Welcome to Cobh waterfront walk, one of the most satisfying things you can do on your visit to our lovely seatown. On a beautiful day, you can have fresh air, scenic views and a walk through history on this stretch of the Cork Harbour. This can be a family walk, a group walk, a lovers walk or a solo stroll, but at any case, this will be a feast to the curious traveler.
For the sake of this post, our tour begins on the Port of Cork Cobh Cruise Terminal, a dedicated berth for cruise passengers. As of this writing, there are no cruise schedule yet but to give a perspective on how busy this port is, there are 100 liners that docked in 2019 and 160,000 passengers and crews that stopped on our harbour.
Train-bound passengers can walk shortly from the Cobh station and be on our starting point. If you have time to spare, visit the Cobh Heritage Centre which is right next to the cruise terminal and the brick building next to the train station. The centre is an all in one place to learn about Irish immigration and ancestry, more info about the Titanic and the Lusitania, and Cobh’s naval and maritime history.
From the Cruise Terminal, it is about 100 metre to get to the Town Centre. Prominently greeting you at the port quayside and it’s kinda ironic is the commemorative sculpture of the departing Annie Moore and his two brothers. Cobh’s connection to US immigration is significant for having these siblings with Annie in particular to be the first immigrant to pass through the federal immigrant inspection at the Ellis Island station in New York Harbor.
The old and picturesque town of Cobh is as charming and resolute as its people. Local and decorated Irish athlete Sonia O’Sullivan life size bronze poses proudly on the heart of town and behind the magnificent St Colman’s Cathedral. Unveiled on 2015, Cobh Tourism said that “tourists want real experiences – they want to get a feel for a place, understand the story of a town and its people, and what makes it tick”
You are midway through your walk, a good time to stop for coffee or enjoy an ice cream at one of the stands on the waterfront.
A few steps from the statue is the ferry dock for the Spike Island tours. Once venerated as a monastery and then later as a dreaded “prison from hell”, Spike Island is now a museum with a cafe and a gift shop and a unique Cobh tourist attraction.
The richness of Cobh’s maritime history continues with a lovely tribute to the survivors and victims of the RMS Lusitania. Hearing of the attack by the German U-boat near Kinsale, a cruiser from Cobh Haulbowline provided assistance and even returned to the base to bury the dead here on Cobh’s Old Church Cemetery.
Another memorial to the mariner sons of Cobh is found on the end of East Beach. This is also where we end our Town Waterfront Walk. Some notable places on this stretch are omitted like the Kennedy Park or Promenade and Titanic ExperienceI because i dedicated a full post on them.
I hope i gave you a primer on how beautiful this walk is and i hope you will have a chance to retrace these steps too.
Here are a few FAQs and tips to make your visit enjoyable and stress free.
- There’s wheelchair access to The Titanic Experience and a wheelchair ramp at the Promenade.
- There’s public toilet at the Promenade.
- On-street paid parking. 2 free-to-park-all-day parking, just follow “P” sign in town
- There’s a coffee and snack stand and also an ice cream stand on this walk.
- There are benches on Kennedy Park and on the sidewalk.
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