Free entry for English Heritage members
This place is cared for by the Office of Public Works, which runs Ireland's national heritage sites as Heritage Ireland. English Heritage members are entitled to free entry to all OPW sites from the first year of membership. Show your current membership card at admissions.
More information
Paid at the island ticket office on landing; no online booking, EH card shown there. The ferry fare to and from the island is charged separately by the private boat operators and is not covered by any membership card. OPW's general rule gives free admission to children under 12 and to visitors with disabilities and their carers. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's Child/Student rate; no age band given on the page, and OPW says children under 12 visit free. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's Group/Senior rate; no age given on the page. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
OPW's family ticket; the page does not define the family. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.
The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.
The island has no road access. Visitors park in Glengarriff and take one of two private ferries, the Harbour Queen from the pier, with a car park beside it, or the Blue Pool Ferry from the Blue Pool in the village centre about 450 m west; neither OPW nor the operators publish a parking tariff or free statement. The operators charge separately for the 15-minute crossing, which passes the seal colony; the Harbour Queen runs from 9.45am with the last landing at 4.30pm and the last boat off the island at 5.30pm, bookable online until midnight the day before. OPW's bus link gives Transport for Ireland journeys from Cork Kent station to Glengarriff.
Driving pin: the ferry car park at Glengarriff pier where the Harbour Queen departs, the only located car park for the crossing; OPW's own pin is on the island.
Ilnacullin, Garinish Island, is an island garden of diminutive size and rare beauty in the sheltered harbour of Glengarriff on Bantry Bay. The garden owes its existence to the early twentieth-century partnership of its owners Annan and Violet Bryce with the architect and garden designer Harold Peto, and the mild, humid micro-climate of the bay lets plants from around the world flourish all year: the Italian garden with its long lily pool and casita, the walled garden, the clock tower and the roofless Grecian temple that looks out over the sea to the Caha Mountains. Bryce House, where the family lived, opens for guided tours and stands as a memorial to the garden's creators. Visitors cross from Glengarriff by small ferry or waterbus, a fifteen-minute trip that usually visits the seal colony and may show the sea eagles that nest on the island; the boat fare is charged separately. Allow about ninety minutes ashore, with a small cafe while you wait for the boat back.
Sun 1 Nov: 09:30–15:30
Prices, non-members
Open 20 March to 1 November 2026: 10am to 3.30pm to 31 March, 10am to 4.30pm from April to June and in September and October, 9.30am to 4.30pm in July and August, and 9.30am to 3.30pm on the last day, Sunday 1 November; closed for the winter after that, with the 2027 season unpublished. OPW's closing time is the last landing; the ferry operators run boats back for about an hour afterwards. Bryce House opens for guided tours with very limited opening in the shoulder seasons. The island is on OPW's Free Wednesday list, though no first Wednesday falls within this season's remaining days.
Access is limited: visitors board boats from a ramped pier and land at a stone slipway, and the garden paths have steps and uneven sections with cliff edges to keep back from, though a lift and a wheelchair-accessible toilet are listed. Toilets and a small cafe with outdoor tables on the island; a one-way route through the gardens with a site map at the ticket office; card payments accepted.
Photo: The Italian Garden on Ilnacullin, its long lily pool set in flagstones and framed by clipped conifers and shrubs, with a verandahed pavilion beyond. Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ireland_Garinish_Island_BW_2025-09-13_16-27-02.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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