TRAVEL: CORK CITY AND COBH

Last weekend I visited, with my parents, one of my favourite places in Ireland, Cork City. We took a four day trip, arriving on Thursday and departing on Sunday, as a quick family holiday at the end of the summer. I thought it might be helpful to blog about what I know about visiting there and it might be helpful to some of you who are considering visiting it!

What I love about Cork City is the compactness. Everything you need is right there in the centre; shopping, food, drinks etc. Not only that, but it is a stunning city and well worth a visit.

It being my third time to visit and stay in this city, I feel I have a good enough knowledge of the city to talk about it. This time I was there, I stayed in the Ambassador Hotel, around a 10 minute walk from the city centre. The hotel was beautiful, the service great but very standard in terms of food. We usually went into the city for our meals which we ideally wouldn’t have done every time. If finding cool places to eat is your thing, then it’s a great hotel to stay in. Also bear in mind that the hotel is up on the hill, anyone who has been to Cork will know what I mean, and walking back up if you are not very fit may be a struggle. Another good hotel we stayed in before is the Jury’s Inn, which is right on the quays and perfect for access to the city.

To change things up a bit, we drove to Cobh village on the Friday of our stay. It was my first time there, and luckily the sun was shining so I could see exactly how beautiful it is! We spent a good few hours just wandering around the vibrant village and taking in the view of the sea. It is definitely a must see, the view of Spike Island and the water is gorgeous! We also took a walk to the Titanic Memorial Garden which was very small and peaceful, but the perfect place to take in that scenery.  We took a drive to Blarney also on the Saturday morning, but decided against taking the tour as the weather wasn’t great.

The other days of our break we mostly filled with shopping! I love shopping in Cork as St. Patricks Street and the side streets off it are full of great stores we all know and love, such as H&M, New Look, River Island, GAP, Marks and Spencers, Dunnes Stores etc.  I came back with quite the haul (much to my bank cards’ dismay!).

If you are an Irish gal like me, you know the importance of finding a good pub on holidays! We have been visiting Larry Tompkins’ Sports Pub ever since we started going to Cork and it is great for watching sporting events and just relaxing and having a pint.

Overall, Cork City is a great spot for a quick city break with the option of taking a trip to neighbouring sea side villages to take in the beauty of the Irish coastline. I would definitely recommend it and I am sure I will be back down there again!