Wild Nephin National Park from Westport: Ireland's bog wilderness

There are forty-five minutes between Westport's coffee shops and one of the most genuinely remote places in Ireland, and most visitors who pass…

Old Head Beach, Louisburgh: the day trip from Westport most visitors skip

Westport gets the tourist, and fair enough, it's earned it. But twenty-five kilometres south-west, past Louisburgh and out to the western arm of Clew…

Where to eat and drink in Westport, County Mayo

Westport has the food scene of a place twice its size, and it doesn't make a big deal about it. A Michelin Bib Gourmand twelve kilometres down the…

Westport House: the estate, the grounds, and what to expect

The house sits lower than you'd expect. Coming up the driveway from Westport, through the trees, you're half-braced for something that announces…

Matt Molloy's Bar and the Westport trad scene

There's a green pub on Bridge Street in Westport that you'll find entirely by accident the first time, even if you've been trying to find it on…

Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen of Clew Bay

She was fifty-six years old when she sailed from Connacht to Greenwich to negotiate face to face with Queen Elizabeth I. Neither spoke the other's…

Clare Island and Inishturk, the islands off Westport

Clare Island and Inishturk are the two inhabited islands sitting in the mouth of Clew Bay, both reachable by ferry from Roonagh Pier near Louisburgh…

Achill Island day trip from Westport

Achill Island, the largest island off the