Tourist Information

Bantry has become one of Ireland’s leading Destination Towns hosting our West Cork Chamber Music Festival, West Cork Literary Festival and Masters of Tradition festival.

It is set within a magnificent landscape which has inspired its own language, literature, art and song – and is an ideal place for visitors to discover Ireland’s wild, west coast. The town is also host to the Friday market which sees a wide variety of market stalls selling West Cork’s finest local foods, antiques, art, crafts and livestock.

The majestic Bantry House, home since 1739 to the White family, the former Earl of Bantry, overlooks the harbour with its beautiful gardens reaching down towards the shore.

The town is an important economic centre to the region. Apart from tourism, fishing is one of the main industries. Mussels in particular are harvested in the area.

The Wild Atlantic Way leads visitors through one of the world’s most dramatic landscapes. It runs along the entire west coast of Ireland, from the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal to Kinsale in our own County Cork. This is where land and sea collide, a place to experience nature at its wildest, scenery at its most breathtaking and events which will remain in the memory forever.

From Kerry, the Wild Atlantic Way segues into West Cork in a  dramatic explosion of islands and jutting peninsulas. From megalithic stone circles and bardic schools to Bantry House, you can trace every stage of Ireland’s rich history here. A few miles away, at the head of the Sheep’s Head, is Durrus, one of the key staging posts on the Wild Atlantic Way. This peninsula is so spectacular it has been recognised as a European Destination of Excellence: a modern Eden.

St Finbarr’s Oratory at Gougane Barra marks the site of an early Christian settlement, while Carriganass Castle, in Kealkil, is a key staging post in the famous Flight of the Earls. Nestling in the heart of Bantry Bay is Whiddy Island. It has an intriguing history: gun batteries were built there in Napoleonic times and it was the site of a US naval air station during the First World War. Garnish Island is renowned for its spectacular gardens and lies a short ferry trip from Glengarriff. Visit Seal Island on your way to Garnish and see the large colony of harbour seals.

On the other side of Bantry Bay lies the remote Beara Peninsula which is dominated by the Caha Mountains and offers views of the distant Skellig Islands. It boasts the highest waterfall in Ireland and Britain as well as one of the oldest mythological antiquities, Cailleach Beara. The Allihies Copper Mines are so deep that they go under the sea and the Dursey Island cable car is the only one to carry people over open water in Europe.

From walking to stone-carving, kayaking to visiting a working blacksmith’s forge, there is much to do in this region, which is also renowned for its wonderful artisan food.

The Wild Atlantic Way, a 2,500 km scenic driving route along the entire west coast of Ireland, runs from Donegal in the north to Cork in the south.