Unique Things To Do In Galway

An Overview of Galway

Galway is home to a thriving cultural on the western coast of Ireland. Aside from being a popular seaside destination with beautiful beaches and winding promenades, the city also has a buzzing cosmopolitan center. Galway is split by various canals, old town areas and a bay area. Visitors can enjoy food, films, shops and interesting museums. Galway is also known for hosting over 120 festival annually. There are many unique things to do in Galway.

Unique Things To Do In Galway

Brigit’s Celtic Garden

These artfully crafted gardens are a high-water hallmark of the ancient Celtic world. Celtic society is demonstrated in a bewitching 11 acre green space, full of flowers, forests, ponds and stone buildings.  There are standing stones, Celtic nature routes, Ogham scripts etched into stones, native woodlands and bee-friendly wildflower meadows. It is widely considered the most spectacular Celtic gardens in the country.

Calendar Sundial

Located in Brigit’s Garden, this unique sundial is created with a giant spike of bog-oak .  It tells time with extreme accuracy, despite sitting in a country famous for cloudy skies.

Inis Oirr

Inis Oirr is an island with truly spectacular biking trails following miles and miles of hand-built stone walls. It is the smallest of the Aran Islands. This island contains some of the karst formations native to the Burren. On clear days, the Cliffs of Moher are clearly visable in the distance.

Renvyle Beach

A hidden beach and wonderful gem of Galway, this shoreline is the home to numerous archeological sites and a stunning shoreline. There are white sands, great views of the nearby mountains and nearby resort and camping centers.

Aras Na Ngael

With a sister bar in Dublin, this is a popular cultural center and operational pub in Galway. While the drinks are Irish specialties, the pub also promotes the native Irish language. There are often events with strong incentives to only speak, sing (and drink) in native Irish.  Tuesday is Student’s Night where foreigners can get minor language lessons from local bartenders.

Kilmacduagh Round Tower

A surprisingly immaculate and intact round tower perched within the ruins of a Christian monastery. The Monastery area is famous for being the birthplace of Diocese of Kilmacduagh. The site was reportedly founded by Saint Colman, a famous Irish-born missionary who spread Christianity in both Ireland and Scotland.

Latin Quarter

The Latin Quarter of Galway is a cobblestone street district in the old center of Galway. This shopping avenue includes the bank of the River Corrib, O’Briens Bridge and the Spanish Arch. The Latin Quarter is full of unique shops, small heritage sites and excellent food options.

Menlo Castle

Just outside Galway city on the banks of the River Corrib sits a empty castle completely covered in layers of green-hanging ivy. The castle itself has a long and varied history, but entry within is nearly impossible due to the sheets of ivy which have gradually eaten the structure.

Dun Aonghasa

Located in the striking Karsts landscapes, this Iron Age fort is pressed together beside a seaside cliff.  The fort is an extremely unique formation with specialized upright rocks surrounding the structure. It is one of the best-known prehistoric hill forts on the Aran Islands. The fort is surrounded on the outside by a chevaux-de-frise otherwise known as a dense band of jagged, upright, defensive stones. There are thousands of these surrounding the structure.

Poll na bPeist (The Wormhole, The Serpent’s Lair)

This is a wildly strange, naturally-occurring geographic feature in Ireland. “The Wormhole” is a rectangular hole in the limestone on Inis Mor Island.  Though the hole’s geometric shape would leave a visitor to believe it’s artificial, the formation is entirely created by nature. The hole has an underground cavern which allows for an underground ocean current to fill the strange pool-like-feature. While it’s possible to swim in the pool, it can be quite dangerous and often advised against it by locals. Swimmers can only safely enter the pool at the peak of high tide on perfectly calm days.

Claddagh Ring Museum

This is an extremely tiny museum which is known for housing some of the first claddagh rings created over 300 year ago.  Claddagh Rings are famous rings designs from traditional Galway culture which represents love, loyalty and friendship. They can be found throughout Ireland in different jewlery shops.

Dog’s Bay Beach

This is considered the nicest beach near Galway. Dog’s Bay Beach is a horseshoe-shaped white-sand shore which follows a vast bay of clear, light blue water.

Sky Road Clifden

This is a brilliant cliffside bike or car route, particularly splendid for watching sunsets.  The circular 11 kilometer route wanders to the glowingly pretty town of Clifden. The route is only 20 kilometers, making it fairly easy to enjoy as a half-day excursion by car. The route is part of the Wild Atlantic Way.

Diamond Hill

This hiking-hill provides lofty and incredible view of Connemara, including islands, lowlands, seasides and rocky hills. The peak overlooks the small village of Letterfrack. It is an an excellent feature of Connemara National Park located to the northwest of Galway. It takes roughly two hours to reach the hiking grounds by car when leaving Galway.

Galway Cathedral

Also known as The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, this is one of the largest and most impressive structures in the city. The building has remained a spiritual center of the city for generations since its construction in the late 1950s.

The Island of Inishmaan

Inishmaan is the middle-sized of the three main Aran Islands in Galway Bay.  The island has wonderfully stark landscapes with low walls, traditional houses and old ruins. Like many of the other Aran Islands, low stone walls network across the island, making an endless series of stone yards and fields. The island only has a permeant population of under 200 people, making it the least populated of the Aran Islands.

Salthill Promenade

A little seaside suburb for seaside strolls and old city walls and restaurants. The shoreline walk passed the Circle of Life Commemorative Garden, the Salthill Public Park and the Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland, all of which are peaceful places to visit.

Aran Islands

The Aran Islands are entirely unique features of Ireland, existing off the coast of Doolin, south of Galway. These islands are one of the few remaining places where a person can still experience the true nature of an old Irish village.  The islands are notorious for their culture, vast lowlands, rock shores, ancient walls and traditional farms. The Aran Islands use a vast network of stacked stone walls to create wind bracers which protect thin layers of topsoil on a rocky surface. These walls allow for farming, domestic animals and protection in high winds. Due to their unorthodox formation and history, visiting the various Aran Islands is one of the most unique things to do in Galway.

Connemara National Park

A haunting bog two hours outside of Galway which has deep knolls of dense, hilly wilderness and sequestered boglands. The coastline is filled with tiny coves, fishing villages and hidden bays. the National Park itself holds heathlands, lakes and mountains. A famous herd of wild Connemara ponies roam these lands. Visitors can also seek out ruins of castles in the area.

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