Southwest Ireland with Cork and Killarney

Southwest Ireland with Cork and Killarney Travel Guide

If you've ever seen a stereotypical postcard of Ireland -- you know the type: thatched, whitewashed cottage, stone walls, a donkey meandering down Main Street -- chances are the picture was taken somewhere in the Southwest. Killarney, Kinsale, Bantry Bay; even the names are evocative of everything Irish, and anyone who visits the counties of Cork, Kerry, and Limerick is guaranteed a visual and emotional taste of the (literally) Emerald Isle.

"The People's Republic of Cork" is what locals like to call this Rebel county, emphasizing their determination, Texas-style, to be different from the rest of the country. The county lends its name to Ireland's second-largest city, a port town that's full of canals and bridges and has a bustling shopping district, as well as the country's best food market. Many are seduced by Cork's quiet charm, but others find it a gray, unexciting place best considered a gateway to the Southwest. Its center is compact and walkable but best avoided late night on weekends, when streets are taken over by swarms of young, often inebriated revelers. Cork was once home to writers Sean O'Faolain and Frank O'Connor and is today a city of sport. Its team is always in the championship finals of hurling, that fast and furious ancient game that makes soccer look like Kick the Can. Rural County Cork is also one of the few places where the 2,000-year-old game of road bowling is still played, at which the Irish giant Cuchulainn used to excel.

If your taste runs to less athletic entertainment, head for the historic seaside village of Kinsale, famous for its quality restaurants and annual Festival of Fine Food. But be warned: prices can be steep and service less stellar than you would expect for top dollar. An excursion to Blarney Castle, a few miles west of Cork city, is a must for first-time visitors, but bear in mind that the castle, although intact and impressively large, is not furnished. The coastal road from Kinsale to wooded Glengarriff takes you through the rugged splendor of West Cork. The wild, tempestuous sea is the undoubted star of the trip. Plan to meander along the many coastal roads, stopping to dawdle in small towns and villages, including Timoleague, with its romantically ruined waterside abbey; the brightly painted market town of Clonakilty; the crescent-shape fishing village of Baltimore; and Castletownshend, with its steep hill lined with gracious 18th-century homes.

Kerry, too, has a nickname: "The Kingdom." Its natives will argue with all comers that it remains the most beautiful and inspirational county in Ireland. Two great peninsulas dominate the county's wild, rocky coast. The Iveragh Peninsula, known to everyone as the Ring of Kerry, is arguably Ireland's most popular tourist drive, so popular in summer that peak-time traffic jams (not to mention the local kamikaze drivers) on its narrow twisty roads can detract from its charm. Once you've escaped Killarney, the Ring passes through tiny villages like Sneem to the magisterial, world's-end, rock islands of the Skelligs (once seen, never forgotten), before ending at Kenmare, a market town on the Kenmare River estuary, which is home to one of Ireland's world-class establishments, the Park Hotel. Kenmare's three streets are jam-packed with craft shops and restaurants, and it is currently challenging Kinsale for the unofficial title of culinary capital of Ireland. Tralee has a medium-size-town-with-no-character feel, but its location, midway between Killarney and Ballybunion, makes it a handy base for golfers. The celebrity-popular (Julia Roberts has been spotted hiding out here) town of Dingle (year-round population 1,400) is the only town on the Dingle Peninsula. In deciding whether or not to visit the peninsula, weather is all important; if the mist comes down, give it a miss. However, in sunshine you will revel in the sight of seabirds reeling and wild donkeys grazing among hedges awash in crimson velvet flowers; fields explode with deep yellow gorse, may-blossom, and honeysuckle against a dark-blue sky.

Frank McCourt's best-selling Angela's Ashes paints a grim picture of Limerick City. But Ireland's fourth-largest city, sitting proudly on the banks of the Shannon, although still beset with social problems, is home to the pocket-size Hunt Museum, whose compact interior has a magnificent collection of Celtic and medieval treasures. The surrounding countryside is not as wild and romantic as Cork or Kerry, but it does possess a couple of Ireland's most impressive stately homes, both open to lodgers: the Irish Gothic dottiness of Glin Castle, where you can dine with the owner and his wife, and the high Victorian Gothic Adare Manor, now an American-owned hotel.