Galway Beds: The Streets Worth Booking and the Ones to Avoid

Galway city is compact enough to cross on foot in half an hour, so the question is not really how far you are from things. It is what you want outside your window: a pub street, a bay, or a quiet Georgian terrace. Here is the honest breakdown.

The short version

• Book: the city centre around Eyre Square and the Latin Quarter, the West End, or Salthill if you want the sea.
• Book with caution: anything directly on Quay Street or Shop Street — magnificent by day, audible until 2am.
• Skip: the retail-park hotels out on the ring roads, unless you are driving Connemara and want free parking.
• Watch the calendar: July's arts festival, the Races in late July or early August, and the oyster festival in late September all empty the city of rooms and double the rates.

City centre and Eyre Square — the default, and a good one

Eyre Square is where the buses and trains arrive and where the medieval town begins. Its landmark is the grand old railway hotel on the square, now trading as The Hardiman, a Victorian institution that has carried a couple of names in its time. From here, the Latin Quarter, the museum, the Spanish Arch and the river are all within ten minutes. This is the sensible choice for a first visit or a short one.

The Latin Quarter — beautiful, and loud

Shop Street, Quay Street and the lanes off them hold the buskers, the trad pubs and most of the restaurants you have read about. There are small hotels and guesthouses tucked among them, and they are wonderfully placed. They are also directly above a street that sings until closing. Ask for a room at the back, or accept the trade.

The West End — where locals go

Across the Corrib, around Dominick Street and Sea Road, is Galway's less obvious quarter: better-value cooking, independent shops, and The Crane Bar, the city's most respected session pub. Five minutes' walk from the Latin Quarter, a great deal calmer, and generally cheaper. Our pick for a second visit.

Salthill — sea views and space

The seaside suburb, a couple of kilometres west along the promenade. Larger hotels here have proper bay views, leisure centres and parking, which makes Salthill the family choice. The walk into town along the water is genuinely pleasant in decent weather and grim in a gale; buses and taxis are frequent either way.

The docks and the Long Walk

The quays east of the Spanish Arch have picked up hotels in recent years, including a large one between the docks and Eyre Square. Convenient, modern, slightly characterless, and often the best availability when the centre is full.

The ones to skip

Hotels strung along the Headford, Tuam and Dublin road approaches are cheap and car-dependent, and Galway's traffic in and out of the city is famously slow. Parking in the centre is difficult and expensive — if you have a hire car for Connemara or the Cliffs of Moher, either take a hotel with its own car park or plan to leave the car and walk.

Tip: If you are day-tripping to the Cliffs of Moher or Connemara, stay two nights minimum. Galway's whole appeal is the evening, and coach days will eat every one of them if you only have one.