nylilly

Hi -
My bf and I are headed to Ireland for 8 days in April and I'm hoping for a little advice. I've been to Ireland quite a few times, but it's the bf's first trip and he expressed interest in seeing a small town that feels untouched, if that's still a thing post-EU. We land in Dublin on Good Friday and will be occupied with family events for the weekend, but I thought it would be nice to take a couple of days out of Dublin to give him a taste of Galway town. Loosely, I'm thinking about heading west on Monday and taking 3 nights, perhaps one in central Ireland and two in Galway before returning to Dublin for our last two nights before departing to head home. We could potentially rent a car for the trip west or take a bus/train. Either is fine, but I'm wondering if anyone might suggest a quaint, small village somewhere between Dublin and Galway. I've got some ideas, but hoped there might be a favorite place of another Fodorite that would be new to me. Thanks for any advice you might offer.

Dave_Ohio

We greatly enjoyed a 3-day stay at a B&B in the village of Cong, in County Mayo.

AlessandraZoe

While I have a lot of towns that come to mind from all our cycling trips, the first town in the Galway area that came to mind is Athenry. When we cycled through there years ago, I remember turning to my husband to say, "I want to live here. Time has stopped." I just looked it up and sure enough, it still has a 13th century street plan, yet it's right off the M6 and is served by the Galway–Dublin. It has it all--an ancient priory, old town walls, a castle, and an ancient market cross. The pub we stopped at to "revive our calf muscles" had Trad music later that evening. And that's fitting because it's the Athenry of the folk song, "The Fields of Athenry". It's too bad we couldn't stick around to hear it sung!

While I agree with Dave_Ohio's assertion that Cong is likeable, the problem is that EVERYTHING in the darn town is centered around "The Quiet Man".

nylilly

Thanks for the recommendations. I’m leaning towards Athenry because it’s easily accessible by train and it sounds like it meets my criteria perfectly. Thank you again!

KatieDaly

Athenry wouldn’t be somewhere that would come to mind as an overnight venue for what you want . The song “ Fields of Athenry “ is a recent composition and Athenry was chosen more for the number of syllables rather than actual history .

Renting a car would give you more options. The drive from Dublin to Galway is much shorter these days , with the various motorways . It can be done without an overnight. I’d save the night and use it for an extra night around the west coast . If you are hell bent on a stopover , Mullingar could work.

nylilly

We’ll just be spending an afternoon/evening in Athenry before pressing on to Galway. It looks ideal for our purposes (a walk, some history, a pint) and I’m very excited to see it. As for renting a car, I’ve done the drive between coasts a number of times and find myself enjoying public transportation when it’s available. Turns the journey into a relaxing part of the adventure. Merry Christmas!