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.
A tunnelled sea-stack off the tip of Beara holding Ireland's largest gannet colony, seen only by boat and, sea permitting, from inside the arch.
The range down the spine of Beara, topped by 685m Hungry Hill and met most easily on the Caha Pass and the Healy Pass.
29 of 30 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Mizen Head, cork
Mizen Head is the most south-westerly point of the Irish mainland, at the tip of the Mizen Peninsula in West Cork. A former Irish Lights signal station sits on an offshore crag, reached by an arched bridge and 99 steps, with seals, seabirds and, in summer, whales in the water below. The whole site is private and locked when the centre is closed, so check the opening times before driving out.
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.
Castletownbere, cork
Bull Rock is a sandstone sea-stack off the tip of the Beara Peninsula, pierced by a natural tunnel that legend called the Entrance to the Underworld. It holds Ireland's largest gannet colony and a lighthouse first lit in 1889, and the only way to see it is by boat – tours sail around the stack and, sea permitting, through the arch.
Glengarriff, cork
The Caha Mountains run down the spine of the Beara Peninsula along the Cork–Kerry border, topped by 685m Hungry Hill and protected as a Special Area of Conservation for alpine plants found nowhere else in Ireland. Most visitors meet them on the road: the tunnelled Caha Pass between Kenmare and Glengarriff, and the hairpinning Healy Pass over to Kerry.
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 Dundeady Island, a headland south-east of Clonakilty, and was built after 40 people drowned in the 1847 wreck of the steamer Niger. When first lit in 1878 it was the most powerful lighthouse light in the world. The tower opens only during Heritage Week, but you can stay in the two restored keeper’s cottages year-round or just visit the free viewpoint above two sandy beaches.
Kilmallock, cork
The Golden Vale is the best dairy land in Ireland, a patchwork of pasture across Cork, Limerick and Tipperary that first appeared in print in 1837 as a 'golden vein' of rich soil. A 112 km sign-posted drive runs from medieval Kilmallock through Lough Gur to the Rock of Cashel, where Cormac's Chapel holds the only surviving Romanesque frescoes in Ireland. Pick up the Living Land audio CD at Kilfinane Tourist Office before you set off.
Kilcrohane, cork
Kilcrohane is the last village on the Sheep’s Head, tucked under Seefin between Bantry Bay and Dunmanus Bay. Four Sheep’s Head Way trailheads start here, the Goat’s Path climbs over the spine of the peninsula, and the village comes alive for the Easter trad festival and the July carnival.
Shehy Mountains, cork
Knockboy is County Cork's highest point at 706m, a broad bog-covered summit on the Cork-Kerry border crowning the Shehy range. The usual route is a 5 km out-and-back from the Priest's Leap pass, a single-lane road climbing to 463m and named for a 17th-century priest said to have leapt his horse off the cliffs to escape soldiers. The top gives 360-degree views over Bantry Bay, the Caha Mountains and, on a clear day, the MacGillycuddy's Reeks.
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.
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 two miles out into the Atlantic, ending in an 1853 lighthouse most people only see across the golf-course fence. A free 6 km loop from Garrylucas beach gives you the cliffs, the ruins of De Courcy Castle and the sea; the €5 Lusitania Museum sits at the highest point, the nearest land to where the ship went down.
Roche's Point, cork
Standing at the entrance to Cork Harbour, Roche's Point Lighthouse has guided ships since 1817. The tower stays closed to the public, but the headland promenade is free to walk, with sweeping views of the harbour mouth and a direct line to Ireland's maritime past.
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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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Straddling Cork, Kerry and Limerick, Sliabh Luachra is a plateau of heather hills, bog and hidden glens best known as the heartland of Ireland's polka-and-slide music tradition. It is a place you come to for a session and a story rather than dramatic scenery, with a signed driving trail linking its villages and heritage sites.
Beara Peninsula, cork
The Slieve Miskish Mountains are the low red-sandstone hills at the tip of the Beara Peninsula, and their western slopes above Allihies were once Ireland's biggest copper field, worked by Cornish miners who later shipped out to Butte, Montana. Marked trails climb the peaks, Ireland's first designated bridleway runs along the flanks, and the Copper Mine Museum tells the boom-and-bust story.
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. Below it, a wartime EIRE sign (number 28) still marks neutral Ireland, and off the point the huge ore carrier Kowloon Bridge went down on the Stags Rocks in 1986. A coastal loop of about 3.8 km takes in the cliffs, but the edge is eroding – keep well back.
Adrigole, cork
Ardfield, cork
Caoinkeen, cork
Ballinhassig, cork
Beara Peninsula, cork
Castletownbere, cork
West Cork, cork
Killavullen, cork
cork
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