If you ask a hundred Irish people which is their favourite city, Dublin will get the most votes because it is the biggest. Galway will come second. Ask the same hundred people which city they would choose for a free weekend with no plans, and Galway tends to win outright.
The festivals are not occasional, they are constant
Most Irish cities have one or two major festivals a year. Galway has at least one every month between April and October. The Galway International Arts Festival in July fills the city for two solid weeks. The Galway Film Fleadh runs the same month. The Galway Races take over the city for a week at the end of July. The Oyster Festival in September is the world championship of the oyster opening competition. Cuirt for poetry, Tulca for visual arts, the Volvo Ocean Race when it comes through every few years. Even the smaller festivals draw real crowds.
The Irish language is everywhere
Galway is the gateway to the largest Gaeltacht, the Irish-speaking region, which stretches from the city out into Connemara and across to the Aran Islands. You will hear Irish on the street and in the shops in a way you do not in any other city in the country. It is also home to TG4, the Irish-language television station, which has produced some of the best dramas of the last decade.
Music is in the bones of the place
Trad sessions in Galway are different to trad sessions in tourist-heavy parts of Dublin. They are still played by working musicians for the people in the room rather than for camera phones. Tigh Coili, the Crane Bar in the West End and Tig Neachtain are the three most reliable for proper sessions any night of the week. Monroe's Tavern has set dancing on Tuesdays in season.
The walk-everything geography
Galway has one big advantage over almost every other small city in Europe: it is small enough that you can walk from one end of the centre to the other in fifteen minutes. The Latin Quarter, the Spanish Arch, Eyre Square, the Cathedral, NUIG, Salthill promenade. None of them are far apart. You do not need a car or even a bus.
The food has caught up
Twenty years ago, Galway was famous for music and bad food. The food has now caught up. Aniar has had a Michelin star for over a decade. Cava Bodega, Kai, Loam, Tartare, Riba. There are at least a dozen restaurants in walking distance of Eyre Square that would be among the best in any Irish city of any size.
And it does not rest
The thing that surprises first-time visitors is how late Galway runs. The pubs are still serving food well into the evening, the music is still going at midnight, and there is always somewhere open one more drink later. It is a small city, but it never feels small.