Ireland's West from Edenderry: Galway, Connemara and the Cliffs in 3–5 Days

Edenderry sits almost exactly between the two coasts, which is a better base for an Irish road trip than most people realise. Dublin is an hour east. Galway is about an hour and three quarters west. The M6 and the N52 get you across the midlands quickly and without drama.

This is the western half of the idea — Athlone, Galway, Connemara and the Cliffs of Moher over three to five days. The eastern version is here if you would rather do Meath, Wicklow and Wexford.

Stop first at Athlone and Clonmacnoise

Do not treat the midlands as something to get through. Clonmacnoise is fifty-five minutes from Edenderry and is one of the most important early Christian sites in Europe — a sixth-century monastic city on the banks of the Shannon, with round towers, high crosses and a cathedral. If you only stop once between here and Galway, stop here.

Athlone, about an hour away, has a Norman castle on the Shannon and Sean's Bar, which claims to be the oldest pub in Ireland. Worth an hour and a pint before you push on west.

Galway: city and coastline

About an hour and three quarters from Edenderry, and the natural first overnight. Galway is small enough to walk and busy enough to feel like an event — street music on Shop Street, the Latin Quarter, the Spanish Arch, and seafood that justifies the trip on its own.

From Galway, the Cliffs of Moher are roughly an hour south, or about two and a half hours direct from Edenderry. Two hundred metres of vertical Atlantic coastline. It is the single most visited natural attraction in the country, which means going early or late in the day makes an enormous difference to the experience.

Connemara: rugged and empty in the best way

North-west of Galway the country changes completely — bog, bare rock, water everywhere and mountains that come straight up out of it. Allow two and three quarter hours from Edenderry to Connemara National Park, and treat it as a two-night proposition rather than a day trip.

Killary Harbour is Ireland's only fjord, a long deep inlet with mountains on both sides, and there is nothing else like it in the country. Kylemore Abbey sits on a lake nearby with a walled Victorian garden. The Sky Road out of Clifden is the drive to do if you only have an afternoon.

Westport, Croagh Patrick and Cong

Two and a half hours from Edenderry, Westport is the most handsome planned town in the west, laid out around a tree-lined river mall, with a proper music scene and Clew Bay on its doorstep.

Croagh Patrick rises above the bay and is Ireland's holy mountain. The climb takes about three and a half hours return and the last stretch is loose scree that punishes bad footwear. The view over the islands of Clew Bay from the top is the reward.

Cong, on the Mayo–Galway border, has an ancient abbey, Ashford Castle, and a permanent second life as the village where The Quiet Man was filmed. Even without the film connection the setting between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask would carry it.

How to actually do it

Three days: Clonmacnoise and Athlone on the way out, two nights in Galway with a Cliffs of Moher run. Five days: push on to Connemara for two nights and loop back through Westport and Cong, or reverse it and come home down the Shannon.

The west is far enough that you will want to stay over rather than commute from Edenderry — but Edenderry works well as the night before you set off and the night you come back, which saves you a hard drive at either end. Drive times are approximate, so sanity-check them for your own route.

We have ten en-suite rooms in the centre of town with parking. Have a look at the rooms, or see what is closer to home.