Most of this list is packed into the south-west corner of the county, where long peninsulas run out into the Atlantic. Mizen Head is the best known: a signal station on an offshore crag, reached by an arched bridge and 99 steps, on a private site that locks when the visitor centre closes. Brow Head, above Mallavoge, is the actual southernmost point of the mainland by about nine metres, and has no car park, no railings and no café.
North of the Mizen, Sheep’s Head holds Ahakista on Kitchen Cove and Kilcrohane under Seefin, with the Goat’s Path climbing over the spine between them and Sheep’s Head Way trailheads at both. Beara, further north again, is where the Caha Mountains meet the road at the tunnelled Caha Pass and the hairpins of the Healy Pass; Bull Rock, off the tip, can only be seen from a boat.
The rest is spread thin. Knockboy, at 706m the county’s highest point, is a bog summit walked from the single-lane Priest’s Leap road on the Kerry border. Galley Head sits south-east of Clonakilty, and Old Head is inside a golf course at Kinsale, open only a few days a year. Boat trips to the Fastnet run from Baltimore and Schull, and all of it wants a clear day.
The most south-westerly point of the mainland, with a signal station on an offshore crag reached by an arched bridge and 99 steps.
A sheltered harbour halfway along Sheep's Head, with the Air India memorial garden, two Bronze Age stone circles and loops off the Sheep's Head Way.
The true southernmost point of mainland Ireland, unmanaged and unfenced, carrying a Napoleonic signal tower, Marconi ruins and old copper workings.
The range down the spine of Beara, topped by 685m Hungry Hill and met most easily on the Caha Pass and the Healy Pass.
24 of 30 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Mizen Head, cork
Mizen Head is a former Irish Lights signal station on an offshore crag at the tip of the Mizen Peninsula in West Cork, reached by an arched bridge and 99 steps. The site is locked outside opening hours, so check the operator's seasonal times before driving out.
Adrigole, cork
Adrigole strings out along the north-western shore of Bantry Bay below Hungry Hill and its Mare's Tail cascade. The Beara Way crosses the parish, and West Cork Sailing offers kayak hire at the harbour.
Ahakista, cork
Ahakista sits halfway along the Sheep's Head peninsula around a sheltered harbour known as Kitchen Cove. Its memorial garden remembers the 329 people killed when Air India Flight 182 came down over the Atlantic in 1985, its sundial set to catch the sun at the moment of the explosion. Two Bronze Age stone circles and loops off the 90km Sheep's Head Way round out the reasons to come.
Mallavoge, cork
Brow Head, not Mizen Head, is the southernmost point of mainland Ireland – by about nine metres. The unmanaged West Cork headland carries an 1804 Napoleonic signal tower, the ruins of an early Marconi wireless station and 19th-century copper workings, and stood in for an alien coast in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. No car park, no railings, no café, just cliffs and the open Atlantic.
Glengarriff, cork
The Caha Mountains run down the Beara Peninsula along the Cork–Kerry border, crossed by the N71 Caha Pass and, separately, the Healy Pass. For a walk, choose a signed section of the Beara Way and check local conditions.
Caoinkeen, cork
At 693 m, Caoinkeen is County Cork's second-highest peak, a remote hill-walk in the Shehy/Knockboy range. Sandstone ridges and boggy plateau lead to a summit above a fine corrie lake, with views across to the Beara Peninsula and Bantry Bay. It is a navigation day, not a waymarked stroll.
Cape Clear Island, cork
The old Cape Clear light was abandoned in 1854 because fog kept swallowing its beam, and the Fastnet Rock tower six kilometres out was built to replace it. Boat tours from Baltimore circle the Fastnet and land on Cape Clear, Ireland's southernmost inhabited island.
Fastnet Rock, cork
Fastnet is Ireland's tallest lighthouse, a 54-metre Cornish-granite tower on a lone rock off West Cork and the last sight of Ireland for emigrant ships, hence its nickname, Ireland's Teardrop. You cannot land on it, but boat tours from Baltimore and Schull circle the rock; the direct trip is the pick if it is the lighthouse you are after.
