We present new UBV photoelectric observations of 119 stars in the field of the southern open cluster IC 2488, supplemented by DDO and Washington photometry and Coravel radial velocities for a sample of red giant candidates. Nearly 50% of the stars sampled - including three red giants and one blue straggler - are found to be probable cluster members. Photometric membership probabilities of the red giant candidates show good agreement with those obtained from Coravel data. A mean radial velocity of -2.63+/-0.06km/s is derived for the cluster giants. The reddening across the cluster is found to be uniform, the mean value being E(B-V)=0.24+/-0.04. IC 2488, located at a distance of (1250+/-120) pc from the Sun and 96 pc below the Galactic plane, is most probably not related to the planetary nebula ESO 166-PN21. A metal abundance [Fe/H]=0.10+/-0.06 relative to the Sun is determined from DDO data of the red giant members, in good agreement with the [Fe/H] values derived from five independent Washington abundance indices. An age of 180Myr is determined from the fitting of isochrones computed with convective overshooting for Z=0.019. The isochrone for logt=8.25 reproduces remarkably well not only the morphology of the upper main sequence but also the observed red giant pattern.
