We are coming from Dublin and planning to stay in Galway for two nights. We can arrive around noon on March 23 and then we will depart by noon on the 25th so we really only have one solid day with a half on each side.
We'd very much like to see Inishmore, but I'm not sure it's a wise thing to do in the time we have. The only thing we really want to do in Galway is enjoy a little food and atmosphere and have a nice stroll or two if the weather allows. (This, I think, can be accomplished by having lunch when we arrive, a long walk, and then a later pub dinner and then a stroll, a coffee and pastry the morning we depart.)
I've read lots of posts here and I'm just checking if I'm missing anything or if anyone has any season-specific advice.
We won't have a car, so we would need to take the ferry (I have read David's compelling endorsements for flying, but we've ruled that out for a couple of reasons). If we take the earliest one, we would not make it onto the island until 11:00+ and we would have to catch the 17:00 ferry back to Rossaveel/Galway.
There's no way we can get to the seal colony, Dún Aonghasa, hike to the Wormhole, and the black fort unless we practically run there and back and do nothing else including eating or bathroom breaks, so it seems we'd need to get a minibus tour or the like. (Seems like it has to be done on the spot for the most part?) My spouse is not comfortable on a bike.
I think the best thing to do, with the limited time, would be to take a Galway-based guided tour that includes transportation, but we will be there on March 24 and those generally don't seem to get going until April. (Seems there are a couple that are essentially just transfer, but that would still leave us figuring out a reasonable timeline on the island).
The obvious alternative is to at least take a tour bus or public transport to see the Cliffs of Moher. Not the same thing at all, but maybe advisable in the time?
**I would never ask my fellow travelers to google on my behalf. I have only a few talents in life and one of them is an exceptionally long (some would say obsessive) tolerance for googling. I've learned that no amount of googling is the same as having the sage advice, the insider knowledge, or the common sense of fellow travelers.