Things to do in Co. Galway
39 places
1.Dog's Bay
White sand made from crushed seashells, not rock
Dog's Bay is a horseshoe of pure white sand near Roundstone whose grains are not rock but crushed seashells, backed by rare machair dunes on a narrow tombolo jutting into the Atlantic.
- Highlights
- Horseshoe beach of more than a mile of white sand
- Sand made from crushed seashells and foraminifera
- Sheltered, clear water for swimming and watersports
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Dog-friendly
2.Glengowla Mines
Descend into Connemara's only show mine
Connemara's only show mine, where you descend into silver and lead workings abandoned in 1865, then surface to sheepdog and turf-cutting demonstrations on a working family farm.
- Highlights
- Guided underground mine tour with hard hat
- Gold panning - keep the gems you find
- Sheepdog herding demonstration on a working farm
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
3.Joyce Country Sheepdogs
Border Collies herding sheep three times a day
A working Connemara hill sheep farm where third-generation shepherd Joe Joyce and his Border Collies round up Blackface sheep three times a day — with puppies, pet lambs and donkeys thrown in.
- Highlights
- Border Collies herding Connemara Blackface sheep
- Demonstrations at 11am, 1pm and 3.30pm, Monday to Saturday
- Bottle-feed pet lambs; meet a goat called Nancy and donkeys Seamie and Síle
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
4.Connemara National Park
Free entry to 2,000 hectares of Twelve Bens hills
Connemara National Park protects 2,000 hectares of bog, heath and woodland beneath the Twelve Bens, with the summit of Diamond Hill as its signature walk. Entry and parking are free, year round.
- Highlights
- Four waymarked trails from the Visitor Centre
- Summit of Diamond Hill (Red Route)
- Views of the Twelve Bens and Kylemore Abbey
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
5.Dún Aonghasa
a 3,000-year-old fort on an 87m cliff edge
Perched on a sheer cliff above the Atlantic, Dún Aonghasa is a 3,000-year-old drystone fort and the largest of the Aran Islands' prehistoric strongholds.
- Highlights
- One of Europe's finest prehistoric stone forts, on a 300ft cliff
- Three massive drystone walls plus a chevaux-de-frise of upright stones
- 87-metre sea drop with no fence or barrier at the edge
6.Irish Workhouse Centre
a preserved 1852 Famine-era workhouse
Portumna's Irish Workhouse Centre calls itself the most complete authentic workhouse in Ireland: seven buildings ranged around four yards, opened in 1852 as one of 163 Poor Law workhouses and in use until 1922. Today guided tours and exhibitions tell the story of the people forced through its doors.
- Highlights
- Ireland's most complete authentic workhouse
- 75-minute guided tours of 7 buildings around 4 yards
- Dark Shadows: 20-24 bog oak Famine sculptures
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
7.Killary Sheep Farm
Border collies herd sheep above a fjord
A traditional working mountain farm above Killary Fjord, where visitors watch border collies round up the flock and can bottle-feed orphan lambs. About 200 horned blackface ewes roam the hillside on the Wild Atlantic Way.
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms
8.Knockma Forest Trail
Fairy legends, Bronze Age cairns, panoramic views
Knockma, the Hill of Maeve, is a Coillte forest walk 8 km west of Tuam where hazel and oak woods climb to two Bronze Age cairns and one of the widest panoramas in the west of Ireland. Legend says Finvarra, king of the Connacht fairies, holds court here.
- Highlights
- Free entry, open all year round
- 4.2 km looped forest trail with four sections
- Two Bronze Age cairns said to be Queen Maeve's grave
- Facilities
- Dog-friendly · Wheelchair access
9.Knockma Wood
Cairns, fairy doors and a Burren-like summit
Knockma, the legendary Hill of Maeve, rises above native woodland near Belclare in east Galway, where a short loop of forest track leads to Bronze Age cairns, Burren-like limestone and one of Ireland's grandest panoramas.
- Highlights
- Panoramic summit views towards Galway Bay and the Burren
- Two Bronze Age cairns linked to Queen Maeve and Ceasair
- Home of Finvarra, king of the Connacht fairies
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Dog-friendly · Wheelchair access
10.Poll na bPéist - The Wormhole
A perfectly rectangular tidal pool cut by the sea
Poll na bPéist — the Wormhole — is a near-perfect rectangular tidal pool sliced into the limestone cliffs of Inis Mór, so geometric it looks man-made but was carved entirely by the Atlantic. Reached only on foot over jagged karst, it is one of the Aran Islands' wildest sights.
