🇮🇪 Same-country drive · Ireland
Driving from Dublin to Cork
- Drive time
- 2h 57m
- Distance
- 250 km
- Same day?
- Yes, half day
- under 4 h
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €34
- petrol · diesel ≈ €30
- Tolls
- Toll-free
- no charges en route
- EV charging
- Unknown
- not yet surveyed
On this page
Route map
Route options
Other paths OSRM found between the two cities — handy when traffic, tolls, or scenery matter more than raw speed.
Alternative
+22m- Distance:
- 264 km (+14 km)
- Duration:
- 3h 19m
Via: M8 · M7 · M9 · R110
How else can you make this trip?
Driving is the focus of this guide; here's how cycling, coach, and (soon) train and plane stack up for the same pair.
2h 57m
250 km · €34 fuel
See details ↓
14h 35m
283 km · Climb 1.294 m
37 km on EV1 Atlantic Coast Route
See details ↓
No direct service
Our coach data (FlixBus + BlaBlaCar) doesn't list a direct service for this pair. National operators (e.g., National Express in the UK, Eurolines feeders) may still cover it — check their site directly.
Trip plan
How to think about the drive: one day, split, or overnight.
Easy one-day drive
Comfortable as a single day for one driver. Leave after breakfast, arrive with time to settle in.
- Distance:
- 250 km
- Duration:
- 2h 57m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Portlaoise 🇮🇪 ie
≈83 km≈ 3.8 km detour from the main route
-
Cluain Meala 🇮🇪 ie
≈167 km≈ 25.5 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Long rural stretch on R110 Naas Road
Plan for about 21 km of two-lane country roads. Slower than motorway, but often the pretty part — fewer overtakes after dark.
Must-know before you go
The things a driver from another country wouldn't think to ask about — fines, stickers, payment cards, opening hours.
Fuel stations
Contactless cards work at virtually every motorway pump
TipMajor brand stations (Shell, Total, BP, Repsol, Cepsa, OMV, Eni, Esso) take Visa and Mastercard contactless without an issue. American Express and Diners are spotty south of the Alps. A €100 pre-authorisation hold is normal — it releases within 5 days. Carry €50 cash for the rare independent station.
Money & connectivity
EU roaming covers calls, texts and data at no extra cost
TipYour home EU SIM works at home rates across every EU member, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The "fair use" cap on data only applies if you're abroad more than four months. For a 2-week road trip, just use your phone normally — but switch off "data roaming" if you're leaving the EU into UK / CH for any segment.
Emergency & breakdown
112 works everywhere in the EU and continental neighbours
TipSingle number for police, ambulance, fire — works from any phone, any network, any country. On motorways, the orange SOS pillars every 2km connect direct to the regional traffic control centre and pinpoint your location. Use them over your phone if you can — it speeds the response.
Rules, fees, and thresholds change. Always verify against the official source the day before you drive — this page is a checklist, not a legal reference.
Main roads
The highways this route spends the most kilometres on.
-
M8 Portlaoise to Cullahill Motorway136 km
-
M7 Naas Bypass75 km
-
R110 Naas Road21 km
-
R639 —3 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.
- Motorway
- 85%
- Secondary
- 0%
- Other / rural
- 15%
Drive difficulty
At-a-glance feel: how demanding is this drive for one driver?
Overall
Easy
Straightforward drive. One driver, one day, little to worry about beyond fuel and a toilet stop.
- No major complicating factors — motorway-heavy, single country, comfortable length.
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €34
18.8 L × €1.81 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €30
15 L × €1.97 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €25
44 kWh × €0.57 / kWh · 17.5 kWh/100 km
Public DC fast charging — slower AC charging at home or hotels typically costs about half.
Prices last refreshed 2026-05-04.
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇮🇪 Dublin
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
8°
4°
|
10°
5°
|
11°
6°
|
13°
7°
|
16°
10°
|
18°
12°
|
19°
13°
|
20°
13°
|
17°
11°
|
14°
10°
|
11°
7°
|
10°
6°
|
| 77mm | 55mm | 97mm | 116mm | 50mm | 75mm | 119mm | 86mm | 116mm | 104mm | 92mm | 91mm |
hot mild cold
🇮🇪 Cork
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
8°
3°
|
10°
5°
|
11°
5°
|
13°
6°
|
17°
9°
|
18°
11°
|
19°
12°
|
19°
13°
|
17°
11°
|
14°
9°
|
11°
6°
|
10°
5°
|
| 113mm | 121mm | 145mm | 93mm | 71mm | 67mm | 106mm | 97mm | 146mm | 176mm | 137mm | 123mm |
hot mild cold
Next 5 days at Cork
Live forecast — refreshes every few hours.
-
Tue 12
⛅
9° / 8°
—
-
Wed 13
🌧️
12° / 8°
9.9mm
-
Thu 14
🌧️
10° / 7°
20mm
-
Fri 15
⛅
11° / 5°
0.4mm
-
Sat 16
🌧️
11° / 5°
1.9mm
Forecast: MET Norway
Directions
Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.
Show all 24 manoeuvres
- Mespil Road (R111) 0.3 km
- Long Mile Road (R110) 0.1 km
- Naas Road (R110) 21 km
- Naas Bypass (M7) 8 km
- Newbridge Bypass (M7) 4 km
- Newbridge Bypass (M7) 6 km
- The Curragh Motorway (M7) 2 km
- Kildare Bypass (M7) 10 km
- Monasterevin Bypass (M7) 19 km
- Portlaoise Bypass (M7) 11 km
- Portlaoise to Castletown Motorway (M7) 14 km
- Portlaoise to Cullahill Motorway (M8) 15 km
- Cullahill to Cashel Motorway (M8) 38 km
- Cashel Bypass (M8) 7 km
- Cashel to Mitchelstown Motorway (M8) 35 km
- Mitchelstown to Fermoy Motorway (M8) 16 km
- Rathcormac/Fermoy Bypass (M8) 18 km
- Watergrasshill Bypass (M8) 7 km
- (R639)
- (R639)
- (R639) 3 km
- (R615) 0.1 km
- (R848) 0.2 km
- Oliver Plunkett Street (L1007)
Cycling from Dublin to Cork
Touring-pace bicycle route generated by BRouter, with elevation gain and matched against the EuroVelo cycle network.
- Distance
- 283 km
- vs 250 km driving
- Riding time
- 14h 35m
- Touring pace; experienced riders cut this 20–30%.
- Total climb
- ↑ 1.294 m
Routed on the BRouter trekking profile — balanced for paved leisure tourers; gravel and fast-bike profiles produce different lines.
On the EuroVelo network
Sections of this route follow signed EuroVelo cycle routes — well-maintained, signposted, and bike-friendly:
- EV1 Atlantic Coast Route · 37 km
Total: 37,0 km on EuroVelo (13% of the route).
Show route on map
How this page is built
Compiled by COD Solutions Oy from open European data — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for the route geometry, BRouter for the bicycle route, EuroVelo GPX (ODbL) by the European Cyclists' Federation for the cycle-network overlay, and Open-Meteo for monthly climate normals. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.