County Galway: See
Galway city top sights are the Cathedral, St Nicholas Collegiate Church, the City museum and the University Quad.
Castles near the city are at Killeen, Ballindooley, Castlegar, Cloonacauneen, Menlo and Ballybrit.
Athenry Castle 15 km east of Galway is a restored 13th-century Norman keep.
Aughnanure Castle is a well-restored Gaelic tower house. It's by the shores of Lough Corrib, 20 km northwest of the city near Oughterard.
Portumna Castle is a Jacobean mansion and gardens at the head of Loch Derg, bordering County Tipperary.
Coole Park is a nature reserve in Gort, south of Galway towards the border with County Clare. Open daily Apr-Sep.
Ionad Cultúrtha an Phiarsaigh is a cultural centre for the Connemara Gaeltacht. It's at Rosmuc, open daily.
The Galway Hooker (Húicéir na Gaillimhe) is a fishing boat traditional to this area; its larger classes also carried light cargo such as turf. It was launched off beaches into shallow water with oncoming Atlantic breakers, so it has a sharp entry, a "tumblehome" (the hull narrows rather than flares as it rises), and a single mast with one mainsail and two foresails. Its chief limitations are the lack of decking and the low "freeboard", so it's vulnerable to swamping, and you wouldn't risk an extended journey. It usually has a pitch-black hull with red-brown sails. Hookers are still made nowadays to traditional designs and are used as leisure craft like other small sailboats: for racing or for just larking about. There are courses if you'd like to learn how to crew or even build a Hooker.
Prehistoric and early Christian sites abound on the Aran Islands, with stone ringforts and churches grouped around saints' dwellings and holy wells.
The Burren south of Galway Bay is a sparse limestone landscape dotted with prehistoric sites. It's mostly in County Clare but its top northeast corner is the "Flaggy Shore" within County Galway.