- Highlights
- A near-perfect rectangle, carved naturally in limestone
- About 25 m long, 10 m wide and 10-20 m deep
- 27 m Red Bull Cliff Diving platform (2014 and 2017)
11.Renvyle Beach
Quiet white-sand bay with island views
A long white-sand bay on the northwest edge of the Renvyle Peninsula, backed by Mweelrea and the Twelve Bens and facing a scatter of Atlantic islands. Quiet, natural and free to visit.
- Highlights
- Two white-sand beaches split by a hillock
- Views of Mweelrea and the Twelve Bens
- Inishturk and Clare Island on the horizon
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
12.Rinville Park
Free coastal park with castle ruins and bay views
Rinville Park is a 100-hectare coastal estate near Oranmore where tarmac woodland trails, a 16th-century castle ruin and open Galway Bay views are all free to wander.
- Highlights
- Free admission, open all year round
- Over 100 hectares of woodland, farmland and shoreline
- Ruins of Rinville Castle and Rinville Hall
- Facilities
- Restrooms · Wheelchair access
13.Wildlands
a 1 km treetop course with a 94 m zip line
Over 20 acres of mature woodland on the shores of Ballyquirke Lough, Wildlands crams zip lines, treetop nets, climbing walls and an award-winning kitchen into one Galway adventure park. It is part of a growing cluster of activity centres along the Wild Atlantic Way gateway to Connemara.
- Highlights
- Zip 'n' Trek: a 1 km course 15 m up with 10 zip lines
- 16 m tower with Tarzan swing and 13 m freefall
- Indoor Fun Walls and Crystal Maze-style Celtic Challenge Rooms
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
14.Barna Woods
Ancient oaks and a 1.6 km woodland trail
A 35-hectare remnant of ancient broadleaf woodland on the western edge of Galway city, laced with easy trails, a holy well and newly carved tree sculptures.
- Highlights
- Oaks among the oldest in the west of Ireland
- Saint Enda's Well, a 5th/6th-century holy well
- 1.6 km easy, family-friendly biodiversity trail
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
15.Brigit's Garden & Café
Celtic gardens, fairy fort and the largest sundial
Eleven acres of Celtic-themed gardens, woodland trails and wildflower meadows at the gateway to Connemara, laid out around the four festivals of the Celtic year. There is a thatched roundhouse, a crannóg, an ancient ring fort and the largest calendar sundial in Ireland.
- Highlights
- Four gardens for Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasa
- Largest calendar sundial in Ireland
- Thatched roundhouse and crannóg
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
16.Coole Park
Where Yeats's seven woods meet a vanishing lake
Coole Park is the old Gregory estate that became the heart of the Irish Literary Revival — now a 400-hectare NPWS nature reserve of woods, turloughs and lake where W.B. Yeats wrote, and where the Autograph Tree still carries the carved initials of Ireland's great writers.
- Highlights
- Lady Gregory's Autograph Tree with Yeats, Shaw, Synge and O'Casey initials
- Two waymarked trails (1.75 km family and 4.5 km Seven Woods)
- Coole Lake and its globally important turlough wetland
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
17.Kilmurvey Beach
Blue Flag cove below a Bronze Age cliff fort
A sheltered crescent of white sand on Inis Mór, holding the Aran Islands' only Blue Flag — with a grey seal colony offshore and the great cliff fort of Dún Aonghasa a 15-minute walk uphill.
- Highlights
- Aran Islands' only Blue Flag beach
- Calm, clear water safe for children
- Grey seals hauled out at low tide
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Wheelchair access
18.Pallas Karting
Race 85kph karts on Europe's longest track
A family-run adventure centre in rural Galway that has been fuelling adrenaline since the 1990s, built around a 1,500m go-kart circuit it bills as Europe's longest.
- Highlights
- Europe's longest karting track (1,500m)
- 85kph Thunderkarts
- Paintball across 4 game zones
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
19.Pine Island Viewpoint
a lone pine island mirrored in a Connemara lake
A tiny stand of Scots pines on a dark Connemara lake, mirrored in still water beneath the Twelve Bens — the view that has become shorthand for the west of Ireland.
- Highlights
- Iconic Scots pine island on Derryclare Lough
- Reflections of the Twelve Bens on calm mornings
- Short path down to the shoreline
20.The Long Point
A lifeguarded Blue Flag lake beach
A Blue Flag lake beach on the southern shore of Lough Rea, The Long Point is where Loughrea swims, picnics and watches birds — clear water, a sandy shore and lifeguards in summer, two kilometres from town.
