Dublin Kilbeggan Distillery & Clonmacnoise & Galway Private Trip

About

If you’re travelling from Dublin to Galway, this is a smart way to make the journey count. Instead of a straight transfer, you get a full sightseeing day with hotel pick-up, stops at some genuinely worthwhile places in the Midlands, a pub lunch along the way, and a drop-off in Galway City at the end.

You travel in a private executive Mercedes Benz E or S Class, suitable for up to 2 passengers with luggage. The vehicle and driver are fully licensed and insured under the Irish Government Transport Authority. You have the option to include or skip individual stops based on your preferences. The same trip can also be booked in reverse - starting in Galway and finishing in Dublin.

Itinerary

1. Kilbeggan Distillery - Ireland’s oldest continuously licensed distillery, with a history going back to 1757. You’ll take a guided tour of the old distillery buildings, then finish with an Irish Coffee Masterclass in Locke’s Lounge. For over-18s only. Allow around 60 minutes.
2. Oldest Bar in Ireland and Europe - A quick stop. Allow around 30 minutes.
3. Clonmacnoise Monastery - One of Ireland’s most important early Christian sites, founded in the 6th century on the banks of the River Shannon near Shannonbridge. You take a self-guided walk among the stone ruins - a genuinely peaceful and atmospheric place that connects you with Ireland’s golden age of learning. Allow around 45 minutes.
4. Drop-off in Galway City - Journey ends here.

What’s Included

• Hotel pick-up and private door-to-door transportation
• Executive Mercedes Benz E or S Class vehicle
• WiFi on board
• Bottled water
• Air conditioning
• All fees, taxes and tolls

What’s Not Included

• Admission tickets to Kilbeggan Distillery (Tullamore Dew Experience) and Clonmacnoise Monastery
• Gratuities

Good to Know

• Private trip - just your group
• Suitable for up to 2 passengers with luggage
• Infants and small children can travel in a pram or stroller
• Suitable for all fitness levels
• Conducted in English

Local Tips

Kilbeggan Distillery: the 1757 licence makes this the oldest continuously licensed distillery in the world - the Locke family ran it for four generations until production stopped in 1953, and the pot stills inside are said to be the oldest working stills on the planet. The full Distillery Experience tour runs about 90 minutes, so mention to your driver if you want the longer option rather than the standard 60. The distillery sits on the River Brosna, which powered the waterwheel that drove the whole operation - worth looking at before you go in.

Clonmacnoise: this is an OPW site with admission and a car park, and the 45 minutes the itinerary allows is tight for such a complex site. Seven churches, two round towers, three high crosses including the Cross of the Scriptures, and over 200 early medieval grave slabs in the ground. Walk the site first before going into the visitor centre - the stones speak for themselves. One practical note: there are no pubs or restaurants anywhere near Clonmacnoise. If the pub lunch stop is scheduled before Clonmacnoise, eat well; there’s nothing at the monastery except the small visitor centre café.

Arriving in Galway: the drop-off is in Galway City, and depending on how the day has run and what traffic is like, you’ll likely arrive in late afternoon. Galway’s medieval quarter is walkable end to end in about 30 minutes - Shop Street, Quay Street, and the laneways off them. If you want to eat on arrival, Ard Bia at Nimmo on Quay Street has a locally-led menu that changes with the market, or the Gourmet Tart Company is a quicker stop for coffee and something good from the counter.

Timing note: if you want a distillery tour at Kilbeggan, book it in advance. In summer the tours fill up by mid-morning.

Nearby on IrelandMe

• Kilbeggan - the oldest continuously licensed distillery in the world (1757), on the River Brosna, with the original pot stills still running and an evening racecourse out the back road
• Clonmacnoise - a 6th-century monastery on the Shannon with seven churches, two round towers, and the largest collection of early medieval grave slabs in Western Europe - raided by Vikings at least six times, ransacked by the English in 1552, still standing
• Galway - a city that feels like a village, with medieval laneways, trad sessions most nights in pubs like Tigh Coili and the Crane Bar, and the Aran Islands 40 minutes west from Rossaveal