Six places make up this list, and they sit a long way apart. Galway City Museum is the one most visitors reach first: three floors behind the Spanish Arch on the Corrib, free to enter, holding a full-size Galway hooker, the 1610 Civic Sword and a stone axe-head dated to around 3500 BC. It is walkable from anywhere in the city centre and the obvious choice on a wet afternoon.
The rest need a car. Two of them are Connemara, on or near the N59. The Connemara Sheep and Wool Centre sits at the head of Killary Fjord in Leenane, where a family keeps hand-carders and turn-of-the-century looms working; the 45-minute Woolcraft Experience puts you at the wheel yourself. Dan O’Hara’s Homestead, outside Clifden, is the cottage of a tenant farmer evicted in 1845 whose emigration ended up in a ballad, with a rebuilt crannóg and ring-fort around it and a tractor-drawn trap up to a viewpoint over the Twelve Bens.
East Galway and the islands hold the other three. The Battle of Aughrim Interpretive Centre covers the 1691 battle and opens May to September only, so check the calendar before driving out. Ballymoe’s Father Flanagan Visitor Centre and the Garumna Heritage Centre on Lettermullen are both free and both take about an hour.
A working family museum at the head of Killary Fjord where hand-carders and old looms still run, and the Woolcraft Experience puts the fleece in your hands.
The cottage of an 1845 evicted tenant farmer, ringed by a rebuilt crannóg and ring-fort, with a trap ride up to a viewpoint over the Twelve Bens.
Free across three floors behind the Spanish Arch, covering the city from prehistory onward, with a full-size Galway hooker and the 1610 Civic Sword.
The site where 35,000 men fought in 1691, reconstructed with a 3D audio-visual show and a signposted trail out onto Kilcommadan Hill.
A restored presbytery in Ballymoe telling the story of the local farm boy who founded Boys Town in Omaha, free to enter and an hour to see.
5 of 6 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Letterbrickaun, galway
At the head of Killary Fjord in Leenane, this family-run museum keeps the whole wool process going on hand-carders and turn-of-the-century looms. A 45-minute Woolcraft Experience lets you card, spin and weave the fleece yourself, and there's a café and shop attached.
Clifden, galway
The cottage at the heart of this hill farm belonged to Dan O'Hara, a tenant farmer evicted in 1845 whose emigration to New York turned him into a folk ballad. Around it, Martin and Nora Walsh have rebuilt a crannóg, a ring-fort and a beehive hut, and a tractor-drawn trap carries you up to a viewpoint over the Twelve Bens and Europe's largest blanket bog.
Galway City, galway
Galway City Museum is a free, three-floor museum behind the Spanish Arch on the banks of the River Corrib, telling the city's story from prehistory to the present. Among its objects are a full-size Galway hooker, the city's 1610 Civic Sword and 1710 Great Mace, and a stone axe-head dated to around 3500 BC. It's one of the best free things to do in Galway and a reliable wet-weather stop.
Aughrim, galway
Ballymoe, galway
Lettermullen, galway
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