ireland

Galway

A bohemian harbour city, a 17th-century abbey-hotel, and the West of Ireland at its most musical.

Glenlo Abbey Hotel, Small Luxury Hotels of the World

Galway is Ireland's arts capital and west-coast soul — a small city of cobblestone lanes, painter's light, and live trad music spilling out of half a dozen pubs every night of the week. Just outside the city, Glenlo Abbey occupies a 138-acre lakeside estate where the dining room is a restored Pullman carriage from the original Orient Express. Beyond Galway lies Connemara — twelve hundred square kilometres of bog, mountain, and sheep, the most cinematic landscape in Ireland.

Best Time

May-September; July is the Galway International Arts Festival

Duration

3-5 nights recommended

Ideal For

Arts Lovers, Music Travelers, Romantic Getaways, Nature Lovers

The Stay

Lakeside abbeys and Georgian country houses on the edge of Ireland's wildest landscapes.

Glenlo Abbey Hotel

A 138-acre lakeside estate with a 17th-century abbey at its core.

Pullman dining carriage
Championship golf course
Fishing on Lough Corrib

Ballynahinch Castle

A 700-acre Connemara estate hotel on the Owenmore river.

Salmon and trout fishing
Forest walks
Country-house dining

The g Hotel

A Philip Treacy-designed boutique on Lough Atalia in Galway city.

Designed by milliner Philip Treacy
ESPA spa
City-edge location

A Glimpse Inside

Glenlo Abbey Hotel & Estate

Courtesy of Glenlo Abbey Hotel & Estate, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World

Derryclare Lough

Glenlo Abbey

Tapestry Room

Glenlo Abbey French Room with gold plasterwork, baby grand piano and views to the parkland

The French Room

Pullman Restaurant

Connemara mountain road at sunset with sheep grazing and golden sky reflected on a lough

Connemara at Dusk

The Palate

Atlantic seafood, the country's best oysters, and a dining scene punching far above its size.

Galway oysters at Moran's Oyster Cottage — a thatched cottage on the bay, six generations
Tasting menu at Aniar in Galway city — Ireland's only Michelin-starred wild-food restaurant
A long dinner in the Pullman carriage at Glenlo Abbey
A Connemara lamb supper at Ballynahinch with a peat fire

The Stillness

Lake water, peat bogs, traditional music, and the quiet of an Atlantic horizon.

Live trad music at Tigh Neachtain in Galway city — Tuesday night is the real one
The Sky Road above Clifden at sunset — Connemara's twelve pins on the horizon
A morning ferry to Inis Mór — the Aran Islands, Irish-speaking, stone-walled, ancient
Kylemore Abbey reflected in its lake — a Benedictine community since 1920

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