Skip to content
County Cork

Fountainstown

Fountainstown is one of the waters the EPA tests and grades in County Cork, 3.2 km south of Crosshaven. The Environmental Protection Agency classified it good for water quality for the 2025 season. The register records a lifeguard, toilets, parking, bins, recycling, first aid and an information board.

Good
water quality, 2025
No
Blue Flag
Yes
lifeguard
3.2 km
from Crosshaven
Water quality
Good, 2025
Seasons before
2024 Excellent, 2023 Excellent, 2022 Excellent
Water testing
Tested by the EPA sampled through the season and given a water quality grade
Season restriction
None in place
Pollution after rain
Prone to short term pollution
Awards
None
County
County Cork
Managed by
Cork County Council
Nearest town
Crosshaven, 3.2 km south of it, in a straight line
From that town
4.9 km by road, about 6 min drivingor 4.8 km on foot, about 59 minutes at 4.8 km/h
Lifeguard
Yes, hours not recorded
Toilets
Yes
Parking
Yes
Access
Recorded as accessible, with no detail given
Dogs
Dogs are not allowed on this beach between 10.30 a.m. & 7.00 p.m. during the bathing season which runs from 1st June to 15th September.
Cars on the beach
No
Public transport
Public bus
First aid
With Lifeguards
Position
51.7747° N, 8.3105° W
Record changed
2026-04-08
Ringabella Bay, near to Myrtleville, Kilbeg and Ballinluska, Cork, Ireland. Looking at Fountainstown Community website
Ringabella Bay, near to Myrtleville, Kilbeg and Ballinluska, Cork, Ireland. Looking at Fountainstown Community website·David McMumm, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Ringabella Bay, near to Myrtleville, Kilbeg and Ballinluska, Cork, Ireland. Looking at Fountainstown Community website·David McMumm, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
View out to sea at Ringabella
View out to sea at Ringabella·Jonathan Thacker, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
View out to sea at Ringabella·Jonathan Thacker, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

What the EPA says about it

Fountainstown Beach is an east-facing, gently sloping, sandy/shingle beach. It is bounded to the north by a low rocky cliff, to the south by rocky outcrops and to the west by a concrete wall with the public road and car park adjoining the beach. Fountainstown Swamp which is a proposed Natural Heritage Area (pNHA 000371) is situated to the north of the beach. The beach is used to some extent by anglers and for windsurfing.

Fountainstown is classified as achieving Good Water Quality in 2025 based on the assessment of bacteriological results for the period 2022 to 2025. Fountainstown has achieved a Good Water Quality rating in 2025, and an Excellent Water Quality rating for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Annual water quality ratings are generally calculated using monitoring results over a four-year period and are assessed against stringent bacterial limits to protect bather health.

The EPA’s own beach profile

Where it is

Fountainstown, and the other places to swim in County Cork. Share your position and the map will show how far each one is from you.

Getting to Fountainstown

Your journey, your way

Let’s get you to Fountainstown.

Choose where you are starting. We’ll work out the rest.

Going toFountainstownDestination: the mapped location
1 Where are you starting?

Type at least two letters, then choose a suggestion.

Nearby starting points
2 How would you like to travel?
3 When are you going?

All times are local to Ireland. Scheduled services, without live delay updates.

Journey preferences Transport type and sorting

Choose a starting point to plan your journey.

About these directions

Public transport times come from National Transport Authority. Timetables cover 2026-09-18 to 2027-09-19. These are scheduled services; check with the operator for cancellations and changes before travelling.

Walking and driving times are estimates. A town search starts at its centre; choose your location or a point on the map for a more precise starting point. Eircode search is not available.

How journey planning works
Destination, access and nearby stops

Fountainstown is in Crosshaven, County Cork. Routes here end at the point the map records for this place. The entrance has not been verified, so the last few metres are for you to judge.

The nearest settlement is Crosshaven, 3.2 km south of the beach. The register records parking here. Getting to the town is not getting to the beach, so the journey below is worked out to the beach itself and the last stretch on foot is measured rather than left out.
Get directions
Or open it inGoogle MapsdirectionsApple MapsdirectionsWazedriving satnav
Stops near it

The nearest scheduled stop is Fountainstown (245161), 150 m away in a straight line. Use the planner to check walking connections for your journey.

  • Fountainstown 150 m
    buses 220X and 220A
    Scheduled departures from this stop
  • Myrtleville 1.8 km
    bus 220A
    Scheduled departures from this stop

Getting to Crosshaven covers the journeys into the town itself.

Other places to swim in County Cork

Questions people ask

Is the water clean at Fountainstown?
The EPA classified it Good for the 2025 season, which is worked out from four years of samples. Fountainstown is classified as achieving Good Water Quality in 2025 based on the assessment of bacteriological results for the period 2022 to 2025. Fountainstown has achieved a Good Water Quality rating in 2025, and an Excellent Water Quality rating for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Annual water quality ratings are generally calculated using monitoring results over a four-year period and are assessed against stringent bacterial limits to protect bather health. A classification is a record of seasons that have finished; it is not a reading of the water today.
Is swimming restricted at Fountainstown?
The register records no season-long restriction. That is about the season, not about today: a short notice after heavy rain would not appear here, and this water is recorded as prone to short term pollution. Check with Cork County Council before swimming.
Does Fountainstown have a Blue Flag?
No. A beach without one can still have excellent water: the Blue Flag also asks for facilities, lifeguards and information boards, which a quiet strand may not have.
Is there a lifeguard at Fountainstown?
The register records one, without giving hours. Outside those hours nobody is watching the water.
How do you get to Fountainstown without a car?
The nearest stop in the national timetable is Fountainstown, 150 metres from the beach in a straight line, and buses 220X and 220A call there, run by Bus Éireann. The planner on this page works out the walk from that stop over real footways, and the whole journey from wherever you are starting, for the day and time you pick. Where no footway joins the stop to the beach it says so rather than making a number up.
Where does this come from?
The Environmental Protection Agency's list of places people swim, which it calls the bathing water register, read on 2026-09-20, where this record was last changed on 2026-04-08. Water quality, awards, lifeguards and facilities are the EPA's own fields, and a field it leaves blank is shown as not recorded rather than as a no. The distance to the nearest town is this site's own measurement, in a straight line.

Water quality, awards, lifeguards, toilets, parking and access are the Environmental Protection Agency’s own fields, from its bathing water register, read 2026-09-20. The classification covers four years of sampling and is not a reading for today: after heavy rain the water can be worse than the classification suggests, and the EPA and the local authority post notices when it is. Positions are the EPA’s grid references, projected to latitude and longitude. Journeys are the National Transport Authority’s published timetable.

Beaches and bathing waters in Ireland·Beaches in County Cork