Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
County Cork, on Ireland's south coast, is fringed with historic port towns and scenic pen-
insulas. The typical tour-bus route here includes Blarney Castle and Killarney—places
where most tourists wear nametags. A major mistake many travelers make is allowing
destinations into their itineraries simply because they're famous from a song or as part
of a relative's big-bus-tour memory. If you have the misfortune to spend the night in Kil-
larney town (next door in County Kerry), you'll understand what I mean. The town is a
sprawling line of green Holiday Inns and outlet malls littered with pushy shoppers looking
for plastic shamrocks.
Rather than kissing the spit-slathered Blarney Stone, spend your time in County Cork,
enjoying the bustling, historic maritime towns of Kinsale and Cobh.