We really took out towards the end of 2025 after missing out on travel from early in 2025 – and enjoyed a night away in Galway. Galway is such a fun city. Relatively walkable, great bars/restaurants, and nice people.
Though it did feel stricken by overtourism. The city centre seemed to have more American accents than Irish, whilst tourism can be incredible for stimulating the local economy, it’s essential this does not come at the cost of the inhabitants of the location.
Anyways, we stayed in the Ardilaun hotel, a bit outside of Galway city centre, but it just was a brisk 20 minute walk to get in there.
We began by exploring the Latin Quarter, a part of the city centre where nightlife and hospitality locations are concentrated.
When I learned there was a Galway based stout, I set out to ensure I tried it, and Sonny Molloy’s was the first of my Galway itinerary ticked off.
What are Irish people most famous for? Arts? Fighting? Pubs? Pubs. So most of our Galway trip was us trying some of the city’s more famous pubs, after Sonny Molloy’s, next up was The Quays. This was perhaps my second favourite pub in Galway, the decor would remind you of an old church, the and the vibes were relaxed inside. The food smelled incredible, but we were still satisfied from our hotel breakfasts, so didn’t opt for any.
We decided we couldn’t just do a pub crawl around Galway, so decided to do a little sightseeing.
The Spanish Arch is a remnant of Galway’s medieval city walls, and was used as a storage area, one of only two remaining.
At this point, we did start to get hungry, so we headed back towards the city centre, and opted to eat in The King’s Head.
It’s a charming bar on the inside, I had thought I had a photograph of my seafood chowder (which was delicious), but it appears not.
After our pitstop in the King’s Head, we ventured just out of the city centre to 2 additional bars.
First up was Hughes’ Bar, where we gatecrashed Liam Mellows hurling team celebrating winning the Galway B Senior championship the day before.
They were kind enough to allow us to get a photo of Freddie with the trophy, and they ended up being the last team to win it, as the championship was reorganised in 2026.
Last, but not least, we tried nearby The Hole in the Wall for our last pub of the day. I saw the thatched roof, and was drawn to it. We had arrived just as they opened, and it wasn’t exactly busy – but it was nice, and had a bit of a traditional Irish pub feel to it. I’m sure it’s much better in the evenings.
We ventured back to our hotel and ordered food, before calling it a night with the little man.
The following day, we thought we’d check out Salthill Beach before driving back home. In hindsight, it was not beach weather, despite there being cold water swimmers there. We probably should have just started our drive back, but we felt like we couldn’t go to Galway and not visit Salthill beach.
Maybe the next time we’re in Galway the weather will be warmer… it’s a city I thoroughly enjoyed, and I’d love to return – and even just explore more of Ireland.
