Most of this list sits west of the Corrib. Galway city anchors it, a compact medieval port whose old core can be crossed on foot in twenty minutes; the Latin Quarter, the Saturday market beside St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church and the working docks all fall inside that walk. Past Salthill the road runs into Connemara. Barna is Irish-speaking and about seven kilometres out, with a pocket of old oak woodland and the Blue Flag strand at Silverstrand. Casla has RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and the four waymarked Seana Mhach bog loops. Clifden, the biggest town in the region, is the usual base, with the Sky Road at its edge and Cleggan’s pier north of it for the Inishbofin ferry.
East Galway is thinner on the ground. Ballinasloe on the River Suck is a planned Georgian market town for most of the year and something else each October, when the Fair Green fills for what is reckoned the oldest horse fair in Europe. Ballymoe, further up the same river, remembers Fr Edward J. Flanagan at a free visitor centre in the old presbytery. Gort sits south, where the Burren’s limestone meets the Slieve Aughty valleys, and is the base for Coole Park and Thoor Ballylee.
The city entries need no car; Connemara needs one, and the weather sets the shape of the day out there. July brings the festivals and the Aran ferries, October the fairs at Ballinasloe and Maam Cross.
The only city on the Wild Atlantic Way, a medieval port whose Latin Quarter, Spanish Arch and Salthill promenade all fall within one short walk.
An east Galway market town on the River Suck with a planned Georgian grid, and each October the oldest horse fair in Europe.
A quiet Suck village with a free visitor centre to Fr Edward J. Flanagan, the birthplace of 1916 signatory Éamonn Ceannt, and brown-trout fishing.
Irish-speaking coastal village seven kilometres west of the city, with ancient oaks, St Enda's Well, the Blue Flag beach at Silverstrand and good seafood.
Home of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta since 1972, and the start of four waymarked bog loops with views across to the Maamturks.
26 of 26 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Galway, galway
Galway is the only city on the Wild Atlantic Way, a compact medieval port at the mouth of the River Corrib. Its old core – Shop Street, Kirwan's Lane, the Spanish Arch and the Latin Quarter – is small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes, with the Claddagh and the Salthill promenade just beyond. Time a visit for July and the festival calendar takes over the streets.
Ballinasloe, galway
Each October the Fair Green hosts what's reckoned the oldest horse fair in Europe, drawing tens of thousands to a town of a few thousand. The rest of the year Ballinasloe is a quieter east Galway market town on the River Suck, with a planned Georgian grid, a Friday country market and Ireland's first zero-emission distillery a short drive away.
Ballymoe, galway
Two men of outsized reach came from this small River Suck village. Éamonn Ceannt, a signatory of the 1916 Proclamation, was born in its police barracks, and Fr Edward J. Flanagan, founder of Boys Town in Nebraska, is remembered at a free visitor centre in the old presbytery. The Suck Valley Way and brown-trout fishing fill out a quiet day.
Barna, galway
Barna is an Irish-speaking coastal village about seven kilometres west of Galway city, once known as Freeport. It has a pocket of native woodland holding some of the oldest oaks in the west of Ireland and the early-medieval St Enda's Well, the Blue Flag beach at Silverstrand, and a reputation for seafood that outruns its size.
Casla, galway
Casla has been the base of Ireland’s Irish-language radio, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, since 1972, and it’s where J. Bruce Ismay of the Titanic built his Lutyens-designed lodge. The reason to stop, though, is the Seana Mhach bog trails: four waymarked loops across blanket bog with views to the Maamturks.
Cleggan, galway
Cleggan is a working fishing village on the Connemara coast whose stone pier is the mainland departure point for ferries to Inishbofin and Inishturk. Around it are sheltered strands, a Neolithic court tomb near Sellerna, and the memory of the 1927 Cleggan Bay Disaster.
