Those of us from Galway in the west of Ireland can generally expect one of two responses when we tell people where we come from. Other Irish people or tourists who have visited for themselves invariably rhapsodise about the place, sharing their favourite holiday anecdote, often pub-related. Foreigners who have never been ask if it’s anywhere near Dublin.
It’s a dichotomy that’s always worked out quite nicely for the denizens of Galway, both of the county and its primary city of the same name. We’ve always known the best of Ireland is distilled within our borders, and we haven’t minded that the long-weekend crowd and tour groups concentrate on the capital. But while our home on the western edge of Europe has often felt like one of the continent’s best-kept secrets, that looks set to change. Alongside Rijeka in Croatia, Galway has been named 2020 European Capital of Culture and a surge in visitor numbers is expected.
The festivities kick off in February, to coincide with Imbolc, the first Celtic season in Ireland’s pre-Christian calendar. Of course, organisers have been busying themselves with the curation of a world-class programme that probes and revels in the themes of language, landscape and migration, but it is Galway itself that will be the star of the show.
I’ve lived in London for years, and on return visits it is always remarkable to me that such a small city (population: 80,000) crams in such activity and vibrancy. The place is packed with students and is Ireland’s quintessential good-time holiday destination, with festivals galore held every year and the centre’s colourful medieval streets packed with restaurants and bars.
Before we busy ourselves with all that, I usually take first-timers to the free Galway City Museum, which contextualises the region’s idiosyncrasies and complexities, from its seafaring heritage and the unfathomable severities of the famine years to its enduring association with Irish traditions and language. With my guests properly informed, they won’t embarrass me in the pub. Galway is often named one of the world’s friendliest cities, so it’s a certainty you’ll be enlisted in conversation – as in proper, meaningful human interaction, not just polite small talk. You need to be prepared.
Sloping towards the mouth of the surging river Corrib, Quay Street is where to best absorb the city’s bonhomie. I might kick things off with Guinness and oysters within a wood-panelled snug at Tigh Neachtain, or pop into the likes of Taaffes, Tig Cóilí or The Crane Bar for live music sessions that are just as beloved by locals as the trickle of wistful Americans we welcome, buttressing the Irish economy as they chase their geneology. Even nowadays there is often a moment each night when a hush descends and a solitary figure will sing some old Irish lament, woven with tragedy. Hackneyed though such a scene might sound, these shared celebrations of folklore, heritage and song are moments of beauty.
If there’s one bad thing about a night out in Galway city, it’s that it eventually comes to an end. I say that because hotels here often feel dated and dreary. While a few are passable, there isn’t a single one I can unhesitatingly recommend (see below for my out-of-town tips).
Much improved since my youth, however, are the city’s restaurants. When I was growing up, our staples were mounds of buttery mash (still a personal favourite), overboiled veg and lamb chops grilled as tough as concrete. Now, well-travelled Irish chefs recognise the value of the country’s superb produce and are interpreting traditional dishes in intriguing ways. For me, always obligatory is lunch or dinner at homely Kai, a converted florist set between a church and a gay bar (there’s a metaphor for modern Ireland in there somewhere). For a special occasion, Michelin-starred venues Aniar and Loam offer fine-tuned tasting menus that showcase the best of the west.
To really get a true sense of the surrounding landscape, however, any trip to Galway city should be supplemented with a tour of the county. Studded with ring forts, portal tombs, holy wells and ruined castles, it offers a millennia-long chronology of Irish history alongside an often wild and desolate majesty.
Threaded along the edge of the Atlantic, the Wild Atlantic Way coastal driving route winds through Galway’s Gaeltacht, where Irish remains the dominant language, and towards the ferry or plane crossings to the Aran Islands. On the biggest island, Inis Mór, Dún Aonghasa is a prehistoric hill fort vertiginously perched on the edge of a 300ft-high cliff. On my last visit, I gawped fearfully and sweaty-palmed from afar as an idiotic young couple fumbled with their selfie-stick right along the precipice. Don’t do that.
Back on the mainland, calm reigns in Connemara, a naturally restorative sort of place that has always quietened me. Somewhere every Irish person references with quick, unreserved affection, its mountains, boglands, lakes and beaches are gloriously beautiful and, out of peak season at least, wonderfully tranquil.
While magnificent views await in every direction, I recommend at some point setting your car’s GPS to the newly renovated Kylemore Abbey. Decades ago, my grandmother was one of the many local girls who would walk or cycle for miles to be taught here by Benedictine nuns as day pupils alongside well-heeled boarders. The school is no more but the nuns remain and the abbey itself, on 1,000-acre grounds that include Victorian walled gardens and a neo-Gothic church, is one of the most popular attractions in Ireland. Connemara National Park is just around the corner, where 1,460ft-tall Diamond Hill rewards moderately fit walkers with a showstopping vista of Galway’s outlying islands and inlets.
There’s plenty more besides. I recommend dining in Clifden or Connemara (my usual is creamy seafood chowder with thick wedges of soda bread) and spending a night or two in the countryside to simply take everything in. Unlike Galway city, the county’s hotel inventory includes properties that are truly special. Though rooms are almost impossible to secure, seek out tiny Inis Meáin Restaurant & Suites on the middle Aran island. Connemara’s Ballynahinch Castle is another fine option, while on the banks of Lough Corrib and with its grounds straddling the Galway-Mayo border, Ashford Castle dates from the 13th-century and is synonymous across Ireland with full-on luxury and the best of Irish hospitality. It is one of my favourite hotels in the world and makes for a suitably grand spot to cap off a tour of what is Ireland’s grandest county.
Take a tour
Galway Food Tours offers varied itineraries that provide an engaging overview of the city’s best bars and eateries, with plenty of samples supplied by gregarious guides.
Walk here
From the Claddagh along Salthill promenade, looking towards Galway Bay and with the limestone and shale hills of the Burren visible just over the water. When the light is right, sea, sand and land converge to take on the colour and texture of molten silver.
Hear this
From harpists to tap dancers, buskers have always imbued Galway with a sense of revelry and are a joy to observe. Introduced this January, however, restrictive new busking by-laws have been met with consternation by many; it remains to see what impact they’ll ultimately have.
Drink up
For tourists, ordering at least one pint of Guinness is almost obligatory. Also worth considering: Galway Hooker, a locally brewed pale ale named after a traditional vessel, and poitín, a potent spirit and precursor to whiskey that was outlawed for 200 years. Connemara’s Micil Distillery is one of the small manufacturers to gain prominence since the ban was lifted in 1997.
