Overview
Westport is one of a small number of Irish towns that someone sat down and designed from scratch. The architect William Leeson won a competition to lay it out in 1767, and his plan is still legible on the ground: a central octagon, two tree-lined riverside promenades known as the Malls, and the Carrowbeg River channelled arrow-straight between stone bridges. It sits in the south-east corner of Clew Bay in County Mayo, a working town of colourful, independently owned shopfronts that also happens to be the obvious base for three of the west’s big draws: Croagh Patrick, the Great Western Greenway and the islands of the bay. If you have a single day, give the morning to the greenway or the Reek and the evening to a session in Matt Molloy’s.
History and the planned town
This was Ó Máille country long before the grid went in. The seafaring clan of Grace O’Malley, the 16th-century chieftain and sometime pirate, had a castle on what is now the front lawn of Westport House, and the Irish name Cathair na Mart (‘the stone fort of the beeves’) remembers that older settlement. When the Browne family, who had married into the estate, wanted landscaped parkland around their new house, they cleared the old village and built a fresh town to Leeson’s plan from 1767 onward, after advertising for it in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal. The design is often wrongly credited to James Wyatt; Wyatt worked on the house, not the streets. Whatever the pedigree, the town has kept itself immaculate – three Tidy Towns titles (2001, 2006 and 2008) and, in 2012, the Irish Times’s ‘Best Place to Live in Ireland’. The Art Deco clock tower at the main junction has been the standard meeting point since 1947, and is locally famous for telling the wrong time; the council spent €900 on repairs in 2022.
Westport House and the estate
Westport House stands on the foundations of Grace O’Malley’s castle. Richard Cassels designed its east front in 1730 for Colonel John Browne and his wife, ancestors of the Marquess of Sligo, and James Wyatt finished the house around 1778; it has been open to the public since 1960. Inside are more than 30 furnished rooms, period paintings and a 3,000-year-old Greek sarcophagus. The surrounding estate runs to 400 acres of terraces, woodland walks and a lake that frames Clew Bay and Croagh Patrick beyond. Families usually pair the house with the on-site Pirate Adventure Park – net park, zip-wire, miniature railway and water rides – and the estate also runs a caravan park and glamping village for longer stays.
The harbour and Clew Bay
Westport’s quay, a fifteen-minute walk down Bridge Street from the octagon, worked as a commercial port through the 18th century before tourism took over. The converted stone warehouses now hold cafés, galleries and boat operators. The Clew Bay Heritage Centre on the waterfront traces the bay’s fishing industry, its shipwrecks and island communities, and from the same pier seasonal cruises head out into Clew Bay, a drowned drumlin landscape of roughly 365 islands. Trips take in the seal colony and pass Inishgort Lighthouse; the sheltered water is also good for sea angling, kayaking and paddleboarding, with operators supplying gear and routes.
Croagh Patrick and the greenway
The cone of Croagh Patrick rises 764 metres straight off the coast about 8km west of town. ‘The Reek’, as it is known locally, has drawn pilgrims for thousands of years and is tied to Saint Patrick’s 40-day fast; the busiest day is Reek Sunday in late July, when thousands climb, some barefoot. The pilgrim path starts at the visitor centre in Murrisk and takes most people 1.5 to 2 hours up and about the same down. Be warned that the final push is a steep slope of loose scree that turns to ball bearings underfoot on the descent – this is where people turn ankles, so bring proper boots and take the last section slowly.
For something flatter, the Great Western Greenway follows the old Westport-to-Achill railway for 42km of traffic-free path, through Newport and Mulranny and over the bridge to Achill Island. Bikes are easy to hire in town, cafés and pubs line the route, and it suits families and casual cyclists. If you only manage one thing outdoors, make it the greenway: it does the scenery without the suffering, and the Reek will still be there next time.
Food, drink and music
Westport eats well on seafood and local producers. An Port Mór on Bridge Street does seasonal coastal cooking, and Sage leans on refined Irish ingredients. But the pub that draws people from across the country is Matt Molloy’s, owned by the flute player of The Chieftains, with trad sessions most nights in the back room; The Porter House and Cobbler’s Bar are the alternatives for music and a quieter pint. On Thursdays the country market fills the town centre with stalls of fresh mussels, clams, farmhouse cheese and baked goods – get there in the morning, as the good stalls sell out by early afternoon.
Getting there and practicalities
- Getting there: Iarnród Éireann runs direct trains from Dublin Heuston to Westport in about 2.5 hours; Bus Éireann serves Sligo, Galway and Dublin, and Ireland West Airport Knock is roughly 30 minutes away by car.
- Parking: Pay-and-display in the town centre runs from 11am to 6.30pm daily except Sundays and bank holidays; there is free parking at some spots, including the Westport Plaza Hotel.
- Opening hours: Westport House and the Clew Bay Heritage Centre open seasonally – check current times before you travel, as they shorten in winter. Boat cruises run roughly April to October, weather permitting.
- Accommodation: Everything from heritage B&Bs in converted townhouses to waterfront hotels and estate camping. Book well ahead for July and August, when summer holidays and Reek Sunday pilgrims collide.
- On the water: A valid licence is required to sea-angle from the quay, and Met Éireann is worth a look before Croagh Patrick, as summit conditions turn fast.
Arrive early for the Thursday market, and if the forecast is kind, leave the car at the B&B and let the greenway do the work.