peggionthego

Planning to spend two nights in one place; interested in history, scenery, food. Had planned to spend the two nights in Kinsale but reading some not complimentary comments on this forum regarding restaurants there. Also have an interest in Titanic/Lusitania things in Cobh. Would be grateful for more input. Will be heading from there up to Dingle Peninsula.

uptowngirl2418

when are you going?

we will be there in June. I choose Cobh because of my daughter's interest in all things Titanic.

on first trip with friends, we stayed in Cork. let's just say we got lost. found the city confusing to drive. BUT, it was the best nightlife of our entire trip. met some great locals and lost no more. drank lots, stayed out til dawn and learned how to insult each other the Cork way.

JOHNOD

During several trips I have never had a bad meal in Kinsale. The best Fish and Chips I have ever had was at an outside lunch at the Blue Haven. If you choose Kinsale take the walking tour out of the Tourist office for a morning history lesson and you can take a nice walk along the harbor out to Charles Fort. Cobh is about less than 45 minutes away if you take the ferry. The heritage center with the large Titanic exhibit is a nice couple of hours but no reason to stay in Cobh. Cork is a nice city but a city just the same. I much prefer the smaller locations. kinsale is quite compact and you can do quite a pub crawl at night and not have to walk more that 100 yards. Have fun

HappyTrvlr

We had excellent meals while staying in Kinsale and enjoyed it's pretty settin gon the water.

Greatisland

If its history that you are after, then Cobh is definitely the place to go to. It was the last port of call of the Titanic and the story of the ship and its passengers is told in Cobh Heritage Centre, the Titanic Trail Walking Tour, Cobh Museum, the Cobh Road Train and the new Titanic Experience in the former White Star Line Ticket office. Even the virtually unchanged streetscape speaks history. The victims and survivors of the Lusitania were mostly brought ashore in Cobh and the Old Church Cemetery has the graves of over 100 victims.
Cobh is a very pretty and compact town with a magnificent Cathedral, floodlit at night and while you may not have the same choice of restaurants as Kinsale there are some great ones like Gilbert's Restaurant and Townhouse, Jacob's Ladder at the WatersEdge Hotel, Trade Winds and the Commodore Hotel. If you decide to stay in Cobh take the stress out of getting into Cork city by taking the train. They run every half an hour at peak times and every hour at other times and the journey is only 25 minutes with plenty to see along the way.
Check out www.visitcobh.com and www.titanic100.ie in this the Titanic Centenary year

TPAYT

If you stay in Cobh there's a fabulous restaurant about 10 min. drive in Midleton

http://www.farmgate.ie/midleton/midhome.htm

It was one of our best meals in Ireland and a really cute place.

peggionthego

Thank you! Great input! I've definitely eliminated Cork so now just must weigh pros and cons between Kinsale and Cobh. Greatisland has convinced me at least to take the ferry over to Cobh to check out the Titanic exhibit; especially since this is an anniversary year.

peggionthego

forgot to mention the trip is in September.

Micheline

The food I had in Kinsale was the best I had in Ireland and the evenings in the pubs were the most enjoyable.

Tony2phones

Cobh would be my choice as an authentic Irish town. But it is out on a spur and whilst great for one night, not a touring base. Kinsale might have been an option 15 years ago before it got so far up its own reputed fame that it forgot where it was. Cork is a good base to see either or both the above plus Blarney and other surrounding places.

TPAYT

This just shows how different travelers view a place.

Kinsale for 3 nights was one of our least favorite towns in Ireland. And the food---Fishy,Fishy--one of the WORST for food & service in all of our 20 dinners. Jim Edwards, just OK. Jola's, absolutely gorgeous room with perfect service, but very bland food--not bad, just bland. This was in May, 2011 so maybe they have improved by now.

That said, we did enjoy James Fort very much.

Cobh seems a bit small for 2 nights unless you arrive late for night 1, tour the next day and stay night 2, then leave in the morning. The drive west along the coast is beautiful with lots of places to stop.

I'll also repeat my above post that if you stay in Cobh, Farmgate restaurant in Midleton (about a 20 min. easy drive) was really wonderful.

Here's my TR from that area of Ireland. You'll have to scroll down a bit to the Cobh-Kinsale part.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

You'll then be heading to our favorite place in Ireland, the Dingle Peninsula. We loved the country and the people and also were quite surprised at the quality of the food in most places.

Have a wonderful trip and we'll be waiting to read your report.

allisonm

Here is another vote for Cork. We have stayed in Kinsale a couple of times but don't LOVE it. The setting is lovely and definitely worth an afternoon. We have also visited Cobh and found the Titanic exhibit very interesting, but would choose to stay in Cork. Whether you decide to stay in the city or just pass through, be sure to visit the English Market!

(TPAYT, thank you for Plougastel. We stayed there recently and were very happy!).

sorry for the hijack.

TPAYT

allisonm----glad you liked Plougastel House in Westport.