Connemara Stops, One by One: From Leenane and Killary to Clifden

The listings name the same places again and again, and give them very different amounts of time. Leenane gets thirty minutes on one day and none on the next. Clifden gets half an hour, or forty-five minutes, or a drive past. So before you pick one of the Connemara Ireland tours, look at where its time goes. This is the road, stop by stop.

The stops at a glance

Oughterard and Aughnanure Castle

The lake road leaves Galway on the N59 and reaches Oughterard, near the western shore of Lough Corrib. Most coaches drive straight through. Just 3.5 km away is Aughnanure Castle, a tower house from the late 15th century that the O'Flaherty lords held for over two centuries. Walk About Galway's private sheep-farm day gives you an hour there. Entry is EUR 5 for an adult.

Maam Cross and the bog

West of Oughterard the land opens out into blanket bog. Maam Cross is the crossroads where the road north to Maam leaves the Clifden road. You will pass it rather than stop, so watch for the mountains: the Maamturks and the Twelve Bens lie beyond the bog.

Leenane and Killary Harbour

Leenane sits on the southern shore where Killary Harbour ends. On Lally Tours' days you get thirty minutes in the village, then a fifteen-minute stop beside the water. Discover Ireland counts Killary as one of just three glacial fjords in Ireland, 16 km long, with Mweelrea, Connacht's highest mountain at 814 m, above the Mayo shore. Galway Tour Company's Cong day gives the fjord a ten-minute photo stop instead.

Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore Abbey is the long stop on most days. You get two hours on the Lally Tours, Galway Tour Company and private days, and three on a choose-one day if you pick the abbey. Mitchell and Margaret Henry built the house from 1867, and Benedictine nuns have lived there since December 1920. With two hours, take the shuttle to the walled garden first, then walk back to the house and the church. Things to do in Connemara covers the estate and what the ticket opens.

Letterfrack and the national park

The park's visitor centre is about 200 m beyond Letterfrack on the N59. How long you get depends on the day: two hours on Lally Tours' park day, three on a choose-one day or the guided hike. Rabbie's tours from Dublin give it thirty minutes or an hour. With two hours, the 3 km lower Diamond Hill loop fits; with three, you can try the summit. The trails are in the national park guide.

Clifden and the Sky Road

Clifden is the town at the end of the lake road, and the choose-one days stop there. You get thirty minutes with Wild Atlantic Way Day Tours and forty-five with Ireland Wild Escapes. Look for the Alcock and Brown statue on Market Square. Then comes the Sky Road, a 16 km loop above Clifden Bay and its islands. Coaches give it a ten-minute photo stop, and the private half day twenty.

Screebe and the pine island

The choose-one days go out by the coast and turn inland at Screebe. Wild Atlantic Way Day Tours stops for ten minutes at the waterfall there, then ten more at the viewpoint over Pines Island, a small wooded island on Derryclare Lough. That lough sits at the mouth of the Inagh Valley, so you see the same mountains again on the way home.

The Inagh Valley and Recess

The choose-one days come home through the Inagh Valley, with the Twelve Bens on one side and the Maamturks on the other. You get ten minutes for photos there, and ten more in Recess beside the Connemara Giant. The last miles pass the Quiet Man Bridge, named for the 1952 film.

The coast road: Spiddal and Salthill

Lally Tours' days come home along the south coast. You get fifteen minutes in Spiddal on the Kylemore day, or thirty on the park day. It is the village the Irish name An Spidéal, where Irish is the everyday language. The coach then runs along the promenade at Salthill and back into Galway.

Cong, over the Mayo border

Galway Tour Company's Connemara and Cong day crosses into Mayo after Kylemore, on the quiet road by Lough Nafooey, and gives Cong 45 minutes. The village sits by Lough Corrib. Rabbie's 3-day tour from Dublin gives it an hour on the way to Kylemore. Most of the Galway days stay in Connemara.

Three things to know before you choose a route

• Photo stops are short. Ten minutes at a viewpoint is time for pictures, not a walk.
• The long stop decides the day. Check whether yours is Kylemore or the park before you look at anything else.
• Loops run both ways. The same places can come in the morning or the afternoon, depending on the tour. The Connemara map shows both roads.

Wondering which long stop to choose? How to visit Connemara sets out the choice.

Two days that stop at the places above

From Galway: Guided tour of Connemara with 3 hour stop in Kylemore Abbey

Merchants Road at 09:30, the Pines Island viewpoint, Clifden and the Sky Road, then three hours at Kylemore or in the national park, back at 18:30.

From $58 per person

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Galway to Connemara National Park Day Tour

Leenane and Killary Harbour on the way out, then two hours on the national park trails, on a coach from the HYDE Hotel at 09:45.

From $64 per person

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