← All Galway tours via Viator · From €90 · 13 hours 30 minutes 
From Dublin: Connemara ,Kylemore Abbey, Sheepdog demo & Galway
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From €90 per person
This is a proper day out west. You’ll travel into the heart of Connemara, through the Inagh Valley, where bog, mountain, and lake stretch as far as you can see - and the landscape genuinely takes over. Along the way you’ll stop at a working mountain farm above Killary Fjord for a live sheepdog demonstration and a look at traditional turf cutting. Then it’s on to Kylemore Abbey for photos and a break before finishing the day with free time in Galway city.
Meeting point: Arrive 10 minutes before your departure time. One of the team will be calling out the different tours to guide you to the right bus.
Your two hours in Galway at the end of a long day respond well to a plan. The medieval core runs from Eyre Square down Shop Street to Quay Street - do that walk and then turn left at the next lane. The Claddagh neighbourhood is at the water’s edge and takes ten minutes to reach from the Latin Quarter.
Galway has a session in some pub every night, but if you want the real thing, Tigh Coili on Mainguard Street starts around 9:30pm and draws serious players. For food in the two-hour window, the Gourmet Tart Company on Shop Street is quick - counter seating, hand pies, coffee done properly. Ard Bia at Nimmo on Quay Street is slower but worth it if you want a proper sit-down.
The farm stop above Killary Fjord is the part of the day that surprises people most. The setting - a working mountain farm on the Wild Atlantic Way with the fjord below it - is genuinely unlike anything else on the tour circuit. If you are travelling with children, the 90-minute slot here moves fast and is fully engaging throughout.
The Kylemore Abbey photo stop puts you at the door of Letterfrack. The abbey was built by a railway baron called Mitchell Henry in 1868 as a wedding gift for his wife - Gothic revival stone in a Connemara valley where it has absolutely no business looking this good. You have 50 minutes, which is enough for photos and lunch at the abbey café (not included). Letterfrack village itself is five minutes up the road: it’s the gateway to Connemara National Park and the base for the Diamond Hill walk, a 7km loop to 442m with views of the Twelve Bens and Killary Harbour. If you’re planning a return visit to Connemara, base yourself here rather than passing through.
The coach passes through Oughterard on the N59 going west - the point where Lough Corrib appears on your left and the landscape opens into Connemara. The village is where serious anglers come for brown trout and salmon on the Owenriff River, and where the N59 narrows and the bog begins in earnest. Aughnanure Castle - an O’Flaherty tower house from around 1500 - is three kilometres east of the village on a rocky outcrop above the lough, if you ever return with more time.
At Kylemore Abbey you have 50 minutes. That’s enough for photos and a lunch stop, but not enough for the abbey interior - note that entrance to the castle is not included anyway. The walled garden is worth a look if you have time after lunch.