Here you will find some helpful advice for visiting Galway city.
Money
Banking hours are usually from 10:00am until 4:00pm Monday to Friday with some staying open later, most also close for lunch 1:00pm to 2:00pm. Credit and debit cards are widely accepted along with smart phone banking. However cash is still very much the first choice in Ireland. Some taxies, national buses and late night eateries don’t accept credit cards, so alway carry cash.
ATM’s are plentiful, however some can run out of cash, especially of a busy Saturday night, so best to get your cash early in the evening.
Accommodation
Galway runs the (almost) full gamut of lodging options from camping to up-market hotels. All the camping and caravan options are out in Salthill, such as Salthill Caravan & Camping and O’Hallorans Caravan Park. A few of the larger hotels are also here, such as the Salthill Hotel and the Galway Bay hotel, along with a couple of B&B options. At time of writing Salthill has just the one hostel, The Nest, located 107 to 109 Upper Salthill. Also east of the city you’ll find the Connaught Hotel on the old Dublin road. Close to the Galway Dublin motorway you’ll find the Clayton Hotel. These are a popular option if you don’t fancy driving into the city centre.
Every hotel will have at least one restaurant, lounge bar and perhaps a coffee dock. Book ahead well in advance if visiting during the busy summer months.
Service is decent but in a lot of hotels the food can be more miss than hit. Most hotels cater to large events, parties, weddings etc, especially at weekends, so take this into consideration if booking your stay.
Bar the camping grounds which close for a few months, every accommodation option is available year round. However some B&B’s, Guesthouses etc may close for a few days over the Xmas and New Years holidays.
Traffic
One big headache of the city, which nothing has been done about is traffic, it’s almost as famous as the weather. If your bringing your own mode of transport, bring plenty of patience. A journey of less than 1Km can take 45 minutes and even longer during rush hour in the evening, which runs from around 4:30pm up to 7:30pm, especially if going through the city centre. Rush hour in the mornings runs from about 6:30am to 9:00am.
During festival season and especially race week (see below) things can almost come to a standstill. When the sun shines and the mercury hits the 20’s, Salthill becomes a bottleneck in the evenings and weekends.
Parking
There are plenty of parking options in and around the City. Parking is expensive with some carparks chrging up to €3:00 per hour. There’s plenty of pay & display street parking (a little less expensive), it’s not free though so look for parking meters, which may be a distance away. Most should take credit cards, but have cash (coins only – no chage given) just in case. Make sure your printed ticket is clearley displayed on the dashboard of your car.
Street parking is usually limited to two hours, check parking signs. There’s no charge after 18:30pm in the evenings up to (usually) 8:30am the following morning (up to 13:00pm Sunday). Both the Cathedral Square (not the church) and Dyke Road carparks are the best value at €5:00 for the day. Salthill has two carparks, both thankfully are free and you can park pretty much the entire length of the promanade, also free.
Health
Pharmacies abound throughout the city so your never too far from one, most are open from 9:00am to 6:00pm with a few staying open later up to 10:00pm. If you have a more serious medical issue the Regional hospital in Newcastle, has a 24 hour emergency room. For ambulance service dial 999.
Safety
Galway for the most part is a safe place to visit, violent crime is rare but not unheard of, more serious crimes have happened but again, extremely rare. Late at night the canal walk can be a lonely spot and Eyre Square in the early hours can be a little rough with the revellers leaving the late night bars and clubs. Petty crime (pickpockets etc) increases more during the busy festival periods when the city is thronged. As with visiting anywhere common sense prevails. Short of ending up in the wrong bar, the vast majority of visitors will have a trouble-free stay. Should you have any trouble dial 999 and ask for the Gardaí (Police). Or call in to the Mill Street Garda Station in the city (ph: 35391538000) or Salthill Garda Station, Dalysfort road, Salthill (ph: 35391514720). You can also log onto garda.ie
Best time to visit
Galway has become a year round destination and is wort a visit any time of the year. The busy period usually kicks off from St.Patricks day, 17th of March through until early September. The shoulder months of March, April, September and October are a nice time to visit as the weather is that bit milder and the city not as busy. During the busy months from May through until late August the city is in full swing, everything is open, the weather warmer and almost every week has a festival of one description or another.
