Advise on areas to live in Cork

Martha28

Myself and my boyfriend are moving to Cork from Dublin for work. I'll be working in Little Island and have a car for getting to and from work. My boyfriend will be based in Mahon Point and doesn't drive do will need to be within walking or cycling distant or on a good bus route. Does anyone have any advise on areas that mighy suit us.?

Deco99

Ideally jacobs island but $$$$

Miss Demeanour

Blackrock, Ballintemple or Douglas would also be worth a look.

Susancolours

We moved close to Midlelton about 8weeks ago.from Munich .I didn't know Cork very well so when we found a nice place to live we decided to take a chance.
Midelton has shown itself as one of the nices places that we have ever lived.
Everyone is so friendly,there are lots of good places to eat,shop. If you like walking then there are lots of nice villages some with beach walks.
I don't know what age you are and if you are looking for a clubbing night life if so then I don't know if it has that .It dose have buses and a train into Cork and you will find much nicer ,cheaper flats ,houses.
Good luck with your move.Cork is a really nice place to live

Martha28

Thanks very much for all your help. We are both in our late 20's so I think Midleton might be a bit quiet at the moment.

Can anyone tell me how long it would take to get from Douglas to mahon point ? Are the buses good? How often do they go?

Jacobs island looks to be the ideal spot for us. Do you know if apartment come up there very often?

Jamie2k9

There are all the city center bus routes, most run often.

http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=458

hufpc8w3adnk65

Mahon would be an option also for ye to live

Get up and go

Martha28 wrote: »

Myself and my boyfriend are moving to Cork from Dublin for work. I'll be working in Little Island and have a car for getting to and from work. My boyfriend will be based in Mahon Point and doesn't drive do will need to be within walking or cycling distant or on a good bus route. Does anyone have any advise on areas that mighy suit us.?

Sent you a PM.

Pablo Escobar

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

There are all the city center bus routes, most run often.

http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=458

The 219 is not a city centre route and goes Bishopstown-Togher-Ballyphehane-Turners Cross-Douglas-Mahon, so all those would be options on that route.

pwurple

Welcome welcome!

Mahon is an abolute dose for traffic and buses are jammed. Suggest living within walking or cycling distance.

Jacobs island.. or maybe somewhere along the old railway line... rochestown, blackrock, ballintemple, ballinlough, mahon.

Martha28

Thanks for all the advice.

Thinking jacobs island/rocherstown/blackrock/douglas

Could anyone tell me if Passage West would be too far out?

What is the rental market like? Is it difficult to find something? We don't need anything until early January. But u assume the agents will get closed over Xmas. Would it be better to sort something before then?

Sonics2k

Martha28 wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice.

Thinking jacobs island/rocherstown/blackrock/douglas

Could anyone tell me if Passage West would be too far out?

What is the rental market like? Is it difficult to find something? We don't need anything until early January. But u assume the agents will get closed over Xmas. Would it be better to sort something before then?

I just moved out of Jacobs Island a few months ago. It's a grand and quiet area, especially if you get a place around The Haven area. Lots of families, mixed backgrounds and everyone seems to get along quite well.
The downside is getting on and off the island around rush hour which can be an absolute nightmare.

Passage West is a decent little town, but it's a bit disconnected from everywhere else.
Getting to Mahon Point would be a bit of a trek, though you could possibly bus from Passage West up to Rochestown and then use the footbridge to walk to Mahon Point, but it'd be a miserable walk in the rain.

fmcato

Martha28 wrote: »

What is the rental market like? Is it difficult to find something? We don't need anything until early January. But u assume the agents will get closed over Xmas. Would it be better to sort something before then?

I would say it is better to start now, yes. You might face difficulties with the rent market specially in the areas you are considering.

Your working locations being split ether side of the tunnel is a bit of a pain. Would suit you far better to live on the little island side of the tunnel as traffic is going to be insane going from the Mahon side. Story will be similar the other side coming from the little island side (though traffic is not quite as bad) but it will be difficult for your bf to get to Mahon from somewhere like Glanmire (just as an example) without a car.

clerk

If you want to be able to go out in Cork City for socialising and want to be as near as Mahon Point as possible then it's a no brainer for me, Blackrock is the best option.

Jacobs island is a grand spot but you'd heading into a desperate bottleneck at peak hours so I would not recommend.

