably the closest thing to what you want. There is also a hotel in Rosscarberry that I think has apartments on the grounds and is a good base for West Cork.

Part of my heart belongs to Ireland so I am a little biased but I have never had a single rubbish day there. There are dozens of beautiful things to see and do, it’s very tourist focused.The scenery and beaches can be stunning. The food is amazing. I’m not familiar with Cork so can’t offer specific recommendations. You’ll have a brilliant time.

The sheeps head is gorgeous. If I won the lottery I'll buy a house there!

Some hotels have holiday cottages in the grounds. fota island is lovely but not cheap, also clonakilty, and the west lodge in bantry, as far as I know. Loads to do in cork, as others have said. If you visit the city take a short stroll up to Elizabeth fort, tiny but fantastic views (when my boys were younger they were very impressed by the heads on spikes but your teens will probably be over that).
a few aqua park places have opened up in the last few years, in coachford and rosscarbery (that one is particularly nice).
i would plan for a couple of days in the city and surrounds, and spend most of the time in west cork.

Go to Kinsale and have fish & chips from a food truck at the bridge on the other side of town, it’s called “Catch of the day”

Then continue on driving to Garretstown beach, and keep going until you’re in Clonakilty

Continue on further to Inchydoney beach