Cork Harbour Festival
24 May – 2 June 2025
Cork Harbour Festival is the largest annual event in Cork Harbour offering a week-long celebration of Ireland’s maritime culture. The festival features over 100 different events, with over 60 event partners across Cork City and County.
Founded in 2015, the festival celebrates Cork Harbour as a natural and cultural resource, with the communities and their stories at the heart of it. Throughout festival week there is a huge variety of events to dive into, from water activities to guided walks, open days to open sails, seafood tasters to seaweed foraging and so much more.
The celebrations include the flagship Ocean to City race on 31 May 2025. For more information on the challenge: oceantocity.com
The full festival programme is now available here.
Our sincere thanks go to Cork City Council, Cork County Council, Fáilte Ireland, the Port of Cork and our Gold Level Sponsor Ardmore Shipping, without whose financial backing the festival would not be possible.
Cork Harbour Festival is coordinated by Meitheal Mara, Cork’s Community Boatyard, and the Festival Committee.
Welcome to Cork Harbour Festival
Selected as one of Europe’s Top 20 Art and Culture Festivals in 2018
And Top 36 Global Festivals in 2017
by FlightNetwork.com!
”The Festival: Taking place in the second largest natural harbor in the world, the Cork Harbour Festival is an active, exhilarating display of Ireland’s own maritime roots. Here, families gather to partake in everything from urban kayaking and mobile saunas, to yacht sailing along the crystalline waters of Cork Harbour. Oh, and did we mention seaweed foraging? Yes, that’s a thing.
What To Expect: Flip-flop wearers beware: the Cork Harbour Festival offers a wide range of outdoor activities, and you’ll want to dress appropriately. Walking enthusiasts can join any of the free guided walking tours, spooky ghost tours, or day excursions over to nearby Spike Island. Spectators, on the other hand, might find themselves drawn to the true Cork spectacle — “The Rebel Plunge” — a 3.8km downstream swim en route to Blackrock Village.”