Somewhere done along Skehard Road, Blackrock would be a good option for ye. You could certainly bike it or even walk it to Mahon Point from there.

If you get a place around there and are going to Little Island you will pass Mahon Point on the way, so that would be sorted too.

As you move down the Skehard road away from Mahon point you get nearer to Douglas, if you could walk to Douglas for going out that it another handy option to say Cork City but it means walking to Mahon Point gets more difficult. Biking would still be possible but you have to remember it rains a lot so for me biking to work in Ireland is not a great option. Plus as you'll discover when you get down here one of Cork's favourite sports is driving through red lights.

If ye go the other side of the tunnel, taxis to Cork City get very expensive, it's not really viable.

Apparently rentals are getting harder to get in Cork City so l wouldn't hang around too much on that.

If you moving down from Dublin City you will find the traffic in Cork a doddle.

Passage West would be a "bit quiet".

Nonoperational

Susancolours wrote: »

We moved close to Midlelton about 8weeks ago.from Munich .I didn't know Cork very well so when we found a nice place to live we decided to take a chance.
Midelton has shown itself as one of the nices places that we have ever lived.
Everyone is so friendly,there are lots of good places to eat,shop. If you like walking then there are lots of nice villages some with beach walks.
I don't know what age you are and if you are looking for a clubbing night life if so then I don't know if it has that .It dose have buses and a train into Cork and you will find much nicer ,cheaper flats ,houses.
Good luck with your move.Cork is a really nice place to live

Great places to eat in Midleton. Sage and Donovans are fantastic in my opinion.

clerk

clerk wrote: »

If ye go the other side of the tunnel, taxis to Cork City get very expensive, it's not really viable.

Glanmire has a regular bus service to the city until 11pm and taxis are about 20 euro (or 10er each) out from town so not really what you would call not viable.

Problem is the not driving, Glanmire would be almost perfect otherwise. But glanmire to Mahon is basically not doable without driving.

orthsquel

Pablo Escobar wrote: »

The 219 is not a city centre route and goes Bishopstown-Togher-Ballyphehane-Turners Cross-Douglas-Mahon, so all those would be options on that route.

The 219 is Monday to Friday only though. Not necessarily an issue, however might take some co-ordination with other bus times to get from any of those places to city centre and then get the 215/215a (that serves Mahon Point and Jacobs Island) from South Mall out to Mahon Point. The 215 either direction has a tendency to get stuck in the congestion in Mahon.

I'd pretty much just echo everyone else on places suggested so far.

Douglas to Mahon Point it is possible to walk, takes about an hour, maybe less. Possible to cycle it too and probably far, far quicker.

Passage West I think would be far out. It's about 15/20 min drive from Passage to Douglas but the bus service for Passage isn't great; tbh there's not a huge amount of shops in Passage (Eurospar is the only decent supermarket) but the advantage is that you're close to access to the South Link from either the Ringaskiddy/Carrs Hill side or at Bloomfield Interchange in Rochestown and various shopping centres in Douglas, Mahon, Wilton. It is possible to cycle from Passage to Mahon Point on the old railway line, not sure how appealing it would be year round.

Ballincollig might be another suggestion - while it would be far too far out for your boyfriend to walk or cycle, there is the 220 bus service that does a loop but often prone to getting stuck in traffic (although I often get it in Douglas to city centre it is usually on time). the advantage of Ballincollig is that there's lots of mixed housing between apartments and houses but it has all the supermarkets - Dunnes, Tesco, Supervalu, Lidl and Aldi in the town itself, a few petrol stations (including applegreens) and 3 access points to the South Link.

WoolyJumper

I'd recommend Glanmire, not far from Little Island, easy access to the Tunnel to get to Mahon Point. Not far from the City either. Its a nice little area. Pretty quiet but plenty of Pubs, Supermarkets and a little shopping Centre.

Edit: Actually never mind, I just realised your Boyfriend doesn't drive. He'd have to get two buses to work which would be a bit of a pain.

Jentle Grenade

Will you both have 9-5 working hours or more flexibility/shifts? I think that would play a huge factor in where you live taking into account traffic management alone. I lived in the Haven area of Jacob's Island for years. Very modern house, nice and quiet location, easy access to Mahon Point for the cinema and Tesco, and Aldi came along later which was another decent option. My working pattern at the time though was shift work in CUH. I happily commuted to work at 8pm or 8am without any real traffic problems but my co-tenant had a long standing despair with the traffic going towards Laya/Old Quinn Insurance in the mornings and again coming home both times using the tunnel.

