My girlfriend booked a guided tour of the Gaol on my birthday trip to Cork, because I have a great interest in Irish 19th Century crime and punishment. Our tour guide Shaun (Sean/Shawn, apologies) was just brilliant. He kept us informed and interested throughout. It differs from Gaols I’ve seen elsewhere, with fascinating stories of a variety of inmates and staff. While it is obviously very difficult to understand what it would have been like as an inmate, Shaun’s tour took us close. I wholeheartedly recommend the guided tour of the Gaol.

Excellent. This ranks with Crumlin Road in Belfast and Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin as a historical prison representation. The stories in the cells illuminate the imposing building and the ability to wander in the surrounding grounds provides an additional impression. The self-guided audio tour which I took finishes in the mock-up court room where, after the visuals commenting on the prison's history have completed, two wonderful songs play, which alone make this place an essential visit. Immense and powerful both lyrically and physically. Well worth a visit.

We had an interesting experience visiting the gaol we were surprised at how i informative it all was. You get a real feel of what it must have been like.

What an eerie , scary place, So much held within those walls. Very well worth it to see how thing used to be and be grateful for what we have these days.

Great museum, with a very informative and interesting audio tour. I'd recommend to people visiting Cork

I don't know why but I expected a lot less of an experience when we started the tour. What an amazing a day we had! The staff were unbelievably friendly, the gaol itself was incredibly evocative thanks to the personable stories and the historical restoration. It is close to the city centre and easy to find. Definitely a jewel in Cork's crown. Highly recommended.

This was such a fun and interesting place to visit. So much history packed into this building. It reminded me of the Alcatraz tour in San Francisco. I will say that I was a bit disappointed in the halloween decorations that they had out up. There was a scavenger hunt they were doing for the kids which was awesome, however the skeletons and ghosts kind of messed up the aesthetic of my photos.

It was raining persistently when we decided to trek up to Cork City Gaol. We found that it is a decent walk from the city centre. By the time we got there, we were cold and wet. There is a fair amount to see, its generally explained well and interesting. They use wax figures in the cells as example prisoners to explain how imprisonment impacted a cross-section of people. I would not say it was a trip highlight, but we learned something from this visit. They do serve some refreshments, and the hot drink was appreciated.

Really interesting. Good price. I recommend getting the audio tour if going solo, gave a lot of information, it was quite entertaining. Staff were friendly and helpful. - it is an old gaol building so can be cold during winter. - Steep-ish walk to the gaol, so recommend a taxi for anyone with breathing issues after exertion.

We were lucky enough to have our wedding ceremony at the cork city gaol, yes it may seem like an odd venue but it is an option on their site and turned out to be the best choice! I worked with Sarah via email to plan our day and she went above and beyond to make our day perfect! We had the entire west wings to ourselves for 2 hours and they set up everything for us. Secondly we had a group of 18 coming with us from the USA for our wedding, Sarah set us up with a guided tour the day before our wedding. The history of the Gaol was so interesting and the guided tour allowed us to ask all the questions, the adults and kids really enjoyed it! I would highly recommend visiting the Gaol!

I really enjoyed this attraction. It provides brilliant insight into this period in Ireland's history.

Use the hop on bus service to get to this attraction its a fair old walk from town Ensure you get the headsets when entering you will be lost without them Staff were friendly and approachable and an interesting if bleak trip visit

Went for a private tour in the evening. The tour was informative and it was nice to have the space to ourselves.

Wonderful visit, we were very impressed, it's clean, well kept. Informative displays, knowledgeable,, friendly staff.

You'll want to spend all afternoon here! The tour is self-guided but so informative! There is os much to see on the grounds and it was one of the most interesting places I saw on the trip!