- Highlights
- Blue Flag bathing water (2026)
- Sandy beach with summer lifeguards
- Views over Lough Rea and its crannog islands
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
21.Turoe Pet Farm
Pet farm with Europe's largest indoor bouncy castle
A family-run pet farm and leisure park near Loughrea since 1993, pairing a 14-acre traditional farm with huge indoor play areas so a rainy Galway day still works.
- Highlights
- Feed goats, ponies, donkeys and llamas (and "Dundee" the crocodile)
- Inflatable City: 8,000 sq ft bouncy castle with a 25ft slide
- Jungle Town two-storey indoor play frame
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
22.Ionad Cultúrtha an Phiarsaigh, Conamara
Pearse's cottage and a Connemara Gaeltacht centre
A modern visitor centre in the Connemara Gaeltacht at Ros Muc that tells the story of Patrick Pearse and the landscape, language and culture that shaped him — with a bog walk out to his summer cottage.
- Highlights
- Interactive exhibition on south Connemara's landscape, language and culture
- Teach an Phiarsaigh, Patrick Pearse's summer cottage
- Scenic looped walk across the bog between centre and cottage
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Wheelchair access
23.Killary Adventure Company
5 zip-line routes above a glacial fjord
An adventure playground on the shores of Killary Fjord, the country's only fjord, where zip lines, sea kayaks and a mud obstacle course run beneath the Connemara mountains.
- Highlights
- Ireland's only fjord as the setting
- Aerial Park with 12 zip lines and 35 elements
- No-wetsuit guided sea kayaking
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
24.Kylemore Abbey & Victorian Walled Garden
a fairytale castle with a 6-acre walled garden
A romantic Victorian castle turned Benedictine monastery, Kylemore sits beneath the Connemara mountains, its neo-Gothic church and six-acre walled garden wrapped in 1,000 acres of woodland and lakeshore.
- Highlights
- Castle reflected in Lough Pollacappul
- Neo-Gothic church, a 'cathedral in miniature'
- 6-acre Victorian walled garden with free shuttle
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
25.Plassey Shipwreck
1960 shipwreck rusting on the Atlantic shore
The rust-orange hulk of a 1960 cargo ship, thrown ashore by Atlantic storms on Inis Oírr's rocky eastern tip and now famous as the wreck in Father Ted's opening credits.
- Highlights
- Father Ted opening-credits wreck
- Cargo ship stranded in March 1960
- Views to the Cliffs of Moher
26.Portumna Castle & Gardens
Jacobean castle with a 17th-century walled garden
Built in 1618 by the fourth Earl of Clanricarde, Portumna Castle was gutted by fire in 1826 and survives as a roofless Jacobean shell, ringed by formal gardens and a walled kitchen garden above Lough Derg.
- Highlights
- Unique transitional Irish architecture of the early 1600s
- Ground-floor exhibition on the de Burgo family
- Walled 17th-century kitchen garden with a maze
27.Aughnanure Castle
Connemara's best-preserved 15th-century tower house
Connemara's best-preserved late-medieval tower house, perched on a rocky outcrop over the Drimneen River near the western shore of Lough Corrib. Built in the late 1400s, it was the stronghold of the O'Flaherty lords of Iarchonnacht for over two centuries.
- Highlights
- Late 15th-century O'Flaherty tower house on the Drimneen River
- Riverside walk to the gatehouse
- Four floors with murderhole, secret chamber and gallery
28.Galway City Museum
Free entry, three floors beside Spanish Arch
A free, three-floor museum on Galway's waterfront, right beside the Spanish Arch, telling the city's story through medieval treasures, 1916 films, the Claddagh and the sea.
- Highlights
- Free admission, no booking
- Three floors of galleries beside the Spanish Arch
- Oldest known Claddagh Ring and the 1710 Great Mace
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
29.Loughwell Farm Park
12,000 sq ft of indoor play and mega slides
A 12,000 sq ft indoor Playbarn plus acres of outdoor adventure on a farm park near Moycullen, with mega slides, go-karts and friendly alpacas whatever the weather.
- Highlights
- 12,000 sq ft indoor Playbarn with mega slides
- Outdoor go-karts, zip wire, mini golf and sandpits
- Daily animal activities: feed the alpacas, cuddle the rabbits
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
30.Menlo Castle
ivy-clad 16th-century ruin on the River Corrib
The ivy-covered ruin of a 16th-century castle on the banks of the River Corrib, home to the Blake family for 300 years until a fatal fire in 1910. It is a striking, free landmark, but access to the ruins has long been restricted for conservation work.
- Highlights
- 16th-century ivy-covered castle ruin
- Home of the Blake family, 1600-1910
- 1910 fire that killed three people
31.Quiet Man Bridge
John Wayne's 1952 film bridge beside the N59
A humped-back 19th-century road bridge over the Leam River that became a piece of film history in John Ford's 1952 classic The Quiet Man. Today it is an easy, free roadside stop on the N59 through Connemara.
- Highlights
- Filming location from The Quiet Man (1952)
- John Wayne commemorative plaque on the bridge
- Humped-back stone bridge with double Roman arches over the Leam River
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Wheelchair access
32.Wild Atlantic Way Signature Discovery Point @Derrigimlagh
Two transatlantic firsts on one windswept bog
A lonely Connemara blanket bog where, within a dozen years, Marconi sent the first commercial transatlantic radio signal and Alcock and Brown ended the first non-stop transatlantic flight.
- Highlights
- 5km signposted loop through blanket bog
- Site of Marconi's 1907 transatlantic radio station
- Cairn marking Alcock & Brown's 1919 landing
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Wheelchair access
33.Clifden Castle
a roofless Gothic castle on the Sky Road
A roofless Gothic Revival manor built in 1818, Clifden Castle stands ivy-clad among grazing fields at the start of the Sky Road, reached by a 1km walk from its stone gateway.
- Highlights
- Free, open-access ruin
- 1km walk from the gate through pastures
- Five mock standing stones along the path
34.Na Seacht dTeampaill - The Seven Churches
A medieval pilgrimage site with just two churches
For centuries this ruined monastic settlement near Eoghanacht was one of the great pilgrimage centres of Ireland's west coast, drawing pilgrims to the grave of St Brecan. Despite the name, only two churches survive among a haunting field of cross-inscribed stones and graves.
- Highlights
- St Brecan's Church, 8th–13th century, with the 'Pray for the Two Canons' gable stone
- Teampall an Phoill, a 15th-century church
- Cross-inscribed pillars and penitential beds
35.Roundstone Music & Crafts / Malachy Kearns
Hand-painted bodhráns from a 50-year master maker
Roundstone Music & Crafts is the working studio and shop of Malachy Kearns — "Malachy Bodhrán" — who has hand-built goatskin bodhráns here for over 50 years, including every drum used in Riverdance.
- Highlights
- Working bodhrán workshop and shop you can walk into
- Meet maker Malachy Kearns in person
- Hand-painted Celtic designs and bespoke family crests
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access
36.Dunguaire Castle
the castle Yeats and Shaw made their meeting place
A 16th-century tower house on the shores of Galway Bay, Dunguaire was the literary meeting place of Yeats, Shaw and Lady Gregory — and one of the most photographed castles in the country. It is currently closed to visitors during a change of ownership.
- Highlights
- 16th-century tower house built c.1520 on Galway Bay
- Meeting place of Yeats, Shaw, Lady Gregory and Synge
- Traditionally hosts a four-course medieval banquet
37.Galway Atlantaquaria
The country's largest native species aquarium
Ireland's largest native-species aquarium sits right on the Salthill Promenade, where two floors of rivers, lakes and open-ocean tanks bring the wildlife of Galway Bay indoors. It is an all-weather, fully accessible family attraction.
- Highlights
- Ireland's largest native species aquarium
- Over 25 years as an all-weather Salthill attraction
- Ocean Zone with sharks, Bream and Wreckfish
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Wheelchair access
38.Leisureland
A 65m waterslide and three pools by the sea
A Salthill seafront landmark since 1973, Leisureland packs three swimming pools, a 65m water slide, a giant inflatable obstacle course, a gym and an outdoor adventure-golf course into one site on the Wild Atlantic Way.
- Highlights
- 65m water slide
- Commando Run inflatable obstacle course
- Three pools (25m, learner and leisure)
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
39.Planet Entertainment Centre Galway
Bowling, laser tag and soft play under one roof
A long-running indoor family entertainment centre in Galway, packed with ten-pin bowling, laser tag, arcade games and a big soft-play area — all under one roof, whatever the weather.
- Highlights
- Glow-in-the-dark ten-pin bowling
- Laser tag arena
- Space Kids soft play with under-5s area
- Facilities
- Good for kids · Restrooms · Wheelchair access