The Cliffs of Moher from Galway
Almost fourteen kilometres of rock standing over seven hundred feet above the Atlantic at O'Brien's Tower, an hour and a half south of the city. Every Cliffs of Moher tour from Galway here ends up at this one place. What separates them is how long you get, and whether the gate ticket is already in your fare.
What a ticket costs and what it covers
The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience sells its own admission, and the price is published. Under-12s go free, and a car is not charged separately because parking is inside the ticket.
| Ticket | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | €8.00 | Parking, the exhibition, the VR theatre, O'Brien's Tower and the paved paths |
| Senior, 65 and over | €6.00 | The same, at the reduced rate |
| Student, 13 and over | €6.00 | The same, on production of a student card |
| Child, 12 and under | Free | The same, accompanied |
| Family, two adults and two children under 12 | €16.00 | The same |
Admission covers 800 metres of paved path, the underground visitor centre with its exhibition and virtual-reality theatre, and access to O'Brien's Tower and its rooftop, from which the Experience says five counties are visible on a clear day. Binoculars and picnic blankets are loaned free, there is a water refill station and luggage storage, and dogs are welcome on leads everywhere except inside the building.
Open hours, month by month
The gate hours swing by four hours between December and June, which is the single fact that changes what a day trip can hold.
| Months | Open | What that does to a day trip |
|---|---|---|
| January, February, November, December | 09:00 – 17:00 | A winter coach day has four fewer hours to work with |
| March, April | 08:00 – 19:00 | Early departures become possible again |
| May, June, July, August | 08:00 – 21:00 | Long enough for an evening visit after the coaches have gone |
| September, October | 08:00 – 19:00 | The quietest good light of the year |
The site is closed on 24, 25 and 26 December. Its own advice is to come outside 11:00 to 16:00, which is when the coaches are thickest — and since almost every day trip from the city arrives inside that window, an early or late departure is worth looking for.
O'Brien's Tower and the paths
Sir Cornelius O'Brien, the local landlord and member of parliament, built the tower in 1835 as an observation point for the visitors already coming to see the cliffs. From the top, on a clear day, you can see the Aran Islands and the Twelve Bens of Connemara across Galway Bay. It is inside the admission price, so there is nothing extra to buy at the door.
The paved paths run 800 metres from the centre, with 3.5 kilometres of walking paths in all. The walkway by the visitor centre is fully accessible, and two electric buggies — the site calls them the Lifts of Moher — carry visitors with limited mobility along the path, subject to availability.
An hour, ninety minutes or four — what each kind of day gives you
One hour
The island days give you an hour up top, because the rest of the day belongs to the ferry. Enough for the main viewing platform and the tower, not enough to walk south along the path.
Ninety minutes
The dedicated Clare day trips give ninety minutes, which is closest to the Experience's own recommendation of about two hours. Time for the tower, the exhibition and a stretch of the path in one direction.
Two hours
The long coach day from Dublin gives two hours, the most of any product here — and spends seven hours on a bus to do it.
Four hours, on foot
The guided walk takes the cliff path itself for four hours, away from the platform, with the visitor centre entry still in the fare and a €5 taxi back to Doolin at the end.
Deciding how long you want up there?
Every card says how many minutes the day allows at the cliffs and whether the €8 gate ticket is inside the fare.
Seeing them from the water instead
Two of the days here put you on a cruise along the foot of the cliff wall instead of, or as well as, on top of it. It is a different proposition: from below, the seabirds are the scale — the Experience counts over 30,000 pairs nesting here in season — and the sea stack stands clear of the wall. One of those two days never enters the visitor centre at all, which is worth knowing before you book it as a cliffs day.
What the road passes on the way
Ninety minutes each way through the Burren is not dead time, and the day trips build stops into it rather than driving straight there.
- Dunguaire Castle, Kinvara. A tower house on the edge of the bay, fifteen minutes for photographs on two of the routes.
- The Burren. Bare limestone pavement for kilometres, part of the same UNESCO Global Geopark as the cliffs.
- Poulnabrone Dolmen. A portal tomb standing on the pavement, twenty minutes on one route.
- Aillwee Cave. Half an hour on one route; its entry is named as excluded in that fare.
- Doolin. Forty to forty-five minutes at the end or the middle of the day, and the ferry port for the islands.
Getting there without a tour
You can. The Visitor Experience sells you its own ticket, parking is inside it, and a public bus runs down the coast. What a day trip buys is the road: the stops through the Burren, a driver on the bends, and a guide who talks the whole way. Several travellers say plainly that they were glad not to be driving it themselves.
If you do drive, aim to arrive before eleven or after four. Those are the hours the site itself names as its busiest, and they are exactly when the coaches land.
Birds, flowers and the Geopark
The cliffs are a Special Protection Area for birds, and over 30,000 pairs nest here in season. Bring binoculars or borrow a pair at the centre, which lends them free. In winter you will still see fulmars, peregrine falcons, choughs and ravens on the face.
The rock itself is over 320 million years old, and the cliffs sit inside the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark along with the limestone you drove across to get here. That is why the day trips stop on the way: it is one landscape, not two.
Frequently asked about the cliffs
Is the Cliffs of Moher entrance fee included in the tour price?
How long does a Cliffs of Moher tour from Galway take?
Can I visit the Cliffs of Moher without a tour?
What time do the Cliffs of Moher open?
Is O'Brien's Tower included in the Cliffs of Moher ticket?
What is the Gaeltacht, and will I hear Irish?
Next: compare the fares side by side on Galway Ireland Tours, read what a westerly does to the day on Galway weather month by month, or see the other direction on Connemara.