Day trips from Westport

A great idea is to climb Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain of Ireland: https://www.ireland.com/en-us/things-to-do/attractions/croagh-patrick/. Croagh Patrick is only some 5-10 miles west of Westport, near Louisburgh. The legend is that Croagh Patrick has a tie to St. Patrick himself: He is said to have prayed for the souls of the Irish for the biblical 40 days and 40 nights on the summit. The story is he chose Croagh Patrick because it had been used for pagan festivals with bonfires on the summit. Patrick wanted to claim in for Jesus.

It takes 2.5 hours or so to climb Croagh Patrick. The almost perfectly conical mountain is only about 2,500 ft. high. The path is deliberately not paved. The desire is to keep it in the same state as Patrick would have seen it. The first three-quarters of the climb is moderate, but the last part is a bit dicey amid a lot of stones, but if you go slowly, you'll be fine. The summit holds a chapel. When I was there, the chapel was locked, but I could hear footsteps inside. I don't know if there are priests or monks inside. The views of Clew Bay and the Atlantic Ocean from the summit are to-die-for gorgeous, provided it's not misty. A great pub where you could celebrate your ascent is at the base of the mountain.

Another idea is to visit the Ceide Fields in north Mayo: https://heritageireland.ie/places-to-visit/ceide-fields-neolithic-site-visitor-centre/. It's an ancient neolithic site. The Ceide Fields rarely make visitors' list, and it's one of my favorites in the entire island. The views from there are even better than the Cliffs of Moher that everyone knows about.

Finally, in southern County Sligo is a town called Tubbercurry, which is a haven for traditional Irish music: https://thesession.org/sessions/search?q=The+Tubbercurry&page=1. There's an Irish music school there called the South Sligo Music School: https://www.southsligosummerschool.com/.

Just about 10 miles west of Tubbercurry is a town called Ballymote, which houses a cool ancient castle: https://heritageireland.ie/unguided-sites/ballymote-castle/.

The National Famine Memorial, featuring replicas of coffin ships, is just across the road from Croagh Patrick.

Fourteen miles south in the remote and beautiful Doolough Valley is the Doolough Famine Memorial. It's a bike ride we've done multiple times on our trips around Ireland.

We also cycled the Greenway in 2022. If you have questions about it, I'd be glad to respond.

David, what sections of the Greenway have you cycled? Are there sections that aren’t super challenging (in terms of hills)? Which would you recommend for a group of cyclists, some of which are pretty serious and others who will have child trailers? Something everyone would like?

Achill Island

National Museum of Ireland - Country Life near Castlebar is about 30-40 drive from westport. This covers rural life in Ireland (fishing, agriculture, hunting) and is a real step back into what life was like 75 years ago. There are lots of artefacts as well as videos made during the 50s and 60s talking about customs and way of life. Some feel almost pagan. We spent neartly a full day there.

Also think about a circular drive to the north into Mayo, following the N59 but extending along the north coast with Belmullet and Ceide Fields (the world’s oldest known stone-walled field system and the most extensive Stone Age monument globally). This is set on the top of 400' cliffs - think Cliffs of Moher but without the people...

We biked from Westport to Newport and back after the Gateway had been fully developed as such. On earlier trips, we biked essentially the same route to Achill Island and up to the Belmullet Peninsula. It's all quite flat.