Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Planning Your Time
Kinsale is worth two nights and a day. Spend the morning checking out one or two of the
town's sights, and make sure to take Don and Barry's excellent Kinsale walking tour (at
11:15; some days also at 9:15). After lunch at the Fishy Fishy Café, head out to Charles
Fort for great bay views and insights into British military life in colonial Ireland. On the
way back, stop for a pint at the Bulman Bar. Finish the day with a good dinner and live
music in a pub. Those on the blitz tour can give Kinsale four hours—see the fort, wander
the town, and have a nice lunch—before driving on.
Kinsale, because of its great natural harbor, is older than Cobh (Cork's harbor town).
While the town is prettier than the actual harbor, the harbor was its reason for being.
Today, Kinsale is a vibrant bustle of 2,200 residents. The town's long and skinny old cen-
ter is part modern marina (attracting wealthy yachters) and part pedestrian-friendly medi-
eval town (attracting scalawags like us). It's an easy 20-minute stroll from end to end.
Tourist Information
The TI is as central as can be, at the head of the harbor across from the bus stop (July-Aug
Mon-Sat 9:15-18:00, Sun 10:00-17:00; March-June and Sept-Nov Mon-Sat 9:30-17:00,
closed Sun; shorter hours Dec-Feb; tel. 021/477-2234,
www.kinsale.ie
)
. It has a free town
map and brochures outlining a world of activities in the vicinity.
Arrival in Kinsale
Kinsale doesn't have a train station. The
bus
stop is on Pier Road, 100 yards behind the
TI, by the gray swooping modern sculptures at the south end of town. Drivers should park
the
car
and enjoy the town on foot. While Kinsale's windy medieval lanes are narrow
and congested, parking is fairly easy. The most central lot is at the head of the harbor be-
hind the TI (€2.60/2 hours, use pay-and-display machine, exact coins required, Mon-Sat
10:30-18:00, free on Sun and after 18:00). But there's a big, safe, free parking lot across
the street from St. Multose Church at the top of town, a five-minute walk from most re-
commended hotels and restaurants. An even larger free lot is farther away, a 10-minute
walk east of town by the fire station. Parking on the street is by pay-and-display machine
(€1.20/hour, 2 hours maximum), except when it's free: before 10:30, after 18:00, or on
Sundays. Outlying streets, a 10-minute stroll from the action, have wide-open parking.
