The heaviest concentration here is in the west, on and around the Beara Peninsula and the Shehy Mountains. Gougane Barra sits in a glen at the head of that range, a lake with St Finbarr’s oratory on an island reached by a short causeway, and six waymarked trails through the forest park around it. The Beara Way starts at Glengarriff and runs 206km round the peninsula, roughly nine days if you walk the whole thing, and the Beara-Breifne Way carries on from the peninsula’s tip all the way to Cavan. St Finbarr’s Pilgrim Path links Drimoleague to Gougane Barra over two days across three mountain-and-valley systems, and it suits hillwalkers rather than casual ramblers; fog drops there without warning.
East Cork is the flat half of the list. The Cork Greenway runs 23km on the old Midleton to Youghal railway, paved the whole way and level enough for pushchairs and wheelchairs, with Mogeely at the midpoint. Nearer the city, Carrigaline pairs its Norman castle ruin with the carriage walks of Currabinny Forest, an afternoon rather than a day.
The abandoned West Cork line is walkable in pieces and free all year, including the four-arch Chetwynd Viaduct and Gogginshill, at 906 yards the longest disused railway tunnel in the Republic. For something shorter on the coast, the clifftop loop at Toe Head, south of Skibbereen, is always open, and Glengarriff has 300 hectares of ancient oak on its doorstep.
A still lake and island oratory set in a glen in the Shehy Mountains, wrapped by Ireland's first forest park and its six waymarked trails.
A strenuous 206km loop of the Beara Peninsula from Glengarriff, well waymarked and split into stages, with luggage transfer making a nine-day walk manageable.
Twelve waymarked trails stitched into one 500km through-route from the Beara tip to Blacklion in Cavan, following O'Sullivan Beare's 1602 march with a stamp passport.
A commuter town that keeps a Norman castle ruin on a limestone bluff, with the wide carriage walks of Currabinny Forest just east of it.
A flat, fully paved 23km rail-trail from Midleton to Youghal, open since December 2024 and usable by bikes, pushchairs and wheelchairs alike.
22 of 23 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Gougane Barra, cork
A secluded glen in the Shehy Mountains, Gougane Barra pairs a still lake with St Finbarr's island oratory, reached by a short causeway. Ireland's first forest park wraps around it, with six waymarked trails, a scenic drive and quiet pilgrimage year-round.
Beara Peninsula, cork
A strenuous, roughly nine-day loop around the Beara Peninsula from Glengarriff, past stone circles, copper-mine ruins and brightly painted villages. The official length is 206 km (128 miles); Sport Ireland lists 241.8 km once the Bere and Dursey Island spurs are counted. Reliable waymarking and luggage-transfer services make it manageable in stages.
Cork, cork
Twelve waymarked trails stitched into one route from the Atlantic tip of the Beara Peninsula to the Cavan village of Blacklion – roughly 500 km walked as a through-route, closer to 700 km if you take in the loops. It follows the 1602–03 march of Donal Cam O’Sullivan Beare, and a Walking Passport lets you collect stamps at forts, copper mines and lakeside villages along the way.
Carrigaline, cork
Carrigaline grew from a rural village into one of Cork's largest commuter towns, but it keeps a Norman castle ruin on a limestone bluff and, just east, the wide carriage walks of Currabinny Forest. If you only have an afternoon, the forest circuit is the thing to do.
Midleton – Youghal, cork
A 23 km off-road rail-trail on the disused Cork-Youghal line, fully opened on 19 December 2024. It runs flat from Midleton to the coast at Youghal through farmland, native woodland and the villages of Mogeely and Killeagh, with the Jameson Distillery at one end and the medieval town of Youghal at the other. The surface is paved throughout and suits bikes, pushchairs and wheelchairs.
Bandon, cork
The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway carried West Cork from 1849 until Good Friday 1961, when a 30,000-signature petition failed to save it. Its best bones survive, free to visit: the four-arch Chetwynd Viaduct and Gogginshill, the longest abandoned railway tunnel in the Republic at 906 yards.
Glengarriff, cork
Glengarriff is a village of about 200 people at the head of Bantry Bay, warmed by the Gulf Stream into something closer to subtropical than West Cork usually gets. It's the launch point for Garnish Island's gardens, the start of the Ring of Beara, and home to a 300-hectare reserve of ancient oak. Most people treat it as a base, but it repays a day of its own.
Kinsale, cork
Kinsale Food Tours runs a two-hour ‘walking meal’ through four of the town’s eateries for €90, set up in 2016 by a former marine biologist. There is also a tide-dependent foraging tour on the coast and a private yacht picnic for groups. All tours meet at the Tourist Information Centre on Pier Road.
East Cork, cork
Since December 2024, Mogeely has sat at the midpoint of the 23 km traffic-free greenway between Midleton and Youghal, built on the old Cork–Youghal railway line. Beyond the path it is a working east Cork dairy village, where Dairygold runs two cheese plants and an old castle is folded, disputed, into a farmyard.
cork
The River Bandon rises in the Shehy Mountains and runs 72km to the sea at Kinsale, a designated Special Area of Conservation famous for its Atlantic salmon. Watch salmon leap the floodlit weir in Bandon town, walk the riverside Graham Norton Walk or the old railway line to Innishannon, and track the walls of one of Ireland's earliest plantation towns.
Drimoleague, cork
This 35km waymarked pilgrim path runs from the Top of the Rock in Drimoleague to St Finbarr's island oratory at Gougane Barra, walked over two days with a night in Kealkil. It crosses three mountain-and-valley systems and passes medieval castles and stone circles. It is genuinely strenuous: fog can drop in minutes, so it suits experienced hillwalkers, not casual ramblers.
Toe Head, cork
Built around 1804 to watch for a French invasion fleet, the roofless shell of Toe Head Signal Tower stands on a bare headland south of Skibbereen. It is free and always open, a Wild Atlantic Way discovery point, and the real draw is the short clifftop loop and the Atlantic views rather than the ruin itself.
cork
The last train ran here on Good Friday 1961, and the rails were lifted and sold to Nigeria. What is left is free to walk all year: a 21 m cast-iron viaduct at Chetwynd, a kilometre-long hand-cut tunnel at Gogginshill, and long grassy stretches of trackbed turned greenway.
Kilfinane, limerick
Ballylickey, cork
Baltimore, cork
Cobh, cork
Halfway, cork
Doneraile, cork
Ballyvourney, cork
South Cork, cork
Sheep's Head Peninsula, cork
Gougane Barra Forest Park, cork
← All things to do in County Cork
Book tours & tickets
We may earn a commission if you book through this link, at no extra cost to you.
Book tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips with GetYourGuide. Free cancellation on most experiences.
See tours & tickets in County Cork →