going to county cork for 4 days,

Where are you flying into? You really have only 2 full days, and if arriving in Dublin your plan may be difficult. Look at a map, and plan to cover about 50k/hour while driving. Renting a car and driving out of Dublin from the airport will take at least several hours. If you're arriving in Cork City it's entirely a different story.

Can you give a little more detail on your plan?

not sure where to go
Then that makes it impossible to provide accommodation recommendations because just about every village has at least one B&B.

I'm flying into cork,sorry I didn.t mention it.Thinking of either heading south/south west,kinsale,clonakitty,schull,glengarriff,ballydehab,bantry.Heard that Allihies to Eyeries in pretty?as you can guess not going to all these places but open to sugestions!!Iv'e heard that 12 arches hostel is ok in Ballydehab and tierney's guesthouse Kinsale,just HELP ME or we will be going around in circles.Normally I travel with my husband so this is a challange and serves me right for normally leaving it all to him!!

As far as B&B's go, they are numerous and easy to find in October, when tourism is lower. Most B&B's will cost about 35-40 Euro/person. If this is an acceptance price range for you, then you really don't have to worry about accommodations. Every B&B I've been in in Ireland has been acceptance and clean. If you need cheaper lodging than this, you will have to be using hostels, and therefore spend your nights where hostels exist. You may find a few B&B's for a very few Euros less, but in general, the rates are fairly standard.

With only 4 days, a good alternative would be going to Killarney and basing yourself there for the entire time. There is plenty to see and do, and you could spend 1 whole day doing Dingle Peninsula or Ring of Kerry. With only 1 additional entire day, you can spend it in Killarney. You could drive the coastal route through Clonakilty, Bantry and Kenmare on one of your travel days. This would be plenty.

Good choice going to Cork! The real capital as we say here :-) Good things to do in the City is take a walk through the English Market on Grande Parade during the day, by night you could catch a show at the Opera House or Everyman Palace theatre, alternatively City Limits comedy club on coburg street is great. Near Cork, Kinsale is a must see, great seafood and music in the restaurant above the bar at the Bulman which is near Charles Fort (which is really worth a walk around). About 1.5 hour drive from Cork is Killarney, the Macgillycuddy reeks mountains are amazing. For a great day out in Kilarney rent bikes from the flesk camp site and cycle into muckross house and around the lake - half way along the lake cycle you will find Dinnis Cottage, a coffee shop with great tea and cakes and sandwiches, look out for the grapity on the windows dating back to early 1800's! The railway hostel in Kilarney is reasonable and central.

I lived most of my life in Dublin ..... and it seemed pretty real to me!

Don't mind #5.

I'll admit Kinsale is a nice spot, but Kerry is where you should spend most of your time.

Hey, we are going in a week, flying into Cork, driving down to Kinsale (where we stay two nights). We decided to save Co. Kerry for the next trip because of a lack of time. I think we might take in Bantry Bay on our "day off" but we will spend about 3-4 hours getting there and back.

We will be visiting Blarney Castle on the day we leave (our flight is in the evening).

Have a great trip!

I spent a very nice night at the Kilcaw House B & B, on the hill above Kinsale, and would have liked to have spent longer than I did in Kinsale itself.

If you are at all interested in coffee, you're in luck: the one decent coffee shop in all of Ireland is in Cork - Cork Coffee Roasters.