If you have seen The Quiet Man, the 1952 John Wayne film that turned a tiny Mayo village into one of the most recognised locations in Irish cinema, then Cong will feel immediately familiar. The stone bridges, the pub, the cottage - they are all still there, and remarkably little has changed. Even if you have never seen the film, Cong is a gorgeous village in its own right, sitting at the head of Lough Corrib with the spectacular Ashford Castle as its neighbour.
You get ninety minutes to explore Cong, which is enough to walk the village’s leafy paths, see the Quiet Man statue and museum, and stroll through the publicly accessible grounds of Ashford Castle. The castle itself is now one of Ireland’s most exclusive five-star hotels, but the grounds and riverside walks are open and absolutely worth seeing. The setting, with the castle reflected in the river and ancient woodland all around, is fairy-tale Ireland at its finest.
From Cong, the tour heads west into Connemara proper. The landscape changes rapidly once you leave the wooded lakeland behind. Suddenly it is open bog, rugged mountains, and narrow roads winding through valleys that feel completely untouched. The highlight is Killary Fjord, a deep inlet carved by glaciers that runs 16 kilometres inland from the Atlantic. It is Ireland’s only true fjord, and standing on its shore with the mountains dropping straight into the dark water is a humbling experience.
The drive back to Galway takes in more of the Connemara scenery, and your guide fills the journey with stories about the local area, its history, and the hardy communities that have made a living here for centuries.