Separate day trips to the Cliffs & Islands?

Doolin is 2 hours by bus from Galway.

Dirty little Irish secret: the Cliffs of Moher (CoM) are big cliffs, and are certainly worth a stop for a look if you are nearby. But the CoM are optimized for tour buses, and very much set up for big-time, mass tourism, designed to efficiently process thousands of visitors every day. There are gift shops, plenty of toilets, vast parking areas, and stout, high, idiot-proof guard-rails that will keep even the most determined idiot from inadvertently falling to their death, all very, very safe. Paved concrete walkways everywhere with code-compliant stairways, everything full ADA-compliant (or whatever the EU equivalent is). You might even say "sanitized." All very well set up for large, organized tours and the very large numbers of visitors you will share the experience with. For a tour bus, or folks with significant mobility issues, this is definitely the place to see cliffs.

But there are plenty of other spectacular cliffs you can see around the coasts of Ireland, which are at least as impressive, and in many cases are even more spectacular than the CoM. They're just not set up to efficiently and safely process thousands of visitors every hour. But that's a feature, not a bug.

As luck would have it, some of those cliffs happen to be on Inishmore. These cliffs are "unoptimized", unrefined, unorganized, unsanitized, raw, naked, 100% in their original, unmodified, natural state. They don't have paved parking lots the size of a small city just steps from the cliffs, so yes you'll need to walk a bit (and yes, some of that will be a bit uphill). That walk might be over gravel paths or weird, uneven stoney ground. There will be no guard rails whatsoever, and the very real possibility (certainty, in fact) of falling to a spectacular and grisly death if you don't have enough common sense to avoid stepping over the cliff edge. No toilet facilities. No gift shops. No tour buses. No other tourists or any other people around at all, either -- you'll have these cliffs pretty much, or entirely, to yourself.

We spent 2 nights on Inishmore, and loved everything about the place (well, Fine Dining was not a major highlight, but we didn't expect a Michelin meal). The cliffs on Inishmore were utterly spectacular, one of the highlights of our trip. A couple days later, as we were driving from Galway to Dingle (a long day in the car), we stopped briefly at the Cliffs of Moher. We spent about 10 minutes there, snapped a few photos, enjoyed a break from the long drive (and used their toilets), but honestly, compared to the experience on Inishmore a couple days earlier, I though the CoM were pretty weak tea by comparison. Having the spectacular landscape of Inishmore all to ourselves, not another soul in sight besides my spouse, just the wild, untamed landscape as far as I could see, tinged with mortal danger...by comparison the CoM were a bit....meh. I'm glad we stopped and got out to see them, but the CoM experience paled in comparison to Inishmore.
Others might disagree.

We enjoy exploring small towns, cute shops, music, quaint restaurants and sitting on a bench to soak it all in.

Galway is pleasant enough, and gently ticks all those boxes.

The "town" on Inishmore is extremely small, with limited options. But honestly, I would trade any day in Galway for a day (or another day) on Inishmore. We spent an afternoon (our arrival day) and a morning (our departure day) in Galway, and that seemed about right. We spent almost 3 days on Inishmore (2 nights, one full day and part of two days) and we were very glad we did. We could have easily spent another day there happily but needed to move on to the south (we will go back).

Consider trading some (most?) of your time currently planned for Galway, and spend that on Inishmore. Just keep a step or two back from the edge of those cliffs... ⚠️💀😎

See, gravel paths, hills and uneven ground could be tricky, hence the no hiking. My Mom has balance issues and a bad knee so those types of activities are tough for her.

I'm starting to think it might just not be our cup of tea.

Now, for Plan B. Are there any towns near Galway that would be a great 4-6 hours side trip? We just returned from London and thoroughly enjoyed day trips to Windsor and Cambridge .. anything similarly easy from Galway?

@David - super useful reply to planning q's excellent questions. thank you

@David -

We’re in our 70’s, heading to Ireland in September for hubby’s birthday.

Your post is exactly what we’re looking for. We’re not big on hiking, but we can get almost anywhere if given enough time to slow down and catch our breath along the trek.

