Cork, Ireland 2026

On Monday, we took an 8 am bus to Cork, the second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland (my cousin Sabrina had given us good advice about a bus stop closer to our B&B but I didn’t relax until the bus actually stopped and let us buy tickets on board)(everyone kept warning us that having a ticket in advance guarantees you a seat but if you have a ticket for bus and miss it, you are out of luck). We only had one day in Cork so we wanted to get an early start. 

St. Fin Barre Cathedral

I had chosen a Premier Inn for us that looked close to the station but due to construction we walked much farther than was necessary. Still, they let us check our bags and we went for a late breakfast, followed by an excellent 90-minute walking tour by the Titanic Trail which took us from the Opera House and Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral to the English Market. The guide (who was excellent and used our names to keep everyone engaged) told us about Saint Fin Barre, the city’s 6th-century patron saint who founded a monastery on a marsh and how the Vikings turned a quiet religious spot into an active trading port along the River Lee. Moving closer to the present, we learned about Rory Gallagher, a local musical hero. The guide also pointed out many buildings that have red Cork marble and contrasting white stone.

After the walking tour ended, we walked back across the river to see the interior of St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, a 19th-century French Gothic masterpiece designed by William Burges. As we paid our entry fee, a young male staffer said, “Would you like a tour?” and we accepted gladly. He told us that Burges won the design competition with an estimate of £15,000 but that did not include the cost of the towers, spires and carving, annoying his competitors and stretching out the construction for years. The interior has more of the red Cork marble and many stained glass windows; it is relatively narrow but has three spires.

We kept on walking until we reached University College Cork (UCC), founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Colleges in Belfast, Cork, and Galway. It was another very hot day so we found cool drinks and surveyed the dozens of summer school teens who seemed to be from Italy, greatly enjoying themselves. 

On the way back, we visited the local library where we admired their Rory Gallagher memorabilia (pitied the staff working in this suffocatingly hot building without air conditioning) and I picked up a mystery.  Some considered him to be "Ireland's first rock star," he was known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances.  Our guide was shocked I had never heard of this famous local (although born in Donegal, he moved to Cork when he was 8 and got his first guitar a year later).

UCC

We had dinner at the SpitJack, which was one of our best meals of the trip. It was nice that although the restaurant was located in the heart of Cork, it felt like a local hangout rather than a touristy place. Then we found gelato, although it turned out to be a chain. We liked Cork but there is a serious dearth of ice cream in Ireland!

Close up of UCC

Cork was extremely crowded and busy during the day.  However, the evening crowds in Cork were more manageable than in Waterford but perhaps that is because the first night in Waterford was a Saturday night and the second was the night of the World Cup Final.