CORK- Length of coastline: 350 km approx.

Best stretch: With a fist-full of finger-like peninsulas jutting into the Atlantic, this is its like trying to pick your favourite child.

Toe Head is the after-thought, the child that doesn’t ask for anything. Sheep’s Head another of those quieter, less demanding children, with its fantastic 100km walk and loops. Baltimore and the islands are the scatty ones, you’ll be all day chasing them. Mizen Head is the bold one, wild and wacky and wonderful, with tales of €300m drug hauls and even a former Taoiseach washed up on its rocks. So, best stretch? The bridge walk to the Mizen lighthouse, the raw, arching exposed cliff geology and the views to the forlorn ‘Ireland’s teardrop’ outpost that is the Fastnet.

Grab a bite: Well, you’ve all of Kenmare and Kinsale’s food fare book-ending Cork’s 350kms of the Wild Atlantic Way, and with cookery schools and organic cafés in between you’re also likely to pile on the pounds (diet tip? travel off-season, when a lot of places close down).

Glebe Gardens in Baltimore grows much of its produce, and is quietly special, as is Durrus’ Good Things Cafe, but it’s only open in high summer.

For family value fresh off the grill or pizza oven, try the Jolie Brise in Baltimore, or the French-owned fish plant and eatery L’Escale on Schull’s pier for lobster and chips. The only fresher way to taste fish is via a snorkel.

The Big Hit: West Cork’s big hits are its islands — no doubt. Lots of them and loads of access options too. There’s Cape for birds, Sherkin for beaches, Heir for food, Beara for military history, and Garinish for its gardens. Nothing beats getting off a boat to say you’ve arrived. Or, for novelty and suspense, the cable car to Dursey island is a memorable must-try.

The Hidden gem: Well, we could be bold and say the Old Head of Kinsale is hidden, but really it’s more forbidden — as only fee-paying golfers now have ready access to its overly-greened charms. Welcoming hidden gem is the Ewe Sculpture Garden and Gallery in Glengarriff (theewe.com), where art has funky fun with landscape.

The seaside festival: This year, has to be Skibbereen’s Arts Festival in early August, as the town’s lofty building beacon, the new €4m Arts Centre, gets completed. Expect to see stars.

Go wild: Don’t just look at the water, get out on it, either sailing, fishing, whale and dolphin watching, or food foraging. The Wall Street Journal has rolled up its sleeves and extols kayaking in West Cork. www.atlanticseakayaking.com

Best beach: Thank the Lisbon earthquake and a consequent tsunami in the 1700s for giving West Cork dune-backed beaches like Barleycove, and Long Strand, in a more gentle landscape near Clonakilty, backed by woodland walks, a castle, a lake, and smaller coves immediately east and west to discover.

Did you know? You might never leave. There’s a legacy of awed visitors putting down roots, and Cork west and east is heaving with rich, famous and gifted blow-ins. For horticultural exotics — such as a Bamboo Park in Glengarriff — take time out in a West Cork garden, see www.westcorkgardentrail.com, and visit Liss Ard House near Skibbereen for its Sky Garden www.lissardestate.com.