Aran Islands & Connemara Walking Holiday (6 Days)

Arrive in Galway, the liveliest small city in Ireland. Collect your route notes, wander the Latin Quarter, find a traditional music session for the evening and get an early night — tomorrow you head for the islands.

A morning bus from Galway to Rossaveal connects with the ferry to Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands — about 40 minutes across open water. You land at Kilronan, drop your bag at your B&B and set out on foot.

An afternoon walk takes you up out of Kilronan and across the island on quiet lanes between stone walls to its south coast, where Dún Dúchathair — the Black Fort — sits on a narrow headland behind a great stone rampart, with sheer cliffs on three sides. It sees a fraction of the visitors of Dún Aonghasa, which you'll reach tomorrow. Back to Kilronan for the evening: Irish is the everyday language here, and you'll hear it in the shop and the pub.

Distance: about 7km. Ascent: ~130m.

The big island day, a loop from the pier at Kilronan. You follow the quiet coast road west past Loch Port Chorrúch, where an old ruin recalls the days when seaweed was processed into fertiliser, and along limestone shore terraces where you can spot fossil shells in the rock. Watch for seals from the old viewpoint above the beach, then pass Kilmurvey to the visitor centre and climb to Dún Aonghasa — a prehistoric stone fort of concentric rings on the edge of a sheer Atlantic cliff.

The return is wilder: off the road and across the open limestone along the clifftops to Poll na bPéist, the Wormhole, a natural pool on the rocks below the cliffs that fills and drains with the sea, then back over the high ground to Kilronan.

Prefer two wheels? Bikes can be hired at the pier, and your route notes include a 21km cycling loop (~210m of climbing) that runs out along the coast road to the Seven Churches at the island's western end, stops below Dún Aonghasa for the walk up to the fort, and returns by the high road with views over the whole island.

Good to know: the clifftop section is unwaymarked and crosses bare limestone with loose slabs and deep cracks — slippery when wet. Your route notes and GPS track guide you through it; in poor weather, return the way you came on the road. Dún Aonghasa has a small entry fee.

Distance: about 17km. Ascent: ~230m.

An early ferry back to Rossaveal, where we meet you and drive you through Connemara to Maam to join the Western Way. A quiet road climbs west to Mám Éan, the pilgrims' pass through the Maamturk Mountains, with its tiny chapel, holy well and statue of St Patrick, and a view straight down into the Inagh Valley. You descend into the valley under the Twelve Bens to tonight's stay at Lough Inagh Lodge, a Victorian fishing lodge on the lakeshore, or similar.

Trail note: short repair works are under way on the path at Mám Éan; your route notes carry any local diversion.

Distance: about 17km (21km if you prefer to start from Maam Cross). Ascent: ~400m.

The Western Way runs north along the western slopes of the Maamturks, the length of Glen Inagh, with the lough below and the Twelve Bens across the water. Then the trail curls around the northern end of the mountains toward Killary Harbour, Ireland's fjord, finishing along an old coach road into Leenaun at its head. Mussel rafts on the water, Mweelrea across the fjord, and Gaynor's — the pub from the film The Field — for the evening.

Trail note (November 2026): the Western Way footbridge at Tullyconor, on the approach to Killary, is currently closed. Your route notes and GPS track follow the open route into Leenaun.

Distance: about 17km. Ascent: ~250m.

Your walking holiday ends after breakfast in Leenaun. Public transport from here is limited, so we send the current bus options in your pre-departure pack, or we can book a private transfer to Galway or Westport. Want more? Our 8-day tour carries on over the hills into Mayo and finishes in Westport.