Couple of nights in West Cork

crybaby

Have been living abroad for the past couple of years. Will be back home at the start of April for a month to see family and friends.

Towards the end of month I'm planning a 4-5 day trip eventually ending in Kerry. Right now I'm considering 2 nights in West Cork probably Kinsale and then 2 nights in Kerry.

I have never visited West Cork / Kerry in my life but would love for my girlfriend to see a beautiful part of Ireland.

What town / hotels / b&bs would people recommend we should stay for a couple of nights? It doesn't have to be very loud, nice and quiet is fine but I just want somewhere very beautiful where we can do plenty of walking or cycling and that just has a lot of natural beauty and we can eat some nice grub in the evenings / have a relaxing pint.

Right now I'm thinking The Pier House in Kinsale but was just wondering if anyone had any better suggestions for different towns that they think are nicer than Kinsale? Because my time is quite short I'm getting stupidly stressed about picking the right town to stay in

Cheers

bertie1

what about renting a house for the few nights . We stayed at Sandycove Beach Villas near Rosscarbery the beach was right across the road http://www.sandycovebeach.com

Its about 3km to Rosscarbery Village , there are mile of beah walks or woodland walks at Castle freake. We went out in a boat to see dolphins

homehelptech

Kinsale is a good choice, the range of restaurants there is exceptional and it has the buzz of a decent sized town.

If you want to go further west/smaller/more charming then I think Baltimore is really gorgeous and a great hopping off point for Cape Clear by ferry. Caseys has a good reputation for accomodation and there's also some really nice B&Bs as well.

Balmed Out

Kinsale is lovely but its not very west and would mean long trips to see anywhere else. My personal favourite areas are ardfield near clonakilty and glandore near union hall. Both in the same clonakilty / rosscarberry area and i moved to the area so perhaps im slightly biased. For more mountainy beauty the beara peninsula is georgous too. Also fond of barley cove beach on the mizen head. Another nice areas for walks is loch Hyne near skibereen.
Re-reading your post again i would have to say the clon / ardfield area. THere are loads of beautiful walks around castlefrek, the long strand beach, kilcurran lake and the charming rathbarry village and they all make beautifull cycles too. Surfing in area is good too and you can do lessons nearbye in inchadoney. You could rent in the area or stay within a 15 min drive in clonakilty or rosscarberry.

Oh and if your rolling in it then stay here
http://www.irishlandmark.com/PropertyInformation.aspx?propertyid=3

Galley head is a beautifull place very similar to old head of kinsale but prettier.

Enjoy.

wazzoraybelle

cape clear island is fab and has plenty accomodation, my favorite place to stay in west cork has to be the buddhist centre in dzochen beara between castletownbere and allihies, they have a hostel there and guest accomodation on the edge of a stunning cliff, you don't need to get involved in the meditation shenanigans if you don't want. do a google search for the website and you'll get an idea.

crybaby

cheers for the all of the suggestions guys

Baltimore really looks like a good bet suppose I could pop over to Cape Clear for a day on the ferry as well as that sounds really nice as well.

I'm going to have a better look at Ardfield / Clonakilty tomorrow and then make my mine up.

Thanks again

emermaguire

My parents run a self-catering farmhouse just outside of Rosscarbery. They have reasonable rates for this off peak period.

<SNIP>

Emer, no advertising please.

goat2

i would like to go down west cork way for 2 nights shortly, where would i get good acommodation, near a pub where there would be a band playing country, recommend also restaurants, all at reasonable prices

mickydev

Try Jim Edwards Kinsale , Central/ +pub+great food and great accommadation