I read that parking fees in Galway and Cork can be expensive. Are there any free public parking areas within walking distance of downtown Galway, and downtown Cork? Our hotel is in Limerick and the bus ticket per person to Galway and Cork is around $12-$21 one way, so we think for a family of 4, it makes sense to use the rental car that we rented in Dublin airport for the Galway/Cork visits.
The plan is to park the car and explore Galway and Cork on foot.
Thank you!
Look up free parking lots on Google maps. Sometime you need to look at the photos to see if a lot is free or pay. I doubt there’s a free lot in downtown anyplace, but there may be one within walking distance.
A quick search in Galway shows that the Dyke Road Car Park is only €5 a day. It’s just over a half mile from the Latin Quarter.
In Cork, there’s Turner's Cross Retail Park Car Park. It appears to be free, but is a 1.5 mile walk to the downtown area. Another free lot is Glen River Park (Car park), but is 1.8 miles from downtown. There is a bus stop very close to it, so maybe park at it and take the bus into town.
We didn’t drive or park in Cork on our stay last spring, but picked up a car at the Cork airport afterwards, when we departed the city. We had an airbnb northeast of downtown, and walked to and from it daily. There were cars parked along the two streets we used, with no parking meters. How available a parking space would be for you, I can’t say, but both Summerhill and Wellington Road could be candidates, if you were to drive to/in Cork. Both streets run northeast from downtown, and go up a steep hill, but they’re on the Limerick side of the River Lee, which cuts through Cork.
Also on the north side of the city is a Blackpool Shopping Center, with a big, open parking lot out front. It would be a walk to get into downtown, but it’s another option.
