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festivals · Wednesday 16 September 2026 · Various 
Clonakilty International Guitar Festival 2026
At Clonakilty Town Centre (multiple venues) · Clonakilty, Co. Cork
At Clonakilty Town Centre (multiple venues) · Clonakilty, Co. Cork
Clonakilty International Guitar Festival takes over this West Cork town for five days from Wednesday 16 to Sunday 20 September 2026, marking its 22nd edition. It is built entirely around guitar music, spilling across the town’s bars, venues and public spaces rather than being confined to a single stage, and has become one of the more distinctive small-town music festivals on the West Cork circuit.
Expect a mix of world-class performances, spontaneous pub sessions and workshops running throughout the festival, with DeBarra’s Folk Club serving as one of the key performance spaces alongside other venues across the town. The 2026 lineup includes Paul Brady, the Cliffords and John Spillane among the early confirmed names, with organisers describing the shaping-up bill as combining established talent with emerging artists. Because so much of the festival happens informally in bars and public spaces, part of the appeal is simply wandering Clonakilty’s compact centre and following the sound - alongside the ticketed headline shows, spontaneous sessions can spring up in unexpected corners of the town.
Clonakilty sits on the N71 in West Cork, about an hour from Cork City by car. Bus Eireann services connect the town to Cork City and on to Skibbereen and Bantry along the same route, and there is no rail service to Clonakilty itself. The town centre is small and walkable, so once parked, most festival venues are within a few minutes of each other on foot. Given the volume of visitors the festival draws to a relatively small town, booking accommodation in Clonakilty well ahead of September is worth doing, as rooms can go quickly during festival week.
Heading to Clonakilty Town Centre (multiple venues) in Clonakilty? Cork has plenty more to see. Read the Clonakilty area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for Clonakilty Town Centre (multiple venues)? These Cork tours book out in summer.