If you’re anywhere in the area of Cork Blarney Castle is definitely worth the time. The gardens on the grounds surrounding the castle are actually a big part of my appreciation of the place. Different gardens have different themes, and if you’re up for a couple of hours worth of strolling (benches are available for resting, if desired), walking the grounds and gardens will be rewarding.
The castle itself is a mostly one-way series of steep stone staircases, and towards the top, there’s no roof, so you’re exploring and viewing out in the open. The kissing stone is along the very top part, and you can easily walk right past the people who are staging the stone kissing and photo gimmick, and continue on your route back down more stairs. The views from the top are spectacular - some of the gardens, hills in the distance, and grazing cattle in fields adjacent to the castle property. There are a handful of rooms that you can step off into on the “one way” route, and it’s worth not just following the person in front of you on the stairs, and stepping into those other rooms to explore a bit more.
We stayed in Cork for three nights. It’s a big city, but made for a nice visit, even though it’s not quaint. See the Butter Museum, and definitely have seafood dinner at Goldie (reservations needed). We then headed a bit west, still in County Cork, for Macroom. Rick describes it as a nice place to stop for lunch on your way farther west, but it’s worth a stay. There’s a gateway to an old castle there, but only the gateway remains. It has a delightful (and free) Faerie Garden. It was also a great base for exploring on daytrips from Macroom.
My favorite Irish castle (so far) is Ross Castle, on a lake just west of Killarney. It’s just the right size, had an outstanding guided tour, the lakeside was great for a picnic, and there are boat tours and/or kayaks for the lake (we did neither, but they might be fun). Rick downplays Killarney in favor of Kenmare farther south in his book, but I found Killarney much nicer than tourist trap Kenmare.
We’re heading to Wales this summer, for the first time. It appears that Wales probably has more castles per capita that even Ireland, and Wales seems to have its own fair share of quaint/cute/atmospheric towns.
