Planning Your Galway Trip
Galway is small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes and is the doorstep to three of Ireland's best-known places, none of which is in the city. That gap — between what you can walk to and what you have to be driven to — is the whole of the planning. Every fare sits side by side with the Galway day tours listed here.
Where the day tours leave from
Nothing leaves from a depot, not even the long day to the Cliffs of Moher. The coaches load at two kerbs in the city centre, both within four hundred metres of Eyre Square, and the walking tours start at three more points inside the medieval core. Check which one is yours the evening before, because the two coach kerbs are a five-minute walk apart and the check-in times overlap.
| Where | Which days start there | Check-in | Getting to it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merchants Road, outside Kinlay Hostel | Cliffs of Moher & the Burren; Aran Islands, Doolin & Cliffs; Aran Islands & Cliffs Cruise; the nine-hour Connemara and Kylemore day | 8:40am to 9:40am | 300 m from Eyre Square, off Eyre Square East |
| Forster Street, outside the HYDE Hotel | Cliffs of Moher, Aillwee Cave & Dunguaire; Connemara and Kylemore; Kylemore and the sheepdogs; Cliffs Cruise and Aran Islands | 9:00am to 10:15am | 250 m from Eyre Square, beside the bus station |
| Galway Cathedral, front door | Cliffs of Moher guided hike | Set by the operator | Across the Salmon Weir Bridge, 10 minutes on foot |
| 9 Eyre Square / Shop Street / Ballalley Lane | The city walks, the tasting tour, the food walk and the e-bike ride | From 9:30am to 6pm | All inside the medieval core |
Three of the coach days will collect you from your hotel instead, at no charge, if you ring the operator at least twenty-four hours ahead. One of those three drops everyone back in the centre rather than at the door.
What to book before you arrive
Book the long day trips ahead from May to September. The small-group coaches cap at eight, twenty-five or fifty-three depending on the day, and the small ones go first; the food walk caps at twelve and fills earliest of all. In winter, a day or two is usually enough notice.
The city walks are the exception. A seventy-five-minute introduction or the open-top bus can generally be picked up the same morning, and both are the right thing to do on an afternoon you had not planned.
Know which direction you want? Compare what each fare covers.
Every card says where the day goes, how long you get at the far end, and which gate tickets are inside the price.
What a tour fare does not cover
Most fares here cover the coach, the guide and whatever the listing names. What they leave out is paid at the gate on the day, so it is worth knowing before you choose on price.
| What | How much | Which fares cover it | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience | €8 adult, €6 senior or student, free under 12 | Included in the fare on four of the coach days; not named on two | Parking, O'Brien's Tower, the exhibition and the audio guide |
| Kylemore Abbey and Victorian Walled Garden | Set by the abbey; not published anywhere we could read it | In the fare on one Connemara day, at the gate on another | The abbey rooms, the Gothic church and the walled garden |
| Aillwee Cave | Set by the operator; its website was unreachable | Named as excluded on the one day that stops there | The cave tour itself |
| The Doolin ferry to Inis Oírr | Inside the fare on all three island days | Never charged separately on these tours | The 15-minute crossing, both ways |
| Lunch and drinks | Yours, everywhere | Excluded on every day trip; included only on the tasting routes | Doolin, Clifden and Leenane all have places to eat |
Two figures are missing from that table on purpose. Kylemore Abbey and the Aillwee Burren Experience each sell admission through a system that refuses every request from here. You will not find either price on these pages — only what each listing says about them.
Getting to Galway
By train
The InterCity line from Dublin Heuston runs to Galway Ceannt, calling at Portarlington, Tullamore, Athlone, Ballinasloe, Athenry and Oranmore. Ceannt is in the city centre, beside Eyre Square and a few minutes' walk from both coach kerbs.
By coach
Citylink runs routes 660, 761 and 763 from Dublin city and airport, 760 direct from Dublin Airport, 251 from Limerick and Cork, and 923 from Clifden. They set down at the bus station on Station Road, beside the train station.
By car
Galway sits where the M6 ends. Parking in the centre is paid and limited; two multi-storey car parks are named on the day-trip listings themselves, at Eyre Square and Hynes Yard, and both are a short walk from the kerbs.
Getting around once you are here
You will walk. From Eyre Square to the Spanish Arch is about ten minutes, and everything in between — Shop Street, Lynch's Castle, the Latin Quarter, St Nicholas' church — is on that line. Salthill and its promenade are half an hour further along the bay on foot, or four stops on the open-top bus, which runs a thirteen-stop loop in an hour.
What to wear on a cliff day
- A windproof layer, whatever the forecast says. Mean wind on this coast sits near nine knots all year, and the clifftop is more exposed than the city.
- Shoes with grip. One operator warns in its own notes about trip hazards on the Burren limestone, and the cliff path is grass and stone.
- Something to eat. The thirteen-hour day from Dublin has no lunch stop at all; the Galway departures give you forty minutes in Doolin or half an hour in Clifden.
- A card and some cash. Bike hire and the pony and trap on Inis Oírr, and the €5 taxi after the guided cliff walk, are all paid on the day.
Accessibility, honestly
Four of the city tours describe themselves as wheelchair accessible with accessible surfaces: the mythology walk, the walking and tasting route, the private walking tour and the short introduction. The open-top bus is the option travellers with limited mobility name most often in their own reviews.
Frequently asked before you go
Do I need to book in advance?
Do the coaches pick up from my hotel?
What happens if the weather turns?
Where do Galway day tours leave from?
How far is the Cliffs of Moher from Galway?
Are Galway tours wheelchair accessible?
Next: compare every fare on Galway Ireland Tours, read what the weather does to a day out on Galway weather month by month, or see what fills the hours between tours on things to do in Galway.