Just visiting Galway – fireside pubs, cobbled streets and culture on tap

Friday 4pm: First pint, first tune

Step straight into the Latin Quarter and squeeze into Tig Cóilí. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a fiddle duel as your Guinness settles.

8pm: Dine on the pier

Ard Bia on Nimmo’s Pier overlooks the River Corrib and the medieval city walls. Inside, candlelight flickers across stone walls and plates of flaky hake or tender lamb emerge, paired with locally sourced greens.

10.30pm: Snuggle up with a pint

Tigh Neachtain is Galway on tap, right on the corner of Cross Street and Quay Street, a warren of snugs and portraits of poets. Order a Jameson and join the banter.

Saturday 9am: Books before bustle

Next morning, start rather delicately at Charlie Byrne’s, one of Ireland’s best bookshops, then drop by St Nicholas’s Collegiate Church, where local lore says Christopher Columbus once prayed while his ship lay moored at the Spanish Arch. Outside, Galway Market spills down the lane and nearby Sheridans cheesemongers does a tangy wedge of St Tola goat’s milk cheese.

12pm: Sea air and luck

Follow the coast road on foot to Salthill for a view of the 18th-century Long Walk, a row of vividly coloured homes that line the Corrib, then join locals on Salthill Promenade. Watch the brave dive into the ocean from Blackrock Tower, even in the depths of winter. Don’t try it. Instead, warm up with a pint at O’Connell’s (famous) pub.

1.30pm: Net a fish lunch in town

McDonagh’s on Quay Street has served Galway’s classic fish and chips since 1902. Work it off with a stroll to the Hall of the Red Earl, a 13th-century ruin, and a visit to the Galway City Museum to learn stories of Vikings, poets, fishermen and the Claddagh, once a village of boat-builders, whose rings became Ireland’s most famous souvenir.

6pm: Michelin moment

JP McMahon’s Aniar is Galway’s destination restaurant, hyperlocal, inventive and Michelin-starred. Tasting menus showcase seaweed, wild herbs and whatever the Atlantic and Connemara offer that day.

8pm: Curtain rise

Druid Theatre is the city’s cultural heart. Catch a cutting-edge play, then settle by the fireside at the Kings Head.

Sunday 10.30am: Slow start

Grab coffee and a cardamom bun at Magpie Bakery, then wander into Eyre Square, the city’s three-acre outdoor living room, where the Browne Doorway hints at the city’s past.

Noon: The last word

Shop your values with a lasting souvenir from Thomas Dillon’s, jeweller since 1750, and original maker of the Claddagh ring. It’s love, loyalty, friendship in a band of gold.

Stay The House Hotel, overlooking the river Corrib (thehousehotel.ie) in the Latin Quarter, blends boutique style with a slick bar.

Eat Aniar’s (aniarrestaurant.ie) 24-course tasting menu celebrates the finest local produce, each dish a playful nod to the ocean or west of Ireland’s landscape.

Don’t miss Stroll out toward Salthill for views of ‘The Long Walk’ and the broad sweep of Galway Bay.

Photography by Pawel Gaul