Fastnet Rock, cork
Fastnet Rock rises from the Atlantic as Ireland's southernmost point, crowned by a 54-metre granite lighthouse – the tallest rock lighthouse in Ireland or Britain. You can't land on it, but boat tours from Baltimore and Schull bring you close to the beacon that was the last sight of home for emigrants and the turning mark of the Fastnet Race.
Galley Head, cork
Galley Head Lighthouse sits on a headland near Rosscarbery in West Cork and was built after 40 people drowned in the 1847 wreck of the steamer Niger. The light was first exhibited on 1 January 1878 and Irish Lights still operates it. The Irish Landmark Trust lets the former keepers' houses to booked guests.
Kilmallock, cork
The Golden Vale is a broad area of dairy farmland across Cork, Limerick and Tipperary, named in print in 1837 for a 'golden vein' of rich soil. Build a day around medieval Kilmallock and Lough Gur in County Limerick, or head east to the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary.
Beara Peninsula, cork
Hungry Hill rises above Bantry Bay on the Beara Peninsula, a mass of shale and crag in the Caha Mountains. It has no formal visitor route; choose the marked Beara Way for a walk in the area. Daphne du Maurier took its name for a 1943 novel.
Kilcrohane, cork
Use Kilcrohane as a base for marked Sheep’s Head walks. The headland loops have separate starts west of the village, and Local Link connects the village with Bantry.
Castletownbere, cork
Knockoura rises sharply from the Beara coastline, offering hikers a straightforward 4.8km trek to a trig point crowned by communication masts. The steady Atlantic breezes also make it a premier launch site for paragliders and hang-gliders seeking smooth coastal updrafts.
Mizen Peninsula, cork
The Mizen is the 30-km finger of land at Ireland's south-west corner, and the footbridge at its tip is the reason most people make the drive. There's more once you're out here: the O'Mahony towers at Dunlough, the Blue Flag sand at Barleycove, and copper mines on Mount Gabriel worked in the Bronze Age.
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Nowen Hill rises north-west of Dunmanway in West Cork. Choose a lower walk from Cullenagh, or take a map and plan the longer exposed hill circuit past standing stones and Castle Donovan.
Old Head, cork
A black-and-white banded tower, built in 1853, marks the headland nearest to where the Lusitania went down, about eleven miles offshore. The catch: it sits inside a private golf course and opens to the public only a few days a year, when a shuttle runs out from the Signal Tower. The rest of the time, the coastal loop from Garrylucas beach is how most people see it.
Old Head of Kinsale, cork
The Old Head runs out into the Atlantic south of Kinsale. Visit the Lusitania Museum at the restored signal tower; the 1853 lighthouse is farther along the headland, inside the private golf estate, which controls access.
Roche's Point, cork
Roche’s Point has marked the entrance to Cork Harbour since 1817. The present lighthouse dates from 1835 and is now automated. It is an operational site and the tower is not open to visitors.
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David Mitchell set the final chapter of The Bone Clocks on the remote cliffs of Sheep’s Head, and the novelist J. G. Farrell spent his last years here. The narrow West Cork peninsula rewards walkers with an 88km waymarked trail, ancient stone circles and clifftop views over two bays.
Sheep’s Head Peninsula, cork
Standing at the far tip of the Sheep’s Head Peninsula, this squat white lighthouse was flown in piece by piece by helicopter in 1968 – some 250 trips. You can’t go inside, but the 3.7km loop out to it delivers cliff-edge views over Bantry and Dunmanus bays.
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Explore the public village stops on the Sliabh Luachra Cultural Trail and check local programmes for traditional music. Respect private land and use designated places to stop.
Castletownshend, cork
Toe Head runs out into the Atlantic near Castletownshend, its ruined Napoleonic signal tower one of 81 built around 1804 to watch for a French invasion. A wartime Éire 28 sign still marks neutral Ireland, and off the point the ore carrier Kowloon Bridge went aground on the Stags in 1986. The cliffs are exposed and can be undercut, so keep well back and use only clearly permitted access.
Ardfield, cork
Castletownbere, cork
Ballinhassig, cork
Shehy Mountains, cork
West Cork, cork
Killavullen, cork
Beara Peninsula, cork
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