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Rideshares or Taxis in County Cork

Two of us are doing a girl's trip late March/early April. We will fly from Edinburgh to Cork on a Tuesday and plan to stay in Kinsale until Thursday, when we will take a train from Cork to Dublin. We would love to see both the Cobh Museum and the cuteness of Kinsale.

I've driven on the left side of the road a fair amount in Britain, but I've been avoiding renting a car on this trip. I find the narrow roads stressful and parking is a pain in the middle of towns and villages. Are Irish roads and parking conditions similar to rural Britain? Will we be able to get Ubers or taxis from Cork to Kinsale and back, or must we rely on the bus?

What about going from Kinsale to Cobh? The bus options I've found are more than 1.5 hours each way, which is way too long to make a day trip worthwhile. Is it reasonable to try to squeeze in both Kinsale and Cobh in the short time frame we have? If not, which one is the better option? Do I need to bite the bullet and rent a car?

Would greatly appreciate input from someone who's been there done that. Thanks!

Posted by
6428 posts

I used the Uber app to get a taxi from Kinsale to Cork and back last May. Uber links to licensed taxis there. The price was more than 50 EUR each way. My ride request from Kinsale took a couple of tries (no taxis available on first request). There is a bus service between Cork and Kinsale also. You can check here:
https://kinsaleconnect.ie/

Posted by
1605 posts

If you're comfortable with the left-side driving, go for the rental car. I doubt you'll have trouble parking in Cobh at that time of year. In Kinsale, make sure your accommodation includes parking. If you decide not to rent a car, consider staying in Cork instead. Depending on your arrival and departure times, you might be able to do both day trips. Cork has lots to offer in the evenings, including music of all kinds and some excellent restaurants, all of which will be open since there's no "season" there (vs Cobh, which I visited last March and saw that lots of places were closed for the winter or had reduced hours).