← All events
festivals · Thursday 22 October 2026 · Various 
Guinness Cork Jazz Festival 2026
At Cork City Centre (multiple venues) · Cork City Centre, Co. Cork
At Cork City Centre (multiple venues) · Cork City Centre, Co. Cork
The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival is Ireland’s largest jazz event and one of Cork’s biggest weekends of the year, running over the October bank holiday from Thursday 22 to Monday 26 October 2026. What started as a niche jazz weekend in the 1970s has grown into a city-wide takeover, drawing tens of thousands of visitors who fill hotels, pubs and restaurants across Cork for five days.
The centrepiece is the Guinness Music Trail, which spreads live jazz, swing, soul and brass performances across more than 70 venues in Cork City, Douglas and Kinsale, much of it free to walk in and see. Alongside the trail sit ticketed headline concerts in the city’s larger venues, featuring a mix of international jazz names and Irish acts, with a full programme and artist announcements published on the festival’s official site and app closer to the date. Fringe activity builds around the weekend too, including jazz-themed nights in the city’s heritage pubs. Expect Cork City Centre - Oliver Plunkett Street, MacCurtain Street, the Grand Parade and the surrounding lanes - to be at its busiest and loudest all year.
Cork City is well connected by rail and road. Cork Kent Railway Station and Parnell Place Bus Station both sit within a 15 minute walk of the main festival venues in the city centre. By road, Cork is around two and a half hours from Dublin via the M8. Because the festival draws such large crowds, city centre parking fills quickly over the bank holiday weekend, and booking accommodation well in advance is strongly advised as hotels sell out months ahead. Cork Airport also runs extra flights around the festival period given the volume of visitors flying in specifically for the weekend.
Heading to Cork City Centre (multiple venues) in Cork? Cork has plenty more to see. Read the Cork area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for Cork City Centre (multiple venues)? These Cork tours book out in summer.