One night advice

My least favorite place in Ireland is Galway. There is one attractive block and that is it. Galway is a base for visiting the Aran Islands and Connemara and is why people go. Another good think about Galway is you can take a direct bus to and from Dublin airport if you don’t have the luxury of flying multi-city. I would much rather spend a day in Dublin or take a day trip from Dublin to Brú na Bóinne or Trim and visit the castle.

We like Galway, have always found a welcoming B&B, and have had fantastic sessions at The Crane Bar. There are lots of things to see within a short drive, and of course an overnight on Inishmor. The one block is an area we avoid once we knew better. There's even a "Riverdance"-like thing a few nights a week, although we've never been.

I like Galway too and County Galway and Connemara are WONDERFUL!

One of my favourite stops between Galway and Dublin is the early monastic site of Clonmacnoise with its ruined churches, round towers and carved crosses. Athlone is quite close and could be used as an overnight stop. Athlone to Dublin Airport is going to be about 2 hours drive.

If you stop in Athlone, the Castle is fun as is the Derryglad Folk Museum. Only place I know where you can see bog butter - we're visiting the Butter Museum in Cork next Spring, so maybe they have it as well :-) Of course there's Sean's Bar (oldest in IE)

I'm intrigued by bog butter - I wonder if burying it in a peat bog altered its taste... I assume it uisn't still made and you can't sample it?

I also really enjoyed Galway and the music at the Crane. I also made a stop in Athlone in order to see Clonmacnoise, and visited the castle on the river which was quite interesting. So it may just depend on what you have already seen in your travels. The Galway area has great scenery, but if you have already seen a lot of that, then maybe Athlone would be something different.

Will you have a car or will you be relying on public transportation?