48 Hours in Cork!

Cork City is over 800 years old and is an artistic city home to the Cork Opera House and numerous galleries and theatres. Snug bars hosting impromptu traditional music sessions neighbour chic restaurants serving Atlantic catch and racks of Kerry lamb.
Kick-start your day with a bombardment of the senses and take a leisurely stroll through the paradise that is the English Market. Stalls upon stalls are packed into the market selling every type of tasty delicacy. Grab a little bit of everything and head for Bishop Lucey Park for a delicious picnic. With full belly, head for Cork City Gaol, a fantastic audio tour guides you around the cells relating grim tales of the nineteenth century penal system, be warned this is not for the faint-hearted! Whittle away the afternoon by wandering through the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery which provides an excellent insight into Cork’s cultural transition. Grab an outside table at one of the many fine restaurants in the Huguenot Quarter, eat well and watch the Corkonians gearing up for the night ahead. Join them and pop your head into a lock of taverns sampling a few Murphys Stouts as you go, try some of these for starters - An Spailpin Fanac, Sin E, Hi-B and the Franciscan Well Brewery.

Commence your second day by waking up the entire city by ringing the bells at St. Anne’s whose Shandon Tower presides over the north bank of the River Lee. Pop into nearby Linehan’s, the last family confectioner in the city and boost your energies with an assortment of sweets. Jump on one of the open top bus tours of the city which heads out to Blarney Castle, tackle the spiral staircases to the Blarney Stone, perched at the summit of this fifteenth century structure, plant a smacker on it and gain the gift of the gab. Duck back into the city and dine in fine surroundings in the exquisite Jacques Restaurant before taking a show in the grandiose Cork Opera House or the acclaimed Everyman Palace Theatre.



Fill out our enquiry form for more information

For more information on Cork contact Exploring Ireland