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Travel guide
Galway and Connemara
4 days · 5 things to do
Best time to go: May to September
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Welcome
Galway and Connemara, in a few days
Easy-going Galway and the wild country of Connemara: bogland, the Twelve Bens, Kylemore Abbey, the Aran Islands and Killary Harbour, often called Ireland's only fjord. This is the Atlantic west at its most Irish.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 1 thing
- D3 Day 3 1 thing
- D4 Day 4 1 thing
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Galway and the Latin Quarter free · about 1 hNarrow streets of pubs, shops and buskers around Shop Street and Quay Street, down to the Spanish Arch and the River Corrib.
- Afternoon · Kylemore Abbey · 2 to 3 hA 19th-century castle by a lake below the mountains, home to Benedictine nuns since 1920, with a Gothic church and a walled Victorian garden.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Park House Hotel ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€170 a night
D2
Day 2
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Connemara National Park free · half a dayBog, heath and mountain near Letterfrack, with a trail up Diamond Hill for views over the coast and the Twelve Bens.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Park House Hotel ↗€170 a night
D3
Day 3
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- All day · The Aran Islands · a full dayThree limestone islands reached by ferry, where Irish is still spoken and the stone fort of Dún Aonghasa sits on a sheer cliff edge.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Park House Hotel ↗€170 a night
D4
Day 4
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- Morning · The Cliffs of Moher · half a daySheer cliffs rising more than 200 metres above the Atlantic in County Clare, about an hour and a half's drive south of Galway.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
Some links are partner links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Irish stew: lamb, potato and onion, cooked slowly and seasoned lightly.
- Soda bread: raised with bicarbonate instead of yeast, baked that same morning.
- Atlantic seafood, and Galway oysters before anything else.
- The full Irish breakfast, which doubles as lunch if you time it right.
- Guinness, and Irish whiskey after it.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Driving is on the left, and the lanes are narrow, wet and walled.
- Drinking in pubs is expensive: a pint in Dublin runs well over six euro.
- Book early along the Wild Atlantic Way, above all in July and August.
- Dress in layers: four seasons in a day is a description, not a joke.
Getting by
Words that help
🗣️ English is the main language here, so there is nothing to learn by heart.
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyEuro (EUR, €)
BudgetAbout €115 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMay to September
PlugG (UK) · 230V
Tap waterSafe to drink
TippingOptional, around 10%
Emergency112 / 999
EntryIreland sits outside Schengen: EU citizens need only an ID card, UK citizens travel freely under the Common Travel Area, and US, Canadian and Australian passports get 90 days visa-free.
HealthNo specific vaccination needed. Check that tetanus, polio and MMR are up to date.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/galway-connemara
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.