Fota Arboretum and Gardens

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free for everyone; the only charge is the €3 estate parking fee for the day. Fota House beside the gardens is the Irish Heritage Trust's, ticketed separately and not covered by OPW cards. No membership card is needed for the arboretum and gardens.

ParkingPay to park

The estate's Lower (Fota House) car park, €3 for the day paid by card or exact change at the exit barrier, a few minutes' level walk from the house and gardens; Fota station ten minutes' walk. Not a Trust car park, so membership does not cover it.

Parking details

OPW charges a €3 parking fee into the grounds; the Irish Heritage Trust's directions say the site parking fee is €3 for the day for customers of Fota House, the gardens and the wildlife park, paid by card or exact change at the exit barrier. Past the main entrance barrier the first car park on the left is the wildlife park's; continue down to the Lower car park, two to three minutes' walk from the house, with blue badge bays in bay one. Fota Island is about 14 km from Cork city on the Cobh road and the frequent Cork to Cobh train stops at Fota station, a ten-minute walk.

Driving pin: the Lower (Fota House) car park, 74 m north of OPW's own pin at the car park's edge.

About

The arboretum and gardens on Fota Island in Cork Harbour, fourteen kilometres from Cork city on the Cobh road, are an essential destination for anyone of a horticultural bent. The arboretum extends over eleven hectares and holds one of the finest collections of rare, tender trees and shrubs grown outdoors in Europe: the island's warm soil and sheltered position let exotics from the southern hemisphere flourish, with magnolias in spring, tree peonies in summer and rich autumn colour along the gravel paths. James Hugh Smith-Barry laid out the gardens in the first half of the nineteenth century, with an ornamental pond, formal pleasure gardens, an Italianate sunken garden, a walled garden, a sun temple and a white orangery. Fota House, the family's ancestral home, stands beside them and is run separately by the Irish Heritage Trust. The arboretum and gardens are free every day, with a three euro parking charge, and the train from Cork stops at Fota, ten minutes' walk away. Dogs are welcome on a short lead.

Open in daylightFrom OPW Heritage Ireland's published times

Open any reasonable time in daylight

Opening times may change at short notice.

Open all year, closed over the Christmas holidays. Arboretum: April to October daily 09:00 to 18:00, November to March daily 09:00 to 17:00. Walled gardens: Monday to Thursday 09:00 to 16:45 and Friday 09:00 to 15:45 all year, plus Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 17:00 from April to September (the Trust gives different times for its Victorian Working Garden). OPW tours by prior appointment, Monday to Friday only. Allow one to two hours or a whole day.

Fota House's guided tours, cafe and gift shop are the Irish Heritage Trust's and seasonal: in October tours at 12:00 and 14:00 and the cafe at weekends only, cafe closed November to mid March. OPW lists toilets; the house has an adapted toilet and a wheelchair to borrow. A step-free entrance to the arboretum lies on the road just above the house; the paths are fine gravel.

Dogs: Pet dogs may visit the arboretum and gardens on a short lead at all times, with water provided outside; only assistance dogs are admitted to the house, shop and cafe.

Photo: The white-walled orangery with its curved glass roof in the gardens at Fota, framed by mature trees and a fan palm. Rosanne Donovan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:County_Cork_-_Fota_House-Orangery_-_20180910130154.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.

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