Staying in Galway for a few days.

origionalgreen

Hi, me and a friend will be staying in the Galway area for a few days. The problem is we will be relying on public transport. We don't want to be confined to the city the entire time and are more interested in seeing scenic locations in the west such as Connemara. Just wondering where would be the best place to stay to get good access to these places. Also any recommendation on nice spots to visit that are easy to access? We don't necessarily have to stay in Galway city. Might it be better to stay in somewhere like Connemara and get the bus to the city as needed?

Sorry, I know i sound a bit clueless but im not too familiar with Galway, i just figured its the best spot stay in to see the West when you are relying on public transport. Thanks for your time

Mrs OBumble

In general:

If you stay in the city, then you can get buses from there to various places in Connemara.

But if you stay out in the country, the only buses will be from there to the city. So it's easy to get to other places on that bus route, but hard to get to places on other bus routes.

Where exactly do you want to visit?

Would you like to go with guided tours, or travel by yourselves on public buses without any commentary?

origionalgreen

Personally I'd prefer to avoid guided tours but i'm aware they might make things easier. We'd like to see Galway national park, perhaps also go to see the cliffs of Moher, the Burren (which i know both are in Clare) Maybe take a trip to Inis Mor and in general just see some nice areas along the coast. I know that's pretty vague but like I said i'm not too familiar with Galway. Nothing is set in stone at the moment so i'm open to suggestions. Thanks again

Edit - We'd be happy to travel on public busses btw

swiftman

origionalgreen wrote: »

Personally I'd prefer to avoid guided tours but i'm aware they might make things easier. We'd like to see Galway national park, perhaps also go to see the cliffs of Moher, the Burren (which i know both are in Clare) Maybe take a trip to Inis Mor and in general just see some nice areas along the coast. I know that's pretty vague but like I said i'm not too familiar with Galway. Nothing is set in stone at the moment so i'm open to suggestions. Thanks again

Edit - We'd be happy to travel on public busses btw

one company that does them all is http://www.lallytours.com/
€76 for aran islands, galway city tour, cliffs of moher and tour of connamara.
thats if you book all 4 online seperately. give them a call to see if they can knock a few euro off or maybe they will give you lunch and a pint for free down in taaffes. dont know till you ask.

culinary arts mature

Oranmore could work as a place to stay, close to the city but with regular busses for the Connemara side of things. Journey out through Kinvara and onwards for some great scenery and nice villages all along the coast. Ya could hire a car or hire bikes if the weather is good or if your stamina is up to it!

Mrs OBumble

Stay in the city. You want to go to Clare, Letterfrack (one road thru Connemara) and the islands (the other main route thru Connemara). Three different directions, three separate day-trips (at least).

Don't be messing with Oranmore - unless really want to get up an hour earlier each morning to get the bus into the city so you can get the bus to where you're going each day. It's fine by car, but madness on public transport.

I think you will need to take the regular bus and walk a bit if you want to see the national park. For the other places, your call whether to do it on a tour bus or public transport - but IMHO you will have a far better experience of the Cliffs and Burren on a tour, doing it by regular bus you don't know what you're looking at. If you're hostelling, you could see if Sleepzone are still doing their tourss ...

inisboffin

Another option is to chat to the people in Lally's and the other tour companies, see if you can go out with them, stay over in a hostel, and come back with them the next day. I know they did that for a friend. That way (unless you have free accommodation in Galway) you have the best of both worlds. You can stay in hostels in Letterfrack, Doolin etc. Enjoy.

Oh and the Clifden - Galway Citylink goes to Letterfrack (every 2nd or 3rd bus) and drops you off just down the road from the Connemara National Park. The Old Monastary Hostel actually backs onto the park too.

origionalgreen

Thanks for the replies, yeah i'll probably stick to galway city and get buses from there