Cobh (Cork) to Blarney Castle & Kinsale - Shore Excursion

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Here you will have the opportunity to kiss the famous Blarney Stone, explore the 15th century castle and discover the magnificent gardens. Admission to the castle and gardens is included in your tour price. Our visit to Blarney will be up to 2 hours in total depending on your ships docking/sailing schedule. Shopping time at Blarney Woolen Mills is included in your 2 hour visit to Blarney

   2 hAdmission included

2. Take time out to shop at the Worlds largest Irish Store, Indulge in a coffee and delicious scone or even sip on a sumptuous Irish Coffee. Please note that your 2 hour visit to Blarney includes time to visit the Castle, Gardens and Woolen Mills. Avail of the free wifi while you are here. Time spent here is part of your total 2 hour approx. stay in Blarney.

   30 min

3. Enjoy a panoramic driving tour of Cork city. See the sights like The English Market, Shandon Bells and Murphy's Brewery. Be enthralled by the history of this fascinating rebel city from the the time of Vikings through to The Anglo Norman Invasion and right up to the modern times of the formation of our state.

   Passes by

4. Stroll around the very charming winding streets of the village of Kinsale and choose from one of the many fine restaurants to enjoy a great lunch or maybe even sample a local beverage. On your stroll you will get to see the 12th century St. Multose Church, Desmond Castle & International Museum of Wine, The Giants House and Market Square. Duration here is up to 2 hours depending on your ships docking/sailing time.

   2 h

5. While in Kinsale you will have the option of taking our 30 minute free walking tour of Kinsale which will greatly enhance your experience of this charming village

   30 min

6. We will enjoy a short stop here at this majestic Cathedral with the largest carillon of bells in Europe. Take in the stunning harbour scenery here while you learn about the ill fated Titanic, mass emigration, rich maritime history, the gorgeous gael and much more.

   15 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 677 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Showing reviews written in English.

• 5Arrive Early

  The drive to the Blarney is quite long. Take the earliest time slot available the tour. The Blarney fills up with many tourists. Our tour bus was the first at the gate and the park! When we were ready for a snack and seat, the line to enter was a minimum 2hr wait.

  Cheryl_mOctober 2026via Viator

• 5Best tour

  The best tour we took the whole trip. Recommend this tour 100#

  kathyaG6848PRSeptember 2026via Tripadvisor

• 1Scam in Cork

  Local tour guide “Butlers shore tour” not show up for our tour in spite the conformation was sent to me from Viator even 2-3 hr before tour. But taxi driver appear on a pier and told us this company usually not coming if not enough people booked. Taxi driver pushed us to book him for more then twice higher price .I refused. He even called to local tour operators and Kevin from local company told us they don’t have any booking with Viator for today. I made an arrangement with taxi Driver Mike Corcoran to have a tour for 250 euro( not 190 dollars including castle entrance fee as it was with Viator) . Trip was good but by the end he charged me 350 euro( 404 dollars), He lock me in a car, treated me with police, first time for all tour open charges on a meter. I had a no choice but to give him my credit card because our ship departure in a 30 minutes . Now I have to deal with disputes on a credit card. It is look like for me as a well organised scam between local tour operators and “ Quality taxi tour”( it is how this drivers sound on his Business card). Vaitor should be aware about this and never deal with this local company as well as with taxi drivers Michael Corcoran license K0433. Our vacation day at Cork, Ireland was very bad

  drsfish1September 2026via Viator

• 5Great tour!

  Was an excellent tour of Blarney Castle and. Stonehenge. Would highly recommend! Our tour guide was very informative and gave us lots of free time to explore

  Linda_KSeptember 2026via Viator

• 5Wonderful Shore Excursion

  Chose this tour because it was reasonably priced and included both Blarney Castle and Kinsale. You get 2 hours at each site (enough time in Kinsale, not really enough time at Blarney Castle if you want to kiss the Stone) plus a drive through Cork and a couple of stops in Cobh. As a shore excursion it shows you the best things around Cobh without seeming overly rushed. Our guide (Nile) was great. A natural raconteur who also gave us useful tips of things to do at each stop and explained what we were seeing on the drive. If you don't want to pay Cruise Line prices, this is a great (and probably better) option - at a very reasonable price.

  grahamstevensSeptember 2026via Tripadvisor

• 4Fun Day

  We had a great time touring the castle and gardens. It is a beautiful site. Just be forewarned the allotted time at the castle does not give you enough time to do everything. The wait to kiss the Blarney Stone was for us about an hour, time to walk around the gardens is about 30-60 min depending on how much you want to see and if you want to go shopping you will need to allot time to walk to and from the store plus browsing time (super big store) to make sure you return to the bus on time. Our trip to Kinsdale was a little disappointing, there was no formal meeting site for the 30 min tour, we were told to start walking around the city and we would find a Butler tour guide, lol we did walk around but never saw a guide. The fish and chips place by the bus stop was only ok, next time I would opt to go further into the town area to find something better to eat. The town itself is beautiful and definitely worth exploring.

  W5529GMelizabethbSeptember 2026via Tripadvisor

Know before you go

How it compares in Cork

• Its from-price is 85% below the median of the 177 experiences we list in Cork.
• It is longer than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 3 of 177.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Cork

Cork is Ireland's second city, a river town of steep lanes, a covered market, church bells and a strong food reputation.

Cork centres on an island in the River Lee, with channels of water, bridges and a mix of Georgian streets and Victorian shopfronts. The English Market, a covered food hall that dates to 1788, sells fish, cheese, spiced beef and baked goods. St Anne's Shandon has a tower topped by a golden salmon, and visitors can ring its bells. St Fin Barre's Cathedral rises in the French Gothic style.

Top-ranked sights in Cork: Blarney Stone, Kinsale, The English Market.

See all 177 experiences in Cork