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Private Three Day Tour: Galway - Connemara - Cliffs of Moher
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From €1492 per person
This three-day private tour starts and ends in Dublin, taking you through some of the west of Ireland’s most compelling landscapes and history. It covers roughly 300 km per day with your own driver.
Day one takes you through the midlands to Galway. You’ll stop at Sean’s Bar in Athlone - reportedly the oldest pub in Ireland - and visit Athlone Castle, which carries a long history of Anglo-Norman occupation. From there, Clonmacnoise is a short detour: one of Ireland’s most significant early monastic sites, set on the banks of the Shannon. You’ll arrive in Galway that evening in time to explore Quay Street, the Spanish Arch, and the Latin Quarter - home of the famous Claddagh Ring - with traditional music bars easy to find if you know where to look.
Day two heads into Connemara. Kylemore Abbey is a highlight, and the Sky Road outside Clifden is worth the detour for the views over the Atlantic. You’ll return to Galway that night.
Day three brings the scenic drive along Galway Bay, a stop in the Burren with its distinctive limestone landscape, and then the Cliffs of Moher before heading back to Dublin.
At Clonmacnoise, come early or come late. The monastery sits on the Shannon about 15km south of Athlone, and in summer the coaches land mid-morning. The seven churches, two round towers, and the Cross of the Scriptures are best read at your own pace - if you can be at the gate when it opens, the site is essentially yours. The visitor centre café is useful if you need a break. There is no pub or restaurant nearby, so factor in a proper lunch in Athlone either side of the visit. The site itself rewards at least an hour: walk to the riverbank and look back at the stone complex from the Shannon’s edge - this is why monks chose this bend in the river in 544 AD.
In Galway, turn off Shop Street. The medieval core is compact enough to walk in half an hour, but the real Galway is in the laneways just off the main drag. Quay Street and the Spanish Arch are the obvious stops - from there it’s a five-minute walk to the Claddagh neighbourhood where the ring originated. For a session, Galway is one of the best music cities in Ireland: Tigh Coili on Mainguard Street runs trad most nights and the standard is genuine. Get there by nine if you want a seat near the players.
The Sky Road in Clifden is best driven clockwise. The 16km loop out past the ruins of Clifden Castle and up onto the headland works better clockwise - the lay-bys and views fall on the correct side for stopping. Allow 40 minutes by car, more if you get out and walk sections of it. Clifden is the only town in Connemara big enough to call itself a town - it’s a useful lunch stop with a handful of good kitchens. Mitchell’s on Market Street is the one locals point you towards for seafood.
The Derrygimlagh bog south of Clifden is worth the detour. A 5km loop walk takes in the Marconi transatlantic wireless station foundations from 1907 and the Alcock and Brown landing site from 1919 - the first non-stop transatlantic flight ended in this bog. It adds an hour to the Clifden stop but the history is extraordinary for a flat stretch of Connemara terrain.