Rick of Cashel and Hore abbey questions

r3nu4l

Plan on visit these places soon but had some queries.

Is there parking at the Rick and how much?
How long on average would a visit take once I'm there?
What about Hore abbey? Would I have to drive there? Is there parking nearby?

Thanks in advance.

the_pen_turner

I have near by and went to school passing it twice a day for years and I cant tell you

there are plenty of parking spaces around the town if you want to walk a few hundred yards. I would park along by the fire station , its only 150 yards away from there
I'm sure there must be parking at the abbey. there is room along the road leading to it

the_pen_turner

when are you going . I will be in that way on Monday or Tuesday and I will have a look

brightspark

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/south-east/rockofcashel/

According to the site a visit lasts 1-1 1/2 hours, but that would depend on your own interest etc.

There is a car park adjacent to the Bru-Boru complex, don't know how much it is though.


Google maps is useful for checking out areas

https://www.google.ie/maps/@52.5195926,-7.8930495,461m/data=!3m1!1e3

mattser

Rick of Cashel :D Sorry.

callaway92

Rock of Cashel is such a waste of time other than the view

r3nu4l

r3nu4l wrote: »

Plan on visit these places soon but had some queries.

Is there parking at the Rick and how much?
How long on average would a visit take once I'm there?
What about Hore abbey? Would I have to drive there? Is there parking nearby?

Thanks in advance.

There is parking adjacent to the Rock, but I usually park in the town and walk over, although it might be cheaper to park at the Rock itself (it was 3 euro for the day last year, it's probably still the same).

If you're grabbing a bite to eat when you arrive in Cashel, I'd just park in town tbh. Saves you paying for parking twice.

A previous poster mentioned setting-aside one hour/ and a half/ to visit the rock. One hour should be more than enough, unless you're a deeply curious student of archeology.

In my experience, the best place to get pics of the Rock (with your family/friends in the foreground), is in the field behind the Rock, away from the direction of entry (there may be sheep in there, but loads of people enter it to take pics).

Due to the steep rise of the Rock, and the number of tourists walking across your path, it's difficult to get a good shot of the site from anywhere except there. You might still get some good pics from inside the site, if there aren't many tourists around.

Hore Abbey? I have no idea. I have always been curious as to how it got its name, though. Off to Google I go.

r3nu4l

Thanks for all the replies. Plan on going to the "Rick" (damn autocorrect) sometime over the next couple of weeks. Food for thought here!

Purple Mountain

Parking up at Bru Boru is a flat fee per day. I'm open to correction but it's about €4. It's a barrier system too.
If you park in town it's disc parking but check the time limit as I don't know if it's limited.
You can walk over to Hore from the Rock either across the hill the Rock is built on..(think there's a track for pedestrians) or you can go around by a pathway running along side most of the roadway.
The shortcut would take you five minutes, the long way maybe ten.
You can drive to Hore but it's literally a ruin in a field so the parking AFAIK is just pulling in on side of road.
Hore would take five minutes to look at as there's no guides but allow an hour at the Rock because you might have to wait for the next tour (although guided tour is not obligatory).
If you're down the town, the tourist office in the main street has a free audio visual model on Cashel hundreds of years ago which is a good precursor to doing the Rock.
If you're into Irish history, Cashel Folk Museum behind the tourist office has cool artefacts from the War of Independence.

cml387

In my humble opinion, a far better visit is to Cahir Castle and if the weather is good walk the river walk down to Swiss cottage.

The Rock is just a load of ruins and looks far better from a distance.

seanl77

The rock of cashel is an amazing place, saying its a "load of ruins" is like calling croke park a big green field! My advice would be to take a guided tour, the guides in cashel are exceptional, they have to be due to the incredible number of visitors, some 340,000 last year. All day parking in bru boru is €4, and there is disc parking in the town. Several businesses in cashel are signed up with the rock on a promotion, spend €15 in a shop or restaurant and get free entry. Some smashing restaurants and cafes in the town, chez Hans, cafe Hans and the new mikey Ryan's are the stand outs. Cahir castle is worth a visit if you have time, the river walk to the swiss cottage is beautiful obviously depending on the weather. But Cashel attracts 5 times the visitors for good reason.....

the_pen_turner

I went down towards hore abbey today. only driving.
no parking as such. just park on the road. the road is not very wide .
if you go up past the gate 30-40 yards there is a grass bit on the side . that's where I would park.

JabbaTheHut

seanl77 wrote: »

The rock of cashel is an amazing place, saying its a "load of ruins" is like calling croke park a big green field! My advice would be to take a guided tour, the guides in cashel are exceptional, they have to be due to the incredible number of visitors, some 340,000 last year. All day parking in bru boru is €4, and there is disc parking in the town. Several businesses in cashel are signed up with the rock on a promotion, spend €15 in a shop or restaurant and get free entry. Some smashing restaurants and cafes in the town, chez Hans, cafe Hans and the new mikey Ryan's are the stand outs. Cahir castle is worth a visit if you have time, the river walk to the swiss cottage is beautiful obviously depending on the weather. But Cashel attracts 5 times the visitors for good reason.....

But it is really just ruins. Damn impressive from a distance, as cml387 pointed out. But to visit, it really is not as impressive as the view suggests.

Both Cahir Castle and the Rock are OPW run, and both sites have superb guides. However, the castle is a much better experience when actually walking around it. It doesn't need you to imagine what it looked like back in time, yet you get the full experience of what it was like to live in the time.

The reason The Rock gets bigger visitor numbers is because it's marketed that way. It has a much better historical significance than Cahir Castle. Only one king of Ireland ever ruled the country, and he ruled from there. Any promo for Ireland will feature The Rock, because of that, and it looks so well..............from a distance. If any visitor comes to Ireland, they want to see it because it's one of the main marketing attractions. Same as in any other country, the main attractions are used to draw visitors. That doesn't mean to say they're better attractions that others.

There's no disputing that it's in a great location for display. Pity the motorway wasn't running at a different angle to highlight it even better, but to step inside the grounds of it, I find it a letdown. It IS a ruin. A well maintained ruin, but still a ruin.

bawn79

Another thing to look out for is the first Wednesday of the month is free at OPW sites. So you could potentially visit the Rock of Cashel & Cahir Castle in the same day for free. Under 12 are free now every day at most OPW sites so that is a nice bonus also.
A guided tour is the way to go for the Rock of Cashel and I'm guessing if you want to go see it (which it sounds like you do), allow at least an hour to two hours.

Paddico

callaway92 wrote: »

Rock of Cashel is such a waste of time other than the view

Can't agree with that. Well worth visiting

Aglomerado

the_pen_turner wrote: »

I went down towards hore abbey today. only driving.
no parking as such. just park on the road. the road is not very wide .
if you go up past the gate 30-40 yards there is a grass bit on the side . that's where I would park.

It's walkable from the centre of town too. Impressive ruin!

the_pen_turner

Aglomerado wrote: »

It's walkable from the centre of town too. Impressive ruin!

definitely. its only 300-400 yards I think