West Cork to Waterford – Our Family Road Trip 2017

We had an amazing 8-day, 8-night family road trip starting in West Cork & finishing up in Waterford. Cuddle Fairy blog & YouTube channel have been taken over with vacation posts. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reliving all of the fun that we had on our little adventure.

This post & video sums up the fun that we had – it gives snippets from everywhere we stayed & some of the highlights of the trip. If I had included everything we loved the video would be an hour long. So I had to be choosy & created this short video compilation of the best parts of our road trip…

If the video doesn’t play, you can watch it directly on YouTube here.

Highlights of our Travels

West Cork

1. We left home early Saturday morning & headed for the little village of Drimoleague, West Cork. We were glamping in style in a luxury pod at Top of the Rock.

2. At Top of the Rock, we enjoyed Farm Hands, an interactive program that introduces visitors to life on the farm.

3. Top of the Rock is also home to Drimoleague’s walking trails which we took advantage of & loved exploring nature around the farm & along the river.

4. We visited Bantry and loved our meals in The Bake House & The Brick Oven. There was delicious food with excellent service at both places.

5. We took a boat ride and spotted seals in Glengarriff.

6. We drove through the lovely towns of Skibbereen, Union Hall & Clonakilty on our way to Cork City.

7. Lunch at The Church, Skibbereen was a fun experience with tasty food.

Cork City Part One

1. After two lovely nights at Top of the Rock, we headed east to the Radisson Blu, Cork which is located a few miles east of Cork City. We had a comfortable stay in our adjoining rooms.

2. Kids eat for free at Radisson Blu hotels which was a big savings with having three kids so we enjoyed both of our dinners at the hotel restaurant. We also took advantage of the lovely hotel pool.

3. The Radisson Blu was only a short drive away from Fota Wildlife Park & the stunning coastal town of Cobh. I thoroughly enjoyed both places – the whole family did!

4. The Titanic Experience in Cobh was excellent and very informative.

5. St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh is also a must – make sure you look inside, it’s stunning.

6. Fota Wildlife Park allows you to get up close to the animals which was a real thrill.

Cork City – Part Two

1. After a relaxing two night stay at the Radisson Blu, we had a short drive into Cork City to our next destination – a stylish family room at the Clayton Hotel Cork City.

2. Dinner at Kudos at the Clayton was superb both the quality of the food and service was excellent. We also took full advantage of the Clayton’s lovely pool facilities.

3. The Clayton Hotel is located in the heart of Cork City which meant we could walk to dinner & to the shops…

4. The English Market was so fun! We walked around the different foods for sale and thoroughly enjoyed the variety. We bought bread, olives, and other bits and enjoyed a picnic lunch.

5. Oliver Plunket Street is a vibrant, busy street full of shops, restaurants, and pubs.

6. Dinner at Yuan Ming Yuan was delicious, by far the best Chinese food we have had in years! It was made to order, fresh and service was wonderful.

7. We really enjoyed the Jameson Experience Tour at their Midleton distillery.

Waterford

1. After our comfortable two-night stay at the Clayton we headed east to Waterford where we stayed in a Garden Lodge on Waterford Castle Island Resort.  The Lodge has 3 bedrooms, a kitchen and living room which was very convenient for our family stay.

2. We loved playing golf, playing on the playground and exploring the trails around the Waterford Castle private island resort. And it’s great fun to get to see local golf tournaments.

3. Breakfast & dinner at the King’s Channel Clubhouse on Waterford Castle Resort was really tasty with excellent service.

4. Waterford City was a short drive from Waterford Castle Resort. We explored the Viking Triangle and Reginald’s Tower which was built in 914. The Viking history of Waterford was really interesting to see and learn.

5. We went on the Waterford Crystal factory tour where we got to see master craftsmen making stunning pieces of crystal.

Our Travels

We’ve been asked a few times which destination was our favourite. Being honest, it’d be impossible to choose one. The road trip as a whole was so much fun. We experienced 4 very different types of holiday accommodations ranging from glamping in a luxury pod, to adjoining hotel rooms to a family hotel room to a garden lodge on a private island.

The trip as a whole was marvellous, we had so much family bonding & got to see so many wonderful places where we learned new things. Each of the kiddies had a travel pack of toys, games & snacks from Keep ‘Em Quiet which came in handy for the drive & downtime in the hotels.

Sadly, this blog post & video marks the end of the West Cork to Waterford Road Trip series. But not to worry I have another travel blog coming up about our weekend in Donegal. My godparents came over from the US & stayed with us for two weeks. We spent the bank holiday weekend touring the beautiful countryside of Donegal, which I of course recorded. We have plans to visit the stunning Carrick-on-Shannon next so I will keep you posted!

So after a month of non-stop fun, I’m getting back on track with the house & blog (the house is still messy, let’s be honest – the blog came first).

Thank you for watching & reading about our travels, it’s been really lovely sharing them with you!! x

We were guests at the accommodations featured in this article and at Fota Wildlife Park, Waterford Crystal and Jameson Distillery. We paid for dinners at the hotels and the restaurants and other attractions listed in this post. I have only included places we truly enjoyed visiting and dining in.