Located along the Wild Atlantic Way, Bantry is approximately 90 km west of Cork City. We’ve detailed directions to help you get here by any mode of travel – see our Travelling to Bantry pages.

If you are unsure of travel directions please get in touch with our local Tourist Information Office – they are more than happy to help you to get to this beautiful part of Ireland.

There is a wide choice of accommodation in the region – Manor House Hotels and Hotels, Lodges and Guesthouses, Bed & Breakfasts and Farmhouses.  To explore your options, browse our Fáilte Ireland-approved listings or see the Co Cork listings at Discover Ireland.

If you’re having trouble finding accommodation our local Tourist Information Office will be delighted to help you.

You can also find out more about our local area and things to do on our own Tourist Information pages.

There are various sessions and gigs in pubs and venues in the town year round, with more during the summer – some are anything goes, some traditional, some with another particular focus. All are very welcoming.

Our local Tourist Information Office will be able to give you an up-to-the-minute listing.

Yes! We have several reduced rates, in all categories of seating:

• Festival Pass – all Events
• Evening Pass – all Ceolchoirm and Níos Déanaí concerts
• Day Ticket Savers – all events for one day

Please get in touch our West Cork Music Box Office for these requests as they aren’t currently available on our website – 00 353 (0)27 52788.

Yes! We can sometimes offer discounts:

• packages for School Groups
• other group booking discounts, when available, are dependent on the event(s) and size of group

Please get in touch our West Cork Music Box Office for these requests as they vary and aren’t currently available on our website – 00 353 (0)27 52788.

We also cater to registered Tour Groups for all our festivals. Please contact Lia Choice if you’d like to know more.

We offer a 50% concession for most events to those aged 16 and under. No other concessions are available.

Please get in touch our West Cork Music Box Office for these requests as they aren’t currently available on our website – 00 353 (0)27 52788.

You’ll find our terms and conditions on our Booking pages – with all the other information you’ll need to know about booking.

Our programme usually goes online in the spring or early summer. Booking for our Masters of Tradition Friends opens two weeks before General Booking does. During this time you’ll see our programme online, but you won’t be able to book online until General Booking opens. Find out more about our Friends schemes and benefits here.

You can give us your booking sooner by filling out our booking form and posting or emailing it to us. The booking form is available in our brochure and is downloadable as soon as the brochure is published, usually spring or early summer. Note your booking will be placed in a queue and will not be processed until your grade of booking opens.

We do have waiting lists for sold out concerts. If you get in touch with the office – 027 52788 – we can add you to the list and we’ll phone you if a ticket becomes available.

To avoid disappointment, do keep in mind firstly that we might not get any returns. Secondly, returns can often be at late notice and, in that instance, we will move on to the next person on the waiting list if we don’t get a reply from you.

In addition, if you like living dangerously and are already attending the Festival, you will occasionally get a return ticket for a sold out concert at the very last minute before the concert.

Great to hear! There are a variety of ways you can support the Masters of Tradition festival. Find out more on our Supporter pages.

And do keep coming back to our Festival – we couldn’t produce it without you!

We have several maps of the venues available to you:

• Online here
• Paper copies are available in our main office
• Poster copies are displayed in our office and venues
• You’ll also find tourist maps of Bantry and the surrounding area at our offices and at the local Tourist Information Offices on Bantry Square.

All our local venues are within easy walking distance of each other. Note that Bantry House, the furthest, is a 15 minute walk from the Tourist Information Centre on the market square.

We apologise that we can’t find any room for a map in our Brochure.

Bantry House has parking available for visitors just off the main road. You can see its exact location on our Venue Map.

In the town itself, street parking is limited to 2 hours, Mon-Sat 9am – 6pm. But there are several free car parks around the town:

• By the Bay
  • directly off the main square at the Supervalu turn
  • take the Supervalu turn from the main square and there is indoor and outdoor parking by the supermarket itself
• In town
  • By Biggs Catering Supplies, just down from the Library, off Bridge St
  • Off William St, on the left after An Post

Bantry House has convenient parking by the house. Please let us know in advance and we can book you a space for any concerts you are attending.

St Brendan’s Church has disabled parking spaces directly outside. Again, if it’s worth booking in with us to be sure you get a space.

There are also disabled parking spaces throughout the town centre, and in the carparks mentioned in the previous FAQ.

The ferry to Whiddy Island leaves from Bantry Harbour. You’ll find it on our Venue Map here.

The short trip from Bantry pier takes approximately 10-15 minutes.

Times for the ferry will be detailed on any event using it as a venue. If you want to know all the ferry times, you’ll find them on the Whiddy Island website here.