A Luring Wild Otherworldliness

Is West Cork the best place in Europe to survive a nuclear attack? German newspapers are credited with originating the theory about this unspoiled part of Ireland in the 1970s when Cold War hysteria on mainland Europe was at its height. Though you would be hard pressed to find supporting data for this claim, West Cork was an idyll, with prevailing southwesterly winds that would likely carry any atomic fallout from a divided Europe far away.

While visitors to this peaceful, rural region on Ireland's southern seaboard may no longer be seeking a nuclear safe haven, West Cork's rugged topography is still its best and most romantic asset.

That wild otherworldliness has lured artists, writers and once even a hippie commune here. The more extreme free spirits may have long gone, or been gently assimilated, but the area still has an alternative edge and an influx of foreigners over the past 30 years has made it an innovative and quirky place.

The area, chock-full of cozy pubs, golf courses and Gaelic monuments, has tremendous pulling power and many Germans, French, Dutch and Britons have settled here over the past few decades. In the country's 2006 census, the latest data available, some 14% of the local population—nearly 8,000 people—say they were born elsewhere in Europe, compared with an average of 7% across the Republic of Ireland.

However, West Cork was a destination for invaders long before the recent émigrés came. The English began attempting to bring the Irish under their heel from 1200. By the end of the 16th century, they had largely succeeded and the plantations of "Perfidious Albion" had established a firm foothold.

In many ways, the English legacy in Ireland is best told through the stately homes the Anglo-Irish ascendancy built. Many of the country's "big houses" were destroyed in the Irish Civil War 90 years ago, but Bantry House, erected around 1700, is still extant in a lovely setting at the mouth of Bantry Bay. Egerton Shelswell-White, a direct descendant of Richard White, the first Earl of Bantry, now makes the demesne his home and is regularly seen out mowing its manicured lawns.

Latterly a tourist attraction offering accommodation and a music-festival venue, Bantry House (www.bantryhouse.com) has previously been a fort, hospital, garrison and a first line of defense against another invasion force—a 43-strong French fleet attempting to lead an armed rebellion against the English in 1796. (Bad weather prevented the 15,000 soldiers from disembarking and altering the course of Irish history.) Today, a tour of the home shows off the Georgian-era architecture and art treasures collected by the second Earl of Bantry on his Grand Tour.

Make sure to climb the 100 steps through a series of terraces, not just to marvel at the garden's exotic plants, but to behold one of the best views of the bay.

West Cork, located favorably on the Gulf Stream, in the county of Cork, is itself a breeding ground for flora and fauna. There is even a small island in Bantry Bay entirely devoted to ornamental subtropical plants. Beloved by horticulturalists, the 15-hectare Garinish Island possesses a magnificent Italian garden that thrives in the area's humid microclimate. It is reached by ferry from the nearby town of Glengarriff, whose beauty has captured the imagination of many over the years. "What sends picturesque tourists to the Rhine and Saxon Switzerland [as] within five miles round the pretty inn of Glengarriff there is a country of the magnificence of which no pen can give an idea," Victorian author William Makepeace Thackeray wrote in 1842. "I would like to be a great prince, and bring a train of painters over to make…a set of pictures of the place."

West Cork has changed perhaps a touch since then. "There are more therapists than customers in this area!" laughs Markus Bäuchle, a German who came here 11 years ago with his aromatherapist wife to live in a remote farmstead near Glengarriff. "I am a bit of a romantic. I love unspoiled nature," adds Mr. Bäuchle, who runs walking trips for visitors through Wanderlust Glengarriff (www.wanderlust.ie). "Why not get paid for what you love?"

Walking holidays are tremendously popular here—with rambles and hikes to cater for all. The Sheep's Head Peninsula, an 88-kilometer trail that gives Bantry Bay its southern boundary, is the most renowned. Dotted with old copper mines and Napoleonic signal towers, the route is best accessed from the village of Durrus. Walking along the path at dusk, trees that have been pounded for decades by Atlantic gusts appear hunched over like gnarled old ladies. Moving toward the end of the narrow peninsula, the cliff-top vistas are stunning, showing the mountains of Beara further west across the bay and, if you're lucky, a dolphin or a whale below.

Such outdoorsy stuff whips up an appetite. Thankfully, Durrus is blessed with two high-class restaurants. Blairscove (www.blairscove.ie), at the end of a bumpy country drive, is worth a detour. Set in converted stone stables with an open fired grill, it is run by a German and Belgian couple, and also offers accommodation. The pan-seared scallops served with slow poached vegetables are a particular delight. Nearer to the village is the Good Things Café (www.thegoodthingscafe.com), a more informal and buzzing restaurant run by Irish chef Carmel Somers that doubles as a cooking school. Both restaurants make a point of using locally sourced produce.

Further east along the coastline is the pretty fishing village of Baltimore—far removed from the urban landscape of its American counterpart—from where you can reach the scenic Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) island of Cape Clear. "Here the colors are so strong," Wilmie Owen, a Dutch native who runs the Slipway bed-and-breakfast hotel (www.theslipway.com) in Baltimore, says as she looks across the harbor. "The flowers, the green and the sea…"

Schull, located opposite Baltimore on the western side of Roaring Water Bay, looks and feels like a French or German hamlet. Most of the town's population seems to come from those countries too. Crêperies, arts-and-craft shops and fashionable boutiques make this one of West Cork's finest high streets.

Gwen Lasserre, a former chef at Blairscove, is a French chocolatier who opened a shop in Schull five years ago (www.gwenschocolate.com). Local schoolboys mix with tourists in his shop, converted from a butcher's, to try out his prize-winning lavender ganaches and caramel truffles. "I really fell in love with the area—the people, the landscape," he says. "It is very cosmopolitan. You don't think it would be."