Of all the counties in Ireland, Cork is the one with the biggest personality and the brashest reputation. Referred to as the Republic of Cork by locals, Ireland’s third largest city is worth a pit stop on any tour around the Emerald Isle. Here's where to eat, sleep and play in Cork, Ireland.
Eat
The local cult favorite “chipper” (as the Irish call their fish and chips shops) serves gourmet pitas and burgers filled with daring combinations of ingredients. There will almost always be a line out the door, but it does move quickly. Once you cross the threshold, be ready to call out your order as the queue curves through the tiny establishment or risk a little embarrassment by the staff.
The Mutton Lane Inn is nestled in an alley around the corner from the famous English Market, where locals have been buying and selling produce for hundreds of years. Its name makes sense when you learn that this lane was used to run the sheep into the market. The beer of choice in Cork is Murphy’s, brewed locally and designed to be lighter and less bitter than Guinness, so pull up a stool and enjoy a pint in one of the city's oldest pubs. You can even bring in snacks from the nearby English Market to munch while you sip.
Market Lane is casual but reliably delicious dining, and popular with locals on the weekends. Main courses range from safe (traditional fish and chips) to daring (seasonal game pie of pheasant, venison, ox cheek, and wild boar), and the dessert menu includes Linehan’s sweets, hard candies in traditional flavors like apple drops and clove rock. Take advantage of the lunchtime and dinner early bird menus before the rush to avoid disappointment; Market Lane doesn’t take reservations unless you have a party of six or more.
Cork’s best-known vegetarian restaurant, Cafe Paradiso offers the type of menu that even carnivores can appreciate. The restaurant works closely with a local farm, Gort-Na-Nain, building its inventive menu around seasonal produce the farm offers. The menu packs flavorful combinations into each course, with entrees like cauliflower, fennel, and sheep’s cheese risotto or braised turnip galette of portobello and chestnuts with beetroot-port gravy. Cafe Paradiso also has two en-suite double guest rooms just above the restaurant for guests to stay. Tours of the farm can be arranged.
Looking for a spot for an intimate dinner? Try Les Gourmandises, run by an Irish husband and French wife. The menu pays homage to their backgrounds, with Irish ingredients prepared in traditional French style. Try the rillette of poached salmon with pink grapefruit, parmesan, and toasted brioche, and finish with fromage frais with fresh apricots and madeira cake.
Open for breakfast, lunch, and coffee or wine throughout the day, Idaho may be one of Cork’s smaller cafes, but the dishes are all served with a big helping of local pride. Seating is tight, so you’re likely to make friends with your neighbors quickly. Their signature shepherdess pie and daily soups and salads are made with locally sourced fish, poultry, meat, and eggs.
Sleep
At this affordable hotel, you’re greeted with friendly service and a voucher to join other guests in the lively bar for a Bailey’s hot chocolate. The hotel offers a full spa and large gym facilities, and the glassed-in elevators provide expansive views of the city and river, as do most of the guest rooms. Breakfast is served at the edge of the River Lee, and includes buffet-style full Irish breakfast as well as homemade granola, breads, and pastries. The city center, Glucksman Gallery, and Fitzgerald Park are only a short walk away.
This five-star lodging is Cork’s most luxurious boutique hotel. Hayfield Manor sits within a walled garden just outside the city centre, nearby the city university, and you’ll be greeted on arrival by the resident huskies.
Play
Opened in 1824 to replace the city jail that had become overcrowded and unhygienic, this building looks more like a castle than it does a prison, featuring Gothic details like turreted battlements and dripstones. Cork City Gaol operated for nearly 100 years before closing and becoming derelict. It was opened as a visitor attraction in 1993; now, thousands of visitors each year walk the halls and learn about the gaol’s history and famous occupants, including Countess Constance Markievicz, a Republican prisoner who later became the first woman to be elected to the British Parliament.
The English Market
With stalls for fruits and vegetables, fish, meat and poultry, Cork’s historic English Market is legendary among locals and visitors. For lunch, pick up a sausage from C. O’Flynn’s Gourmet Sausage Factory stall and enjoy a little people watching as you stroll through the aisles. If you’d prefer to sit, try the Farmgate Cafe in the balcony overlooking the market. The Farmgate sources their ingredients from the surrounding Munster region, and their menu changes depending on what the market stalls have available.
Learn about the history of butter in Ireland, from the ancient practice of preserving the dairy product in peat bogs, to the development of the Cork Butter Exchange, which became the largest butter market in the world in the 1700’s. The museum is home to artifacts like a 1,000-year-old keg of butter and vintage wrappers from small producers around Ireland.
Fitzgerald’s Park
Fitzgerald’s Park underwent a substantial renovation in 2014, making it an even more appealing spot in Cork city. Visitors and locals can now enjoy views of the River Lee in both directions from a futuristic metal Sky Pod designed by Diarmuid Gavin, which was relocated from London and joins several new sculptures and an outdoor performance space in the new Mardyke Garden. Visitors can browse the Cork Public Museum, learning about Irish and Corkonian history from medieval times through the War of Independence.
Set at the edge of University College Cork in a striking modern steel and limestone building, the Glucksman Art Gallery hosts contemporary exhibitions and installations by national and international artists. The museum also focuses on educational pursuits, offering children’s art classes, curatorial tours and talks with artists, and has its own restaurant and cafe. If you’re stuck with a wet day, the Glucksman Gallery is three floors of warm, dry entertainment.
We wouldn’t want to be neighbors of the Shandon Bells Tower, because visitors can climb the forty meters to the balcony and play the bells any time the church is open. For a small entrance fee of €5 per adult, visitors can take a self-guided tour of the accompanying St. Anne’s Church, see the internal workings of the clock tower, enjoy the 360-degree view of Cork city, and give their own bells performance. The church is open to visitors seven days a week, but be sure to check their opening hours, as they change seasonally.