Hollymount sits on high ground between Ballinrobe and Claremorris in south Mayo, a village of a few hundred people where the main street is the only street. The surrounding townlands hold a good deal of the activity — a church, a couple of shops, the farm roads that branch off the main road.
The place is known, locally, for Hollymount Castle, a ruined tower sitting in the fields above the village. Late medieval, partial walls still standing, and worth the ten-minute walk up the lane if you like the look of old stone against open country. The country itself — drumlin hills, field walls, the land rising and falling — is the real draw. This is walking country, but the walks are lanes and field edges, not marked paths.
Don't come for pubs or restaurants. Come for quiet, for the hill, and for the fact that a Wednesday morning here feels like a Wednesday morning, not a destination.
The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.
Ballinrobe to Hollymount is 12 km east on the R334. Claremorris to Hollymount is 14 km west on the R334. Galway to Claremorris is 45 minutes on the N6.
Bus Éireann 419 (Galway–Ballina via Ballinrobe and Castlebar) does not stop at Hollymount. Nearest stops are Ballinrobe and Claremorris.