Shandon tower above a row of painted houses and columns of the butter museum.

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Cork City

Ireland's second city is first in every important respect – at least according to the locals, who cheerfully refer to it as the 'real capital of Ireland'. It's a liberal, youthful and cosmopolitan place that was badly hit by economic recession but is now busily reinventing itself with spruced-up streets, revitalised stretches of waterfront, and – seemingly – an artisan coffee bar on every corner. There's a bit of a hipster scene, but the best of the city is still happily traditional – snug pubs with live-music sessions, restaurants dishing up top-quality local produce, and a genuinely proud welcome from the locals.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Cork City Gaol
Cork City
This imposing former prison is well worth a visit, if only to get a sense of how awful life was for prisoners a century ago. An audio tour (€2 extra)…
English Market
Cork City
The English Market – so called because it was set up in 1788 by the Protestant or ‘English’ corporation that then controlled the city (there was once an…
Crawford Art Gallery
Cork City
Cork's public gallery houses a small but excellent permanent collection covering the 17th century through to the modern day, though the works on display…
St Fin Barre's Cathedral
Cork City
Spiky spires, gurning gargoyles and elaborate sculpture adorn the exterior of Cork's Protestant cathedral, an attention-grabbing mixture of French Gothic…
Cork Butter Museum
Cork City
Cork has a long tradition of butter manufacturing – in the 1860s it was the world's largest butter market, exporting butter throughout the British Empire …
University College Cork
Cork City
Established in 1845 as one of three 'queen's colleges' (the others are in Galway and Belfast) set up to provide nondenominational alternatives to the…
Blackrock Castle
Cork City
Blackrock Castle is a restored 16th-century castle that now, rather incongruously, hosts a small hands-on science centre, an inflatable planetarium and a…
Elizabeth Fort
Cork City
Originally built in the 1620s, and serving as a garda (police) station from 1929 to 2013, this small star-shaped artillery fort once formed an important…