If I was aiming for Little Island at 9 in the morning I think I'd be trying to live north of the river. I live in the Douglas area now and walking to Mahon Point takes me and the dog about 30 minutes. If there's more flexibility with times then I couldn't reccomend Jacob's Island enough. It is significantly more expensive now though than when I was renting there (post crash). I'd start looking now, the rental market is seriously competitive in Cork at the moment.

Martha28

Saw a place in Maryborough Ridge, maryborough Hill Douglas. Can anyone tell me what traffic would be like in the mornings getting to little island

marvsins

Martha28 wrote: »

Saw a place in Maryborough Ridge, maryborough Hill Douglas. Can anyone tell me what traffic would be like in the mornings getting to little island

What time do you need to be at work for ?

Martha28

marvsins wrote: »

What time do you need to be at work for ?

9-5

Pablo Escobar

Martha28 wrote: »

9-5

Traffic is a disaster. I went from Turners Cross to Silver Springs through the tunnel on Wednesday morning which would be pretty much the same as going to Little Island. The trip took me an hour and ten at 7:50am. (It should take 15 mins with no traffic). I don't know what the access traffic is like getting onto the Bloomfield interchange from Maryborough, but I've heard it's bad. The traffic volumes coming onto the South Ring from Bloomfield were ridiculous anyway when I crawled past on Wednesday morning.

Lia_lia

Douglas is desperate for traffic. Have you thought about the city centre at all? Your boyfriend could get the bus direct to Mahon and the drive to Little Island wouldn't be too bad coming from the city.

Also worth looking into the Shandon/Cathedral Road/Popes Quay area. Rent is cheaper and the 202 bus route (that goes to Mahon) goes through there. Some say it's rough but I have lived in this area for years and it's grand.

Blackrock would be ideal but it's a well sought after area. Houses go quickly and rent would be higher than many other locations. Also you need to be quick with viewing houses, the rental market is crazy here at the moment. Not easy to secure somewhere to live.

Confused mum84

Agree with others - Jacobs island would be best option for you.. Hartys quay in rochestown also an option as your bf could walk/cycle on railway line.. Rainy days wouldn't be pleasant tho! Have you looked at Eden in black rock ? Close to Mahon point but also close to black rock village - some nice pubs , farmers market on one of weekend mornings .. I've worked in little island before- not sure if possible but try changing your hours to 8-4 or half 9 to half 5 etc.. Starting at 9 is a joke traffic wise coming through tunnel.. If you lived in Jacobs island, with a 9am start , I'd estimate a 30 minute commute in mornings as you'd be joining tunnel traffic at Mahon.. If you live Douglas , other parts of black rock , passage etc I'd allow up to an hours commute time .. Have you looked at renting in city centre .. Commute time would be far shorter from city centre.. I know I tried loads of routes, avoid tunnel at all costs.. Your bf could get bus to work from city centre .. Also if you do commute through city , avoid driving all the way through mc curtain street at all costs , that's the worst street!

pwurple

Ah blackrock to little island isn't an hour at all, that's a small bit much. 15 mins off peak, 30 -35 peak.

Source: do that exact route myself very frequently, and have kids to drop to school on the way.

Your problem with renting in blackrock, is that there is very little to rent, and what's there is very expensive.

Look at this place, not enough room to swing a cat, for 1000 per month.
http://www.daft.ie/cork/apartments-for-rent/blackrock/204-dundanion-terrace-blackrock-road-blackrock-cork-1698401/

IsaacWunder

Dunno why nobody mentioned it, but there is a commuter train from city to little island with frequent service (every 15 minutes at peak hours). You could live in city centre and no traffic. Mahon has regular bus service for boyfriend.

Best thing about Cork is city centre. So walkable and full of life.

Smaugstein

The narthside is daycent sham.

Balmed Out

Don't write Mahon itself off, I lived there for a few years and it was fine though there are a couple of roads I'd avoid. Had previously rented in grange and it was an improvement

zetalambda

At one time, it was known as Viet-Mahon although i've heard it has changed...