Clifden, galway
Clifden is the biggest town in Connemara and the natural base for the region, with the Sky Road loop on its doorstep and the Marconi wireless ruins and Alcock and Brown landing site in the bog to the south. The town itself is light on sights – the draw is everything within a short drive.
Connemara, galway
Connemara is the largest Gaeltacht in Ireland, a region of granite peaks, blanket bog and Atlantic coves west of Galway city. The Twelve Bens and Connemara National Park draw the walkers; Kylemore Abbey, the Sky Road at Clifden and Killary fjord fill out a day or two more.
Corrandulla, galway
Corrandulla is a small village north of Galway city, near the eastern side of Lough Corrib. It's best known for the agricultural show that packs its fields on the fourth Sunday of June, and for the old watermills strung along the Cregg river.
galway
Galway Docks are a genuine working port rather than a heritage set – timber and fuel still come ashore here, cruise passengers land by tender, and the summer ferries to the Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher leave from the same quays. The Spanish Arch, the City Museum and the coloured houses of the Long Walk are all a few minutes away.
Galway City, galway
Galway Market has traded on the cobbled lane beside St Nicholas' Collegiate Church since at least 1260. The Saturday market is the real one – food stalls, farmhouse cheese, hot lunches and buskers – with a smaller run on Sundays and bank holidays, daily openings in July and August, and a Christmas market in December.
Gort, galway
Gort sits where the Burren's limestone meets the green Slieve Aughty valleys. It is best known as the base for Coole Park and Thoor Ballylee, Lady Gregory's estate and Yeats's tower, and since the 2000s for one of Ireland's largest Brazilian communities.
Galway City, galway
The Latin Quarter is Galway's medieval core squeezed into a few cobbled lanes between the Spanish Arch and St Nicholas' church. It's where the trad sessions, the buskers and the independent shops are, and it's free to walk. If you've one evening in Galway, start here.
Maam Cross, galway
Maam Cross is a crossroads in the middle of Connemara – an Teach Dóite, 'the burned house', after a lodge that burned nearby around 1839. Its old railway station, opened in 1895 and closed in 1935, is being brought back to life track by track by volunteers, while the weekly mart and the October fair still pull farmers down off the hills. It makes a solid base for the Maumturks and Maam Valley.
Maum, galway
Maum – An Mám – is a small Gaeltacht village at the head of the Maam Valley, where the road signs are Irish-only and the Maumturks rise straight from the door. Keane's, the pub at the bridge, was built in 1820 by the engineer Alexander Nimmo; north of it a marked path climbs to the mountain chapel at Mám Éan. It's a walkers' and anglers' base, not a place to tick off in an afternoon.
Salthill, galway
Salthill is Galway’s seafront suburb, built around a prom that runs west to the Blackrock diving tower. Finish the walk by kicking the wall, watch swimmers off the 10m board, and eat along the Golden Half-Mile. The Burren and Aran Islands sit across the bay.
Galway City, galway
The Claddagh is the old Irish-speaking fishing community at the mouth of the River Corrib in Galway, the place that named the Claddagh ring. The original thatched village was demolished in the 1930s, but the quay remains, a free waterside walk for swans, Galway Hooker boats and the bay, with the ring's documented birthplace, Thomas Dillon's, a short stroll away.
Tuam, galway
Tuam is a north Galway market town with two cathedrals – one holding the 12th-century High Cross of Tuam, the other lit by Harry Clarke glass. A working water-powered corn mill, Bronze Age burial mounds and Knockma Hill fill out a day, 32 km up the road from Galway city.
Galway, galway
Tully sits on the Renvyle Peninsula with the Twelve Bens behind it and Mweelrea across the water in Mayo. Trá na mBean, the small Ladies Beach, is a few minutes' walk, and the community music house runs traditional sessions, usually on Friday evenings. The village stays quiet even in summer.
An Spidéal, galway
galway
Ballygar, galway
Glenamaddy, galway
Inis Mór, galway
East Galway, galway
Lettermullen, galway
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