The busiest, manic almost, time in the city is from the beginning of the Galway Arts festival to the end of the Galway Races (race week) where the city is bursting at the seams. Unless your absolutely into horse racing, race week is best avoided as things get a bit messy and the crowds and traffic unbearable.
The Weather
While it rains more in the west of Ireland, the weather in Galway is very changeable and unpredictable. Even in the winter months temperatures can be a very mild 12C or higher or even below freezing in the same day. There’s usually less rain this time of the year but it could easily rain for several days at a time. Snow could fall anytime between November and late March, but never lasts very long. In the same months a few storms may hit, most are reasonably mild but some can hit and shut not just Galway, but the entire country down with electrical supplies and transportation effected.
The summer usually brings warmer days but showers are not uncommon and again it can also rain for days at a time. Late April and May can usually have decent weather with very little rain and highs of 20C or more, not unheard of, although this is not always guaranteed.
Getting around
There are just two public transport options for getting around the city, taxies or buses. If your staying in the centre of the city and given the compact size of Galway, everything is within walking distance, in fact, Salthill is a leisurely 25 minute walk from Eyre Square.
The Galway bus service is not very reliable. Due in part to the traffic having an effect on times. Always arrive at least 10 minutes before a bus departure time, as a bus that arrives early, will usually not stop and wait, unless someone is getting off. Most of the bus routes depart from Eyre Square.
Taxies are plentiful, but are at their busiest in the early hours as the clubs and bars close and everyone is making their way home. Like the bus service taxies suffer the same headache, the traffic, this will also have an effect on your time and cost. You’ll find the main taxi ranks around Eyre Square and Bridge Street with a few smaller ranks (not always official) at the bottom of Quay Street (Father Griffen Road), Merchants Road, Dominick Street upper and there’s also a rank in upper Salthill.
Mail services
The central Post office is located on Eglinton Street. You can top up your phone, send packages, money transfers etc, they even sell stamps. Opening hours are from 9:00am Mon, Wed to Sat until 17:30pm and from 9:30am Tue until 17:30pm. There are several smaller offices throughout the city offering most services but not all. Bohermore, Father Griffin Road, Mervue and Salthill. All have different opening hours, check An Post (anpost.ie) for details.
Eating out
There are plenty of options for eating out in Galway, from a simple coffee shop, to a Michelin star meal. Almost every bar in the city also serves food, with lunch time been the busiest meal of the day, especially at weekends. For a more detailed look at Galway bars, jump over here.
Eating out, not just in Galway but Ireland in general, is expensive and during the summer months, prices go up, and portion sizes tend to go down. Booking is advised for most of the better restaurant especially at the weekend, it’s also best to book up to two months or more in advance, if planning on dining out during Race week (see above).
The quality of food and especially the choice has improve vastly from an Ireland of a decade or two ago. Galway now has two restaurants, each with a Michelin star if that’s your thing. There’s also a glut of coffee shops around the city, including three giants of the coffee world. Unfortantly the coffee and food choice in a lot of the coffee shops is of the mass-produced variaty. Thankfully though, there are some decent places to get your caffeen fix. For a more detailed look at eating out in Galway, take a little jump to here.
During the Greedy Tiger years, service, while never the best in Ireland, was atrocious. Today service is better, but still needs improving. Remember though, if your server is not the most plesent, it may be down to bad managment and working in a poor invoirment.
Tipping, the worlds most confusing tax. Tipping is certainly not always the done thing when eating out in Ireland, although most people will leave a tip. So don’t worry about a manager coming down to your table, looking confused, wondering why you did not tip enough………. – sorry, that’s a story for another time.
Some restaurants will have a service charge on the bill, usually for parties of 6 or more, so check in advance. If you choose to tip, 10 percent seems the norm, but feel free to leave more and certainly don’t tip if you get bad service. Tipping jars are usually on the counter of coffee shops, most people may leave a few cent change. For taxies, a few cent are usually the norm to round off the bill, but again, no need to tip. No need to tip if having drinks at a bar, although most people will leave a euro or two, especially if your bar person can wizz up a few decent cocktails.
See and Do
For a detailed description of things to see and do in the City, such as theater, festivals, tours etc, you know what you got to do, just jump.
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