Things to Do in and around Oughterard: Exploring Connemara with Kids and Teens

I started this post back…..before. No one’s going to any pubs in Oughterard anytime soon as I write this. But, I mean, what better time to reflect back on travels past and look forward to a time when it can safely happen again, right?

travel dates: June 2019

In all of our Ireland planning, I don’t think any decision was so agonized over as that of where we were going to stay in or near Connemara. We decided early on to spend a good bit of time in Connemara, largely because Dave’s parents hadn’t been there before (none of us had been there before, but the rest of us hadn’t been to Ireland at all). But narrowing down exactly where our base camp should be took a long time and a whole lot of group e-mails. We considered a few different locations farther out on the peninsula: maybe something right on the ocean or in Letterfrack, near the national park. We thought about staying in Galway City. We looked at one house in a town to the east of Galway that sounded like it had some interesting stuff going on.

But ultimately we landed on Oughterard–the “Gateway to Connemara”– on the eastern end of the peninsula and less than half an hour outside of Galway, and I was really happy with our choice. Oughterard itself is a pretty little village on the Owenriff River, small enough to be walkable and charming, but big enough to have a good selection of restaurants and shopping. Galway and all the Connemara sights are within easy striking distance, and there’s quite a bit to do in the immediate area as well. We very easily filled a full week exploring the area and could have happily stayed longer.

In this post I’ll talk about Oughterard itself and about the things we did within a few minutes of Oughterard and then I’ll talk about the things we did in the wider area in later posts. I talked about the house we rented back in my Ireland planning post; it was a giant old house with plenty of character within easy walking distance of all the shops and restaurants.

Restaurants

I’ll just mention a couple of our favorites. We enjoyed Camp Street Cafe, which serves pizzas and fish and chips and a few other things. And you get to pull your own beer from the two they have on draft, so that’s kind of fun. We ate upstairs because that was the only place there was room for all of us, and we had it all to ourselves, but downstairs you get a more festive atmosphere and often live music.

Our favorite local spot, though, was Powers Thatch. Dave and I ended up there three times during the week: twice for dinner with the family and once to grab a beer at the bar without the kids. We really liked it here; good food, friendly people, and live music several nights a week.

Here’s Ari out on the patio, shortly before it started pouring on us and we all had to rush inside and stuff ourselves into the only remaining tables. Note: it was very crowded every time we came, so be prepared to wait for a table or split up if you have a large party.

We mostly used Oughterard as a base for exploring Galway, Connemara, and other places in the region, but we spent the first day after our arrival checking out the sites very nearby.

Brigit’s Garden

Brigit’s Garden, about 10 minutes from Oughterard, is one of those places that I had trouble getting a feel for from the website. It is, as described, a site with gardens inspired by Celtic mythology, but it’s much bigger and more elaborate than I expected. I figured it would be a cute place for kids, and we’d spend an hour or so ambling around. It turns out that it’s easily a half day outing, and the adults and big kids enjoyed it as much as Abe. I really enjoyed the small but well curated gift shop, too. There’s also a cafe onsite that serves tea, coffee, and light lunches.

Milo and Gus at the giants’ table:

Playground!

Baby birds in the crannog:

Making music:

Oh, I forgot! There’s a scavenger hunt for younger kids to complete as they go through the gardens and trails:

We spent a long time in the woods and spotted (not pictured sadly) an Irish stoat!

They claim this is Ireland’s largest sundial. We didn’t see any bigger ones, so who are we to argue?

Spooky (reconstruction of a) neolithic tomb:

Admission to Brigit’s Garden is €8 for adults or €24 for a family of 4

Aughnanure Castle

Our next stop was Aughnanure Castle, just 5 minutes or so outside of Oughterard. We asked how to say it while we were there, and mastered it briefly, but I would no longer be able to tell you. The castle was built around 1500 and has a well-preserved tower that you can explore on your own. This made it a nice complement to our visit to Adare Dublin Castle earlier in the trip, which could only be viewed via a guided tour. The tour was a great intro to castles, but it was nice that the kids could run around on their own here. There were lots of signs around telling you about various parts of the castle.

We knew this was a great castle right away, because as soon as we got there we met Bono:

Bono doesn’t live at the castle, but on an adjacent farm. We were told he spends a lot of time at the castle hoping for attention, though, and the kids were very happy to give him some. Good boy, Bono!

He had a cat friend, too:

My recollection of our Ireland trip is that we mostly just roamed around the country meeting friendly animals.

Amy hid!

After climbing up the tower and checking out everything there, it was time for running all over with cousins, with occasional breaks to pose for pictures:

Then we said goodbye to Bono:

Admission is €5 for adults or €13 for a family.

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