Galway · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
A small city that behaves like a festival — twenty-five minutes across on foot, end to end.
Eyre Square and around
The hostels ring Eyre Square and spill into the lanes towards the Spanish Arch, all within five minutes of the bus and train station.
What a day costs
About €55–85 a day, roughly $60–95: dorm €22–40, chowder, supermarket food and a pint €18–28, a Cliffs day tour €30–45.
Getting around cheap
Walk. Citylink and Bus Éireann coaches run to Dublin, Doolin and the Cliffs; the Aran ferries leave from Ros a' Mhíl with a connecting bus.
Free by day
The Long Walk and the Claddagh at the river mouth, the Salthill promenade with its wall to kick, and the buskers on Shop Street.
Where travellers meet
Tigh Neachtain on the corner is the meeting point; the Crane Bar upstairs has trad most nights and Róisín Dubh takes the later crowd.