West Ireland 4/5 days

[daffodilfan]

Looking at a road trip to West Ireland for a few days.
Thinking Galway.... and...anything not to be missed?
Looking for cliffs/sunsets/beaches (not for sunbathing)/traditional food/some walking but nothing major.
Any suggestions please - not a regular traveler and stuck with indecision.
Thanks.

Also pretty villages...

Look at conneamara and the Gaeltacht area, coral beach, dog’s bay. Salt hill for general tourist loveliness!!! Enjoy, it’s my fave part of the whole world (and I live in Ireland!!)

Also Co. Mayo

• Westport
• Achil
• Louisburgh

Stunning beaches and the WAW

Westport and Achill Island. The beaches on Achill are stunning

And coastal County Clare. Gorgeous scenery, the Burren, fab pubs with a great music scene, some great beaches (bishop's quarter), lachinch has natural pools.

Sligo is a nice town.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Now I just have to make an actual decision!

Are you going by air or ferry? All above suggestions are ace, however if starting from Dublin it will eat into your time getting over and back to the West.

Knock International or Shannon airport are good starting points. You're ready to rock from either!

Shannon for Clare, Cliffs of Moher (sunsets), beaches at all along from Kilkee to Lahinch. Moher not too far from Lahinch. Or North Kerry on the river Shannon ferry from Killimor to Tarbert where there are great beaches at Ballybunion, Banna, Carrahane etc.

If you can get a flight to Knock, then it's Westport, Newport, Mulranny and Achill. Or the other direction, Murrisk (Croagh Patrick), Louisburgh, Killary Harbour, Silver Strand and so on. Galway if you can get that far down.

Absolutely glorious part of the world. I hope you enjoy it a lot.

If you're in Galway, go over to the Aran islands for a day. You'll have to leave the car and get a ferry, (which won't go in very bad weather) but that would be first choice. So gorgeous.

Planning to fly and hire a car over there. Assumed Shannon but have only just started looking at options.

Clifden is a great town.
Aran Islands gorgeous too.

Sligo is a gorgeous county, amazing scenery.

Have a look at Knock (Ireland West) airport - may be handier than Shannon (depending on where you’re going) and the flights tend to be cheaper.

Good post, depending on which airport you fly to.

Or go further southwest, fly into Cork, and head west along the Wild Atlantic Way. Lovely villages, walks, views, beaches along the Mizen, Sheep’s Head and Beara peninsulas particularly.

Donegal is fabulous

I was going to suggest Donegal, too. It's about a 2 hour drive (north) from Knock airport, but it's worth seeing. Gorgeous beaches, Slieve league cliffs, beautiful areas around Errigal mountain and plenty of great restaurants/pubs.
(Just an FYI - if you're flying out of Knock (Ireland West airport) there's a 10 Euro community charge per person.)

Another vote for Donegal!

OP I think you might have to curb your enthusiasm if you only have five days. Just saying that even though all the suggestions are fab, the distances can be longer than you think off the main motorways.

I echo Donegal, a wild and somewhat mysterious place in parts as it is sort of "cut off" from the rest of Ireland.

I'm getting some ideas for myself here too. I need to get to West Cork again. Such a lovely place.

Shannon Airport is very handy for Galway and a much better road than driving from Knock. If you go to Connemara you could do a day trip to the Aran Islands, the flight to Inis Mor from Inverin is less than 10 minutes.

Westport without a doubt and the hotels there do some great deals .