This sounds perfect! Only issue is that we won’t have a car. We prefer trains, buses and the occasional taxi. Is a trip to Inishmore doable?

Thanks!

Thanks, all, for the kind words.

@ theplanningqueen - The best of Inishmore will require at least a bit of walking, sometimes more than a little, and yes, most of that would be on not-perfectly-smooth-and-even gravel paths (at best), and if you chose to get more ambitious, would require walking some distance across the very strange, very uneven, rocky terrain they have in abundance. There would be at least a few steps up (and down) rock stairs, maybe an occasional step over a low, rock fence.

How big of an issue this would be for someone with a bad knee and balance issues would of course depend on just how big those issues are. Having less-than-perfect knees myself, I can understand and relate a bit, but I had no trouble at all, and we scrambled across a LOT of that really weird terrain. More than the gravel paths, more than the stairs, I think the biggest hazard is the weird "bedrock" terrain that covers large parts of the island. This is super-hard, super-uneven, apparently it's ancient seabed, now up high and exposed bedrock. If you're not careful, it would be easy to plant a foot in the wrong spot (get caught between the rocky parts) and twist an ankle. It's a really, really strange surface for walking. If you step carefully, most people can navigate it without trouble (if you bring along hiking poles that would help for those with minor balance issues), but it's not as easy as walking across a paved parking lot.

Here are some photos that show some of the landscape on Inishmore. Inishmore's Uneven Ground.
If someone in your travel party has serious mobility issues, this might not be a good place to go for a hike, and should give you something to think about (most of the photos are in places that would be a very long miserable crawl back to the nearest road if a fall resulted in an injury). That said, both my spouse and I have some (relatively minor) knee and ankle issues, and we had no trouble (enthusiasm fueled by adrenaline), we walked all over the island gleefully. If you are at all fit, are capable of a light hike on an unpaved trail, I think you should be fine. But there are real dangers here – aside from turning an ankle if you fall, there are the cliffs that would be the last thing you see as you fall to your death. So do take the risks seriously.

@Terri - The hiking on Inishmore is not particularly challenging (other than watching your step and avoiding falling off the cliffs to a spectacular and grisly death...something to keep in mind as you walk along gobsmacked by the views). Just a little elevation gain, usually gentle, and mostly level. Unlimited opportunities to stop, and catch your breath, you will be stopping frequently anyway to gaze around, amazed with a big grin on your face.

Nothing about Inishmore requires a car. Start in Galway (which is easy to reach by bus, train, or car). FLY to Inishmore, don't take the ferry (it's slow). The plane is surprisingly cheap, super fast, and is a complete hoot -- a thrilling ten-minute hop at an altitude of just 100 feet (yes, "treetop" altitude, though the entire flight is over the sea). Take the early flight, you get there hours before the day-trippers. Get from downtown Galway to the airstrip on the little airline's own (historic old) bus; buy the bus ticket (about €10 last time I checked) when you reserve your flight ticket. On the island, there are few cars. You can get around on foot (allow plenty of time) by taxi (including pony-carts), or by bike. We rented E-Bikes, which were great (the island has some hills and it's always windy, the electric-assist really helped...but this isn't a "scooter" it's a bike, pedaling still needed). If you can ride a bike, you can ride an E-bike. If you can't, you can probably arrange some kind of ride. So, no car needed for a side trip to Inishmore. You just need to get to Galway as the jumping-off point.

Those pictures are super helpful, thank you!! I think the pathways would be doable but the irregular bedrock is exactly the kind of stuff my Mom would struggle with balance-wise. Is it possible to see much without being off the trail too much?

Any other creative day trip options from Galway?

Thanks again

PQ

@david thank you for the photos and for the idea of flying…we have a free day in Galway during our tour, and I had this vision of seeing Cliffs from the sea, and thought that going to the Arran islands by ferry would accomplish that. But now, I’m wondering if seeing everything by air would be better! Also, confused as to whether there are cliffs (other than on Inishmore) near Galway, or if we would need to do a different boat tour to see cliffs from the sea level. Any guidance/opinions would be appreciated.

