DD (23) and I are flying in & out of Cork in Mid-March. We will arrive on a Tues and depart the following Mon/Tues. It will be Both our first time in country. What should we Not miss. She likes Castles/ anything to do with Ghost/Haunted places and I'm a foodie who loves to travel. (I just spent the summer in Amsterdam/France/Italy & Spain). We are on a pretty strict budget but want to make it memorable. A night in a castle and the rest in an in-expensive/cheap place will work for us. Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

We need ideas for lodging as well as for transportation. Should I rent a car or is public transport efficient enough. We will have 5 full days in Ireland and 1 day in London.
Please help. Thanks in advance.

Cork has tons of shopping -- are you flying in/out because of great deal?? Are you giong to use public transport?

We stayed at the Garnish house in cork - lovely spot - a short walk into town ...or lots of cabs in cork

renting a car is ok if you're over 25 i think....hard to drive on opposite side for sure -- I'd tell you to go to Adare Manor for the castle - it's lovely -- but that's about 4 hours from cork -- if you can get to dingle -- go it's beautiful and lots of pubs and fun! if you want more information email me at [email protected] -- and i can send you some great pics and info! jeri

Before you leave Cork, check out the English Market on Grand Parade - a bit of a must for any foodie visiting the city. For the castle enthusiast, there's Blarney Castle only a few miles out of town.
Kinsale, just down the road, offers both a decent sized castle that was used as a British fort overlooking the harbour plus a good range of places to eat (try Fishy Fishy). Also reachable by public transport.
To see more of the country, a car would be a major help. Just north of Limerick, you have both Bunratty Castle (complete with Folk Park) and Dromoland Castle for a 5* hotel night of luxury.

Irishgirl- yes a good $flight would bring us to Cork. It will be our first time in Ireland we can check the fares into -out of DUB as well. Seems the great price is now not as good as it was so we may fly into LON and take a cheap flight to Ireland instead. Any suggestions? Thanks Laurel

Info on historic sights, castles, etc.:
http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/

For Foodies:
http://www.goodfoodireland.ie/

I think you still have too many loose ends in your planning. You will probably get better tips once you are at least sure on a vague scheme where you want to go.

Cork is a good airport to start, by the way. Modern, compact, extremely easy to navigate, stressless, well connected to the road network. Open jaw could also be an option.. in Cork, out Shannon, if you plan to focus on the SW and West.
If you end up going in/out Dublin, you should also not forget Northern Ireland. Many of the major sights are up there, plus you can save a bit due to the GBP/EUR exchange rate.

Cork is a great little airport. Rent a car. We spent our last night at the Radisson Blu airport hotel - you can leave the car the day before and walk across to the terminal. Ideal if you are leaving fairly early.

We spent a Friday to Tuesday evening touring County Cork at the end of August. We decided to concentrate on County Cork, but even then we could have seen and done so much more, the weather was a bit against us sadly. We didn't book any accommodation apart from the Tuesday night at the hotel at the airport - we had a 6 am flight back to AMS!

My trip report is here: http://tinyurl.com/ycr86a6

I recommend you get the Bradt city guide to Cork and Flying visits Ireland by Catherina Day.