Cork · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
Ireland's second city, built on an island in a river, and cheaper than Dublin in every direction.
MacCurtain Street and Shandon
The hostels sit on the north channel around MacCurtain Street, five minutes from the train station and ten from the English Market.
What a day costs
About €55–85 a day, roughly $60–95: dorm €22–38, English Market lunch and supermarket food €18–28, buses and one trip out €10–20.
Getting around cheap
The centre is walkable and buses take a Leap card. Trains run to Cobh and Midleton in under forty minutes for a few euros.
Free by day
The English Market to browse and graze, St Fin Barre's grounds, the Marina riverside walk, and Fitzgerald Park with its free city museum.
Where travellers meet
Sin É on Coburg Street has trad sessions several nights a week and no cover; the student bars off Washington Street handle the later hours.