Is it possible to see much without being off the trail too much?

@PQ - Kind of a tricky question. You can get around some of the island on gravel roads and paths. The most famous site is Dún Aonghasa, an ancient rock fort facing the sea cliffs. There is an obvious, impossible-to-miss gravel/rock path up to Dún Aonghasa -- the first three photos show this path; note in the third photo, you can see the surface becomes more rocky and uneven as you get towards the entrance to the fort. It's also a bit of a walk up there -- the parking area is down by the white buildings. It's not super steep, but it is uphill. In photo 3, about 75% of the way up to the fort, I can imagine the thought bubble above my wife's head as she slogs on...("why did I marry him? this is even crazier than the last trip! where are the damn puffins?"...)

I know some elderly folks who would not do well on this path after the initial, more even gravel portion. When you do get up to the fort, you need to go up a few rocky, irregular steps to get through the doorway into the fort itself (4th photo). But a lot of the island consists of grassy pastures separated by walls made of stacked stones. Look at the landscape in photo #3...that's a good representation of the terrain on the island. Grassy pastures, stone walls, and that uneven "bedrocky" terrain with tufts of grass growing in cracks. The cliffs are not really marketed as a tourist attraction -- they're just there. You're free to go walk out to them, but as you can see in the photos, there's just not much out there. There are some gravel roads and some paths that take you out near various cliffs, but AFAIK they won't get you to the edge. To reach the cliff edges, you have to negotiate more than a little of that "bedrocky" stuff.

The island does not have a lot of things that fit typical "tourist attraction" categories. Lots of sweeping, windswept, lonely views. Stacked stone walls abound. Pastures with happy cows, horse and goats. One pub (we only saw one, there could be another). A couple of shops (biggest thing in town is the sweater co-op store). A few widely scattered, old ruined, abandoned buildings. It's a very quiet, low-key place.

The island's biggest "attraction" is the island itself. So can you see that without being off the trail too much? Yeah, kinda, but it's going to be a challenging place for someone with significant mobility issues.

We wandered a lot (often nowhere near any road or path), and found some cool, atmospheric places, took pictures and breathed it all in -- an old ruined church up on a hill. An old graveyard that was being reclaimed by the tall seagrass along the harbor. Endless vistas of stone, grass, the sea. The wind and fresh air off the Atlantic. We loved it for about 2 1/2 days, but I know plenty of people who would have had enough after 10 minutes.

Hope that helps.

I had this vision of seeing Cliffs from the sea, and thought that going to the Arran islands by ferry would accomplish that. But now,
I’m wondering if seeing everything by air would be better!

@ Carla -

You won't see much of the cliffs on the short flight to/from the island. That said, the flight is thrilling. The flight is no more than 10 minutes (and that includes time on the ground at both ends!) - it goes by really quickly. Our flight was at 100 feet altitude -- that's treetop level, although the flight is 100% over the sea, so no trees to dodge (not that there are many trees...). The cliffs are mostly on the far side of the island; the flight will land and takeoff from the airstrip which is right on the near (low elevation) side of the island. So no, the flight is not really a good way to see any cliffs.

Aer Arann (the little airline) does offers charter flights for sightseeing, but that's gotta be spendy (if you had enough people in your group to fill the plane, it might be justifiable as a splurge), but they're not going to turn your scheduled passenger flight into a sightseeing run (they're busy and have a little airline to run). The flights are utilitarian -- the government subsidizes these flights to help the islanders stay connected to the mainland, so it's a no-frills operation.

Also, confused as to whether there are cliffs (other than on Inishmore) near Galway, or if we would need to do a different boat
tour to see cliffs from the sea level.

Don't know. I know there are cliffs along the west coast further south, around Slea Head, Kerry, etc. If you are driving to/from Dingle, there will be other opportunities to see spectacular cliffs along the way. We didn't have time to stop around Slea Head, I understand it's also very beautiful.