A town full of character and deeply rooted in Ireland’s heritage, Cobh is renowned for its rich maritime history as the departure point for countless emigrants leaving Ireland.

Perched on the slopes of Great Island in Cork Harbour, just 15 miles from Cork City, the charming town of Cobh (pronounced “cove”) offers striking views. At its highest point, the magnificent French Gothic St Colman’s Cathedral towers above the colourful, tightly packed houses and the bustling waterfront. Once known as Queenstown – a name adopted after Queen Victoria’s visit in 1849 – the town reclaimed its original Irish name, Cobh, in 1922.

Cobh’s storied maritime past includes several remarkable milestones. It’s home to the world’s first yacht club – the Royal Cork Yacht Club – founded in 1720. In 1838, the Sirius, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, departed from Cobh. The town was also the final port of call for the RMS Titanic before its ill-fated voyage in 1915.

Following the torpedoing of the Lusitania by German U-Boats off the Old Head of Kinsale, survivors were brought ashore in Cobh. The Lusitania Monument stands in the centre of town. Today, 150 victims of that tragedy are buried in the Old Church Cemetery just north of the town.

What Cobh is most deeply connected to, however, is the mass emigration from Ireland in the 19th century. Once described as “the saddest place in all of Ireland’, Cobh was the departure point for around 2.5 million Irish people escaping famine and hardship between 1848 and 1950. Their stories are powerfully brought to life in the award-winning Queenstown Story exhibition, located in Cobh Heritage Centre, a former Victorian railway station adjacent to the cruise berth.