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Aran Islands/Cliffs of Moher/Connemara Help

Posted by on

Hello! I am looking for some help/clarification on my Galway portion of my trip to Ireland. Please see below and let me know your thoughts on my itinerary:

September 20th: Arrive by train from Dublin to Galway at 11:50 am and staying the night in Galway

September 21st: Was thinking of doing the day trip to see the Cliffs of Moher/Burran OR Connemarra (Staying the night in Galway again)

September 22nd: My husband and I will be staying the night on the Aran Islands (Inis Oirr) for one night. We are contemplating taking the 8 minute plane flight to the island and then taking the ferry on the way back to Rossavel.

September 23rd: Leave the island and come back to Galway for our final night (During Oyster Festival.) In the morning we wake up and head back to Dublin by train around 11am.

These are my questions based on the itinerary above:
Will we feel like all we are doing is driving back and forth to different destinations/is this too much to accomplish during our time in Galway area? I don't want to have most of our time spent in bus/train/plane but we also don't want to miss out on something!

We are still able to cancel our stay on the islands and get a full refund. Should we cancel the island trip altogether and stick with Galway as the home base and just do a day trip to the island? What appealed to us about the islands was that it seemed way less touristy than the Cliffs. Sitting on a tour bus does not exactly interest my husband and I, as we typically like to go off the beaten path, but we will not have a car this trip.

I welcome any feedback you might have and I hope this all made sense!

Posted by
2712 posts

All I can tell you is that this would not be too much for me. I find the occasional bus day trip to be relaxing provided you are not spending hours in transit, which I don't think you will be. I stayed overnight on the largest of the islands and loved it. You get a different perspective in the evening when the crowds are gone.

What would you do if you didn't do the bus and island trip? Would you enjoy this as much? Only you can answer that question. If it were me, I would take both trips.

Posted by
11 posts

Thank you for your quick response! I guess if we kept the night on the island and decided against the bus trip to the Cliffs then we would just hang back and explore Galway city for a full day. The way the plan is now, we would only be exploring Galway in the late afternoon/evenings but maybe that is plenty of time still? I guess since we aren't the ones driving the tour bus then it probably doesn't feel like so much work and is more exciting? Thank you!

Posted by
7360 posts

We also stayed on the big Aran Island (Inis Mór) for a night, and can't recommend having a night off of mainland Ireland highly enough. We were traveling by bicycle/ferry, so taking more time than a car or bus, and our ferry back to the mainland landed at Doolin, although we'd departed from Rossaveal the day before. You could see impressive cliffs as we approached Doolin, but the actual Cliffs of Moher are truly impressive, as is the small museum, as is the Burren! We had a couple of extra days for exploring those sights, and didn't see any of Connemara, so can't give you a direct comparison. But a trip to the west of Ireland should definitely include the Cliffs and the Burren, if you can fit them in!

Posted by
2712 posts

I have not been to Galway so I can't advise you. Well I can, but you need to take it with a grain of salt. I loved the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. Since you have some time to explore Galway (enough time according to the impression I got from reading guide books), I would do the bus trip.

One other thing to factor into your decision: If the weather is bad and the seas are rough, the ferries may not be able to sail. That's why we elected to fly. However, the weather was so bad for our return trip that the flights were delayed, so there is no guarantee. Connemara is beautiful so you could always go there if the ferries aren't sailing.

I hope you have a great trip whatever you decide.

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