Must see Sights in the South

Can you be more specific as to how far afield from Kinsale you'd consider "in and around"? Also, what are your interests -- for example, food & drink, traditional music, history, art / architecture, natural scenery, shopping?

We are huge foodies so anything like that is great. But most importantly we just want to take in the culture -- would love to take in some great music and relax. Go to small towns and just take it in. We love a great small town with tons of character. I would love to see any great castles that may be in the area. We are traveling with our children (18 and 21) -- so if there are any must see sights -- that would be great. We dont like to have too much of an itinerary. But would like to do some sightseeing. I don't know if that helps at all?

We are just using Kinsale as our home base -- we are happy to do a lot of day driving to see places in the south. We are not planning on staying in Kinsale everyday.

We really enjoyed Charles Fort. Spent probably 2-3 hours there, which for alot of people would have been too much time. But it was a beautiful day and we wandered in and out of the ruins, took silly photos, walked down to the beach and through the old cemetery. Local families were there having picnics so something to consider too. On our walk back to our B&B (the Old Presbytery), we had a pint (or two) at The Spaniard. The best meal we had was at Finn's Table which has been renamed Finn's Farmcut. Same owners, same chef. Outside of Kinsale is Old Head and the Old Head Golf Course. You can walk almost to the end of the headland but the golf course blocks the very end. It was very blustery and a little frightening so we did not do the whole thing. We were on our way for the day to somewhere west - no destination in mind. We got a little past Rosscarbery and hung out at Warren Beach, finding a little cave to hunker down in during the rain. From there we had a distant view of Downeen Castle. I don't know anything about it. I just looked it up on the map afterwards. As we continued west hunger struck so we pulled into the next pub which was packed because the finals of the Gaelic Football championship was on. We stayed, ate, drank and watched Gaelic Football. So we didn't get any further. Do take the walking tour of Kinsale that meets outside of the TI. Very informative. About 1.5 hours north of Kinsale is Cahir Castle, which is a defensive castle (no tapestries, silver or old paintings). Depending on your itinerary you could stop in Cahir on your way to or from Kinsale.

You can't do Kinsale without the Ring of Kerry. For food, stop at Kate Kearney's Cottage in the Gap of Dunloe.

Also near Killarney are Muckross House (Downton Abbey-like estate, but with an Irish touch) and Torc Waterfalls.

There's a very pretty coastal walk from the town down to Charles Fort if you're up for a little exercise. Along the way it passes thru the village of Summercove where you'll find Bulmans Pub - an especially convivial little place serving great pub grub. They pour a nice pint of Murphy's too - the local version of Guinness. I'd suggest popping in on your way back to the town after visiting the fort or you'll run the risk of not making it down to the fort at all - it's that kind of place.
I second the suggestion to drive out to the Old Head - some gorgeous scenery there and you'll be looking out to where the Lusitania was torpedoed just off the coast in 1915.
The village of Cobh is a short drive away where there's an interesting Titanic Museum - Cobh (when it was called Queenstown) was the ship's last stop before her date with the iceberg and is where most of the 3rd class passengers boarded.

Thank you so very much:). I have this all in my journal for our trip!

You may also want to explore the West Cork seaside towns. In 2019 we stopped in the village of Glandore. There’s not much there, but the view from Hayes’ Bar was fabulous. We just had an Irish coffee, but the menu looked great. They also had a lovely outdoor seating area, but there were also views from the bar area as well.

Another suggestion in Kinsale is the 911 Memorial. I was surprised to see it there, but the land was donated by an Irish woman that worked as a nurse in NYC. We just happened to be there on September 11th and there were American flags at all of the trees. I believe there was one tree planted for each firefighter that died. We were on a small group tour our Irish driver took us there. I realized that he had mentioned that he lived in NYC for several years. Turns out he was there in 2001. Needless to say, it was very moving and emotional. It is definitely worth a quick stop.