All direct flights to Cork from the UK & Ireland

Mark Says

Situated on the banks of the River Lee, Southern Ireland's second city is the smallest ever to be named European Capital of Culture. In the run-up to Cork assuming that title at the start of 2005, millions of pounds were spent on a vast renovation and restoration scheme intended to transform a city previously best known for its bridges and hills into a modern metropolis worthy of such accolades.

The results are stunning, as the all-new St. Patrick's Street, at the heart of Cork, proudly goes to show. For decades, Cork has been regarded as an outsider city seeking the recognition it deserves. Not for nothing is surrounding County Cork known as 'the Rebel County', more likely than, say, the establishment-heavy Dublin to spark some form of uprising.

It's significant that the area's two most famous sons are Michael Collins, figurehead of the popular Irish resistance, and Roy Keane, the tenacious former captain of the Republic of Ireland and Manchester United. This is a young and impassioned city, one that finds fresh blood and a renewed intellectual vigour through the yearly turnover of students at University College. But Cork is, as much as anywhere else in the Republic, a place of tradition, poetry and beauty.

West Cork, in particular, is as picturesque a location as any in all Ireland. Hire a car and drive along the coast, or simply the six miles down the road to Blarney, home of the fabled Stone.

Within Cork itself, historical attractions like the 18 th century St. Anne's Church, on a hill overlooking the city, sit in proximity to some of the venues that presumably tipped the European Capital judges: Crawford Municipal Gallery, with its mix of works by local, national and international artists, or the multi-media delights of the Triskel Arts Centre. And, as again elsewhere in Ireland, nightlife is never a problem: traditionalists tend to head for old-school pub Sin É , while the younger crowd slouch elegantly in such swish hang-outs as Bodega and the Rhino Rooms.