Cork, Ireland — Activities
Cork Culture
Cork Opera House (tel: (021) 427 0022; www.corkoperahouse.ie) is the only purpose-built opera house in Ireland and the main music venue in Cork. The auditorium has 1,000 seats, and the orchestra pit can hold 70 musicians. A wide variety of performances can be experienced here - opera, dance, drama, musicals, comedy, family entertainment and classical music concerts. The Everyman Palace (tel: (021) 450 1673; www.everymanpalace.com) is a beautiful Victorian theater housed in a listed building steeped in atmosphere and character. Its program is an eclectic mix of plays, operas, musicals and concerts. Granary (tel: (021) 490 4275; www.granary.ie) has a more experimental program of theater, performance, dance, live art, installation and music, as well as talks, workshops and artists' presentations. There are further dance performances in the Firkin Crane, the building that formerly housed Cork's butter market (tel: (021) 450 7487; www.firkincrane.com). It is also home to the Cork City Ballet (www.corkcityballet.com).
Cinemas in Cork include the Gate Multiplex (tel: (021) 427 9595; www.corkcinemas.com) on North Main Street; the Omniplex Cork (tel: (021) 435 8711; www.omniplex.ie) at Mahon Point; and the Kino Arthouse Cinema (tel: (021) 427 1571; www.kinocinema.net) on Washington Street.
Listings of events in Cork city are published by the monthly Whaz On? (www.whazon.com/cork) magazine.
Cork Tours
Guided walking tours of Cork are offered daily Monday to Friday during summer months (April to September). They are conducted by professional tour guides and allow visitors to discover Cork's rich historical past. Further details are available from the tourist office (tel: (021) 425 5100; www.corkkerry.ie) on Grand Parade, or online at Cork Historic Walking Tours (www.walkcork.ie).
Tours of Cork city in open-top buses are operated by local coach company Cronins Coaches (tel: (021) 430 9090; www.croninscoaches.com). Ticket holders can hop on and off at any stop along the way.
Bus Éireann (tel: (021) 450 8188; www.buseireann.ie) also offers open-top bus tours of Cork city from June to August, as well as day tours from Cork to the Ring of Kerry; the Lakes of Killarney; Bunratty and the Cliffs of Moher; and to West Cork, including a cruise to Cape Clear. Other companies offering sightseeing tours from Cork are Easy Tours (tel: (021) 454 5328; www.easytourscork.com) and Road Runners (tel: (021) 477 3423; www.roadrunners-tours.com).
