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2-Day Cliffs of Moher, Connemara and Galway Bay Rail Tour from Dublin
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From €508 per person
If you want to see the west of Ireland properly, this two-day trip is a solid way to do it. You leave Dublin behind and head out by rail and coach through Connemara - peat bogs, mountain ranges, ancient stone walls and thatched cottages rolling past the window. It’s genuinely beautiful countryside, and you have a qualified driver-guide on the coach to explain what you’re looking at.
The trip covers Galway Bay and the landscapes of Connemara, with an overnight stay so you’re not rushing to cram it all into one exhausting day.
You check in 20 minutes before departure time (6:40am) at Dublin Heuston Station. Look for the yellow check-in stand near the Customer Service Desk - the Railtours Ireland representative will be in a bright yellow jacket. The tour returns to Heuston Station at the end of Day 2.
The group is a maximum of 10 people. Suitable for all fitness levels, and infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller. Public transport is nearby. Conducted in English.
If you’re booking a double occupancy room, note your preference for a double or twin bed in the Special Requirements field when booking (subject to availability). There are stops along the route for photos and shopping.
Arriving into Galway: the train from Dublin pulls in about 2h 15m after leaving Heuston, and Galway city centre is a ten-minute walk from the station. Eyre Square is right there; Shop Street and Quay Street are two minutes beyond it. The medieval laneways between them are worth at least half an hour of wandering on your own before the group reconvenes. You can find a good coffee at Gourmet Tart Company on the square - counter seating, hand pies, and the queue moves fast.
For dinner in Galway before the Connemara day: the reliable mid-range option on Quay Street is Ard Bia at Nimmo, which changes its menu with the market and keeps things local. The Quays pub, four storeys and right on the main drag, is the easiest place to land with no plan - ground floor is loud, upstairs is quieter and has a view. Sessions at Tigh Coili or Tig Mongáin start around nine or ten if you want to hear some trad. Neither venue is performing for the tourists - the players come because they want to play.
On the Connemara coach: the peat bogs and mountain ranges between Galway and Connemara change the light in a way that catches people off guard. The landscapes you’re looking at are the same ones Synge wrote about and Paul Henry painted. Your driver-guide can tell you where you are in relation to the Twelve Bens if you ask. The road passes through Oughterard - the last proper village before Connemara opens up, where the N59 leaves the farming country behind and the bog starts. Beyond that, the coach tracks west toward Clifden, the planned town at the edge of Connemara with the Sky Road loop above it.
The Cliffs of Moher connection: if your itinerary brings you anywhere near the Clare coast, the back door to the Cliffs is through Liscannor - a working pier village where the Hag’s Head cliff walk starts, eight kilometres south of the visitor centre. The walk north from Liscannor to the cliffs has no fee and no turnstile. Five kilometres up the coast, Doolin is where the trad music scene is centred - Gus O’Connor’s pub has been running sessions since 1832, and the Aran Islands ferry leaves from the pier.
Practicality: the maximum group of 10 people means this is one of the quieter, more personal versions of the west-of-Ireland tour. Check in early at Heuston - the 6:40am departure is serious, and the yellow jackets are the landmark to find.