Two groups account for most of the 48 places on this page. The first is military: Charles Fort at Kinsale, a pentagonal star fort of the 1670s whose restored ramparts look out over the harbour mouth, with the older James Fort free and open across the water at Castlepark. Further east, Camden Fort Meagher at Crosshaven and Fort Carlisle at Whitegate face each other across the entrance to Cork Harbour, both of them Victorian gun batteries; roughly two-thirds of Camden Fort is underground, in tunnels and magazines cut into the headland.
The second group is prehistoric and sits almost entirely in West Cork. Drombeg Stone Circle stands on a ridge above the sea near Glandore, thirteen of its original seventeen stones still up, with the midwinter sun dropping into the low axial stone. The Altar Wedge Tomb is further west again on the Mizen, metres from the water at Toormore Bay. Knockdrum’s hilltop cashel and Knocknakilla on the boggy north-west slopes of Musherabeg Mountain are unguided and reached on rough ground, so pick your weather for those two.
Cork city holds the English Market, trading on the same site since 1788, and Saints Peter and Paul’s on a lane off St Patrick’s Street, a few minutes apart on foot. The east of the county is thinner: the Clock Gate Tower over Youghal’s main street, and Araglin out beyond Fermoy where three counties meet.
A pentagonal star fort of the 1670s above Kinsale Harbour, with restored ramparts to walk and an OPW tour covering the 1690 siege.
Trading on the same city-centre site since 1788, a Victorian covered food hall for spiced beef, drisheen and fish, with the Farmgate Café upstairs.
Thirteen standing stones on a ridge above the sea near Glandore, aligned so the midwinter sun sets into the low axial stone.
Built around 2500 BC and standing metres from the Atlantic on the Mizen, a trapezoidal gallery grave still carrying its massive capstone.
42 of 48 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Kinsale, cork
Charles Fort is a pentagonal star fort built in the 1670s to stop ships entering Kinsale Harbour – which is why it fell in 1690, when the attackers simply took the high ground behind it. Walk the restored ramparts for the harbour views, take the OPW tour for the siege story, and follow the coast path east toward Preghane Point.
Cork city, cork
Cork's English Market has traded on the same site since 1788, the city's municipal food market under a Victorian roof of cast iron and stained glass. Come for spiced beef, drisheen and fresh fish, and head upstairs to the Farmgate Café for lunch made from the stalls below.
Glandore, cork
Drombeg is one of West Cork’s finest stone circles – thirteen of its original seventeen stones still standing on a ridge above the sea, known locally as the Druid’s Altar. At midwinter the setting sun drops into the low axial stone, and a Bronze Age cooking pit sits a few steps to the west.
Skibbereen, cork
A flat, unmarked plot beside the wall of Abbeystrewry cemetery in Skibbereen covers the remains of 8,000 to 10,000 people who died in the Great Famine, buried without coffins or ceremony. Five inscribed headstones and stone stools mark the spot, which is free to visit and open at all hours.
Toormore Bay, cork
Perched just metres from the Atlantic on the Mizen Peninsula, the Altar Wedge Tomb is one of West Cork’s most accessible megalithic monuments. Built around 2500 BC, this trapezoidal stone gallery still shelters its massive capstone, while its ENE–WSW alignment catches the Samhain sunset over Mizen Peak.
Bere Island, cork
A collapsed Bronze Age wedge tomb sitting just inside a field on the east end of Bere Island, once known locally as the 'Druids' Altar'. There is little to make out up close, but it anchors a short archaeological trail that takes in a tall standing stone, Martello towers and the island's Heritage Centre.
Beara Peninsula, cork
Ardgroom is a brightly painted village on the Ring of Beara, best known for its Bronze Age stone circle a mile east, where the upright stones taper unusually to points. The circle sits in a working sheep farm reached by a boggy field walk, with parking for only about three cars. The village itself has a shop, a pub and Harrington's post-office café, and the easy Pulleen coastal loop starts nearby at Cuas Quay.
Ballycrovane, cork
The Ballycrovane Ogham Stone stands about 5.3 m tall in a field on the Beara Peninsula, the tallest ogham stone in Ireland. It began as a Bronze Age menhir and was carved with an early-medieval inscription centuries later, and it overlooks Kenmare Bay on the Ring of Beara drive.
Cork, cork
Béal na Bláth is the quiet bend on the R585 in West Cork where Michael Collins was ambushed and killed on 22 August 1922. A 1924 limestone cross marks the site, set back from the road since a 2022 redesign that traces his final journey in engraved slate milestones. It is free and always open; pair it with the Michael Collins Centre near Clonakilty.
Crosshaven, cork
Camden Fort Meagher guards the mouth of Cork Harbour from Ram's Head, and about two-thirds of it is underground – tunnels, magazines and a granite spiral staircase cut into the headland in the 1860s. The lower bastion once held the Brennan torpedo, the world's first practical guided weapon.
Castlenalacht, cork
Four upright stones form a row in farmland north of Bandon, stepping down in height. It is a field monument rather than a managed visitor site; for a public visit to a prehistoric monument, head to Drombeg Stone Circle.
Cork, cork
Stand in the galleried nave of a former Church of Ireland building that has seen a pretender crowned king and now hosts indie gigs and arthouse cinema. Part of the Triskel Arts Centre, Christ Church runs free guided tours daily at 2pm and keeps a packed programme of music, film and exhibitions.
Youghal, cork
The Clock Gate straddles Youghal's main street on the site of a medieval castle. Built in 1777 as a town gate and gaol, it's where prisoners taken in the 1798 Rising were hanged from the windows; today costumed guides tell that story across four floors, ending on a rooftop over Youghal Bay.
