Private Luxury tour of Galway & Connemara from Dublin

About This Tour

The west of Ireland covers a lot of ground in a single day on this private tour from Dublin. You’ll travel through Connemara - one of Ireland’s great wild landscapes, with bog, mountain, and lough stretching in every direction - and into Galway city, one of the country’s most lively and culturally rich urban centres.

The vehicle is a Mercedes V Class, with plush seating for up to 5 passengers, good legroom for luggage, and a smooth ride on the long cross-country stretches. It’s a comfortable way to cover the distance without the stress of driving yourself.

What’s Included

• Private Mercedes V Class vehicle
• Bottled water

What’s Not Included

• Kylemore Abbey entrance: €18 per person, paid on the day

Itinerary

1. Connemara (180 min) - Rugged, beautiful, and genuinely different from the rest of Ireland. The landscape is a mix of mountains, bog, and pristine lakes, with strong Irish-language communities and a traditional arts scene that’s still very much alive. You’ll travel through it at a pace that lets you take it in properly.
2. Kylemore Abbey (120 min) - A Gothic-style monastery in the heart of Connemara, founded in 1868. It was originally built as a private castle by a wealthy Victorian, then passed to a community of Benedictine nuns who still live and work here. The grounds include restored walled gardens, woodlands, and views across the lake that are hard to beat.
3. Veldon’s in Letterfrack (60 min) - A well-known local pub in the village of Letterfrack, popular with locals and visitors alike. Good food, drinks, and often live music - the kind of place that gives you a genuine feel for a Connemara village.
4. Galway’s Latin Quarter (120 min) - The historic heart of Galway city, with cobbled streets, colourful shopfronts, cafes, and pubs. The medieval architecture sits alongside a very lively present-day arts and music scene. A good stretch of the legs after the drive across Connemara.
5. Sean’s Bar, Athlone (30 min) - On the return journey, a stop at one of Ireland’s most historically notable pubs. Sean’s Bar in Athlone dates back over 1,100 years to the 10th century - it’s recognised as Ireland’s oldest pub, with memorabilia and a traditional atmosphere that back up the claim.
6. Return to Dublin (120 min) - Drop-off at your hotel in Dublin.

Good to Know

• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Specialised infant seats are available on request
• Public transport is available nearby
• Not recommended for travellers with spinal injuries or poor cardiovascular health
• Conducted in English

Local Tips

At Letterfrack, the walk up Diamond Hill starts from the same village. Letterfrack sits at the gateway to Connemara National Park, and the Diamond Hill upper loop - 7km, about two and a half hours to the summit at 442m - begins from the visitor centre car park a few minutes from Veldon’s. If your timing allows an extra hour or two before the pub stop, ask your guide about fitting in the lower loop (3km, about an hour). The views of Killary Harbour and the Twelve Bens from the ridge are what the drive west is for.

Book Kylemore Abbey in advance. The abbey entrance is €18 per person and paid on the day, but peak season can see queues. The exterior and the lakeshore walk are worth as much time as the interior - the Gothic façade reflected in Pollanabawn Lake is the photograph that everyone comes for, and it earns it.

Skip the car park queue at Diamond Hill in summer. The Connemara National Park car park fills by ten in high season. Since you’re arriving by private vehicle rather than driving yourself, your guide can time the Letterfrack stop to avoid the worst of it. Early morning or mid-afternoon works considerably better than midday.

At Sean’s Bar in Athlone, the founding story is real. Athlone has held a Guinness World Record certificate as the home of Ireland’s oldest pub since 2004. When the bar was rebuilt in the 1970s, wattle-and-wicker walls and coins from the mid-1600s were uncovered - the National Museum took the coins. The pub claims a founding around 900 AD. Historians argue about the present building. Nobody argues about the pint. The town itself sits on the Shannon at Ireland’s most strategically fought-over crossing point, and the 30-minute stop barely scratches it - but it’s a genuine place, not a tourist recreation.

The N59 west passes through Oughterard before Connemara opens up. Oughterard is the last town on the road before the bogs take over - about 27km west of Galway, 35 minutes from the city. It sits on Lough Corrib, the second-largest lake in Ireland, with Aughnanure Castle (an O’Flaherty tower house from around 1500) three kilometres east on the shore. If you’re building extra time into the westbound run, Conn’s on Main Street is the angling pub worth knowing for coffee and a look at the lake before the high-ground roads narrow.

Nearby on IrelandMe

• Letterfrack - gateway to Connemara National Park, with Diamond Hill’s 442m summit a short walk from the village and the lower 3km loop for anyone who wants the views without the full two-and-a-half-hour climb
• Athlone - a river town on the Shannon with Sean’s Bar, Thyme restaurant (Michelin Bib Gourmand eight years running), and a Norman castle worth more than a 30-minute stop
• Oughterard - the angling village on Lough Corrib where the N59 west begins, with Aughnanure Castle on the shore and Conn’s pub for the fishing talk
• Clifden - the capital of Connemara, twenty minutes south of Letterfrack on the same road, with the Sky Road loop around its headland, Derrygimlagh bog where Alcock and Brown landed in 1919, and Lowry’s on Market Street for a session