Bantry, County Cork cruise port guide
Bantry Bay, framed by the Sheep's Head Hills and the Caha Mountains, offers one of the Ireland’s most magnificent seascapes and picturesque harbors. As with other areas on Ireland's south-west coast, Bantry claims an ancient connection to the sixth-century Saint Breandán the Navigator, who was, in Irish folklore, the first person to discover America. A highlight of the area is stately Bantry House and Garden Estate. The magnificent garden is laid out in the Italian style over seven terraces. In addition to the many spirited Irish pubs are the Bantry Museum and the architecture of St. Brendan's and St. Finbarr's Churches. There are pristine, white-sand beaches, interspersed with jagged outcrops of rock and bordered by the verdant-green hills that make Ireland famous. County Cork is renowned for its megalithic stone circles and standing stones. Historic castles dot the landscape. The coastline of Cork is also home to basking sharks and fin, pilot, and minke whales.
About Bantry, County Cork
Bantry is a scenic West Cork town at the head of Bantry Bay, a deep-water ria flanked by the Beara and Sheep's Head peninsulas. Smaller cruise liners regularly call here, anchoring in the bay between the town and Whiddy Island, making it a gateway to some of Ireland's most dramatic coastal scenery.
Bantry House is the centerpiece attraction — a Georgian stately home open to visitors, with terraced gardens descending toward the bay and an interior filled with Flemish tapestries and European furnishings collected by the Earls of Bantry. The Whiddy Island ferry (Rp 8 return, 15 minutes) accesses a peaceful island with a dark history: the site of the 1979 Betelgeuse oil tanker explosion that killed 50. The main square commemorates Wolfe Tone and the 1796 French invasion fleet that was driven back by storms. Shore drives to the Sheep's Head Peninsula via the Goat's Path Road offer vertiginous cliff scenery.
Quick facts
Cruises visiting Bantry, County Cork
Prices per person · incl. taxes & fees.
Sailing soonest
New York to New York
Vista · North America · 67 nights
from $39,399
$588 / night
Reykjavik to Oslo
Insignia · Europe · 36 nights
from $14,399
$399 / night
London to Belfast
Vista · Europe · 10 nights
from $6,099
$609 / night
London to London
Vista · Europe · 25 nights
from $14,899
$595 / night
Reykjavik to London
Insignia · Europe · 12 nights
from $4,050
$337 / night
Malaga (Costa del Sol) to Dublin
Silver Wind · Canaries · 16 nights
from $21,700
$1,356 / night
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Showing 45 Bantry, County Cork cruises
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