Ballyvireen Valley, cork
Coppinger's Court was among the grandest houses in early-17th-century Cork before the 1641 rebellion left it a gutted shell. Built by the merchant Sir Walter Coppinger, its ivy-clad walls and nine gables still rise from the Ballyvireen valley west of Rosscarbery. The ruin sits on private farmland but can be visited freely, and it comes with more legends than most.
Carrignafoy, cork
Cove Fort is a small star-shaped battery built east of Cobh in 1743 to guard the entrance to Cork Harbour. It later became the Queenstown Military Hospital, and today the Port of Cork occupies part of the site – the public draw is Bishop Roche Park and the Cobh Titanic Memorial Garden, which names the 123 passengers who boarded the Titanic here in 1912. There's no visitor centre or tour; come for the memorial, the view and the story.
Whitegate, cork
Fort Carlisle, also called Fort Davis, is a Palmerston-era coastal defence site on the east side of Cork Harbour. It is closed to general visitors. Camden Fort Meagher, opposite, has separate public opening arrangements.
Ahakista, cork
Gorteanish is a small Bronze Age stone circle near Ahakista in West Cork, lost until 1995 and excavated in 2023 by University College Cork archaeologists, who found scattered white quartz. A boulder burial lies alongside, with views across Dunmanus Bay to the matching circle at Dunbeacon. For a walk on the peninsula, follow the marked Sheep’s Head Way.
University College Cork Campus, cork
Consecrated in 1916, the Honan Chapel is a small campus church with an outsized collection: eleven Harry Clarke stained-glass windows, including his St Gobnait, set above a zodiac-and-River-of-Life mosaic floor. Check the chapel's website for visitor and service arrangements before you go.
Castlepark, cork
Rugged stone walls and grassy parapets frame sweeping views of Kinsale harbour at James Fort. This 17th-century bastion once guarded the River Bandon estuary alongside its later neighbour, Charles Fort, and remains a free, open-air historic site.
Sleenoge, cork
Kinneigh Round Tower is the only round tower in Ireland built on a hexagonal base, rising from a working graveyard near Enniskeane in west Cork. It is a free, open, unguarded site, a National Monument in the care of the OPW, and an easy fifteen-minute stop off the N71.
cork
Knockdrum Stone Fort is a circular stone cashel dating from the early first millennium AD, perched on a strategic hilltop in West Cork. Inside its 3-metre-thick walls are the foundations of a rectangular building, a souterrain, and a pillar stone marked with a Greek cross, while cup-marked boulders outside date back 3,000 to 5,000 years.
Musherabeg Mountain, cork
On the boggy north-west slopes of Musherabeg Mountain, Knocknakilla is a Bronze Age complex of a recumbent stone circle, two tall standing stones and a radial cairn, its axis set to the setting sun at the solstices. It's an unguided National Monument – free and open, but reached on rough mountain ground.
Cork, cork
A single-arch limestone bridge over the south channel of the River Lee, built in 1806 to a design by William Hargrave and named for the Act of Union of 1800. It links the South Mall to Sullivan's Quay, and in 2025 its parapet had to be rebuilt after a car knocked part of it into the river.
Castletownbere, cork
St Bartholomew’s Church serves Rossmackowen on the Beara Peninsula, under the Slieve Miskish and Caha Mountains. It is an active place of worship, so check with the parish for service times and arrangements before visiting.
Cork, cork
E.W. Pugin designed this Gothic Revival parish church on a lane off St Patrick’s Street, and its 36-ton Carrara marble altar is the reason to step in. Open free most of the day, it’s a quiet interior in the middle of a busy shopping district, still in daily use as a working city-centre parish.
Cobh, cork
St Colman’s rises above Cobh on blue Dalkey granite and Mallow limestone, its spire a landmark for ships entering Cork Harbour. Inside are red-marble shrines and stained glass; the carillon has 49 bells. It was consecrated in 1919 after half a century of building.
Cork City, cork
St Fin Barre's is the rare cathedral built as one architect's complete vision. William Burges controlled everything, from the 73-metre spires to Ireland's largest pipe organ. Look up on the west front for the cannonball from the 1690 siege, still lodged in the stone.
Ballyvourney, cork
St Gobnait's Shrine at Ballyvourney is a place of pilgrimage still walked in the traditional way, from a Séamus Murphy statue through the saint's grave and church ruin to the holy well. Excavations here found evidence of ironworking, matching a saint whose name means 'smith'. Ask the parish about the display of the medieval oak statue.
Youghal, cork
Ancient oak timbers still crown the nave of this 13th-century collegiate church inside Youghal's medieval walls. Follow the 'Voices of St Mary's' audio tour past the vast Boyle monument, or wander the free graveyard trail along the town wall for estuary views.
Cork, cork
On Pope's Quay overlooking the River Lee, St Mary's Dominican Church was designed for free by architect Kearns Deane and opened in 1839. Behind its tall columned front is a working priory church with a full daily Mass schedule and a choir singing for over 30 years.
Summercove, cork
Summercove is a small harbour village near Kinsale, and it comes down to two things: Charles Fort, the huge star-shaped fortress completed in 1682 on the headland above, and The Bulman, the orange pub at the water's edge. The signed Scilly Walk from Kinsale leads there. The fort is ticketed, so it is not the free wander some guides suggest.
Araglin, cork
Cloyne, cork
North Cork City, cork
Crossbarry, cork
Clonakilty, cork
Cork, cork
Cork, cork
Cork City, cork
Kilmichael, cork
Bantry, cork
Darrara, cork
Bantry, cork
Rathmorgan, cork
Sandy Cove, cork
Mushera Mountain, cork
Crosshaven, cork
Toormore, cork
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