Galway with Kids: What to See, How Long to Allow and Which Day Trip Works
The short answer. The Connemara day with the sheepdog farm is the one children remember. The open-top bus solves a tired afternoon. The thirteen-hour day from Dublin is not recommended under eight, two operators want you to bring your own child seat for under-fives, and the guided cliff-path walk is not a children's day at all.
Galway is an easy city with small children and a demanding one for day trips, because the good days out are long. The Galway day tours run from seventy-five minutes to thirteen hours, and the difference between a day your children enjoy and one you endure is almost entirely that number. Pick the hours first and you will get the rest right.
Start with the hours, not the price
| Day | Hours | Stops for a break | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open-top bus loop | 1 hour a loop, ticket for 24 or 48 | Every stop, as often as you like | Any age |
| Seventy-five-minute city walk | 1h 15m | None needed | Six and up |
| Celtic mythology walk | 1h 30m | Six short stops | Under-sevens free, no booking |
| Connemara with the sheepdogs | 7h 30m | Four | Five and up |
| Cliffs of Moher and the Burren | 8h 15m | Four | Six and up |
| Aran Islands and the cliffs | 10h 30m | Three, plus a ferry | Eight and up |
| Day trip from Dublin | 13 hours | Two | Not recommended under eight |
The one day built for children
One Connemara route stops seventy minutes at a working sheepdog farm in Joyce Country, where the dogs bring sheep off an open mountainside on whistled commands. Travellers describe holding month-old puppies and bottle-feeding lambs. It is not a display arena — the sheep are the farm's and the hill is the farm's hill — and it is the single stop children on this list talk about afterwards.
The same day gives two hours at Kylemore Abbey, which is a long time for a small child in a house. The walled garden is the part that works, and it is reached by shuttle.
What a long coach day actually asks of a child
The Clare day trips run eight to ten and a half hours with stops every ninety minutes or so, and the roads are narrow and bendy. Several travellers on the Connemara route mention car sickness on the bends, and one guide is thanked by name for how he handled it.
- Sit forward. Seats are not assigned on most of these coaches, so arriving early is worth ten minutes of your morning.
- Bring food. Food and drink are excluded on every day trip here. Doolin gets forty minutes and Clifden half an hour; the Dublin day gets no lunch stop at all.
- Expect wind. The cliff top is exposed and a child in a thin jacket will want to go back to the coach after ten minutes.
- Check the toilets. Every stop has them; the stretches between are up to an hour and a half.
The day that is not for children
The guided cliff-path walk is four hours on the trail in a group of eight, with moderate fitness asked for and heart conditions ruled out by the operator. It is one of the best things on this list and it is not a family day. The same applies to the e-bike tour, which sets a minimum height of 146cm.
If the cliffs are what your family came for, take a coach day that stands you on the platform for ninety minutes instead. Both kinds are compared on the Cliffs of Moher page.
A wet afternoon with nothing booked
This is where Galway earns its keep. Galway City Museum on Spanish Parade is free, has three floors and a Galway hooker inside it, and opens Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00. The Hall of the Red Earl is indoors by definition — a thirteenth-century hall under a modern floor — and also free. The cathedral is large, warm and asks €3.
The open-top bus is the other answer: thirteen stops, a loop every ninety minutes, and a ticket valid twenty-four or forty-eight hours, so a family can get on and off as attention allows. More of the same is on things to do in Galway.
The island day, honestly
Two hours on Inis Oírr is a good children's afternoon: a beach by the pier, a shipwreck to climb around, bikes for hire and a pony and trap that meets the ferry. The problem is the rest of the day — ten and a half hours in total, with an hour and a half on a coach at each end and a ferry crossing on top.
It works from about eight upwards, and it works better if the forecast is settled. A gale cancels the crossing, and a cancelled crossing with tired children in Doolin is not the day anybody booked. What the weather does month by month is on Galway weather.
The city, when the coach day is over
You will have an evening and probably a morning to fill, and Galway makes that easy. The Latin Quarter is pedestrianised, so you can let children walk ahead of you, and the buskers on Shop Street hold attention for longer than you expect. The Spanish Arch has grass beside it and the water in front.
Salthill is the other answer. Take the bus out, walk the prom as far as the diving tower, and kick the wall at the end the way everyone here does. It takes an hour, costs nothing, and on a clear evening you can see the Aran Islands from it.
Ages, in one line each
- Under five. The city, the museum, the prom at Salthill, and the bus. Check the child-seat rule before any coach.
- Five to eight. Add the Connemara day with the sheepdogs, which is the shortest of the long days.
- Eight to twelve. The Clare day and the island day both work. The cliffs are fenced and paved at the visitor centre.
- Teenagers. Everything except the cliff-path walk, which asks for real fitness, and the e-bike tour's height limit.
Picking a family day? Start with the hours, then the stops. Both are on every card on Galway Ireland Tours.
Days that work with children
Small Group Kylemore Abbey, Sheepdog Demo & Connemara Tour
Kylemore Abbey and seventy minutes at a working sheepdog farm, in a group capped at twenty-five.
From $135 per person
Check Availability
Galway: City Sightseeing Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
Thirteen stops on an open-top bus, valid twenty-four or forty-eight hours, and the answer when walking is hard going.
From $24 per person
Check Availability
Galway to Aran Islands & Cliffs of Moher Day Tour & Cliffs Cruise
The island, the cliff top and the cruise beneath the wall, all three inside one fare.
From $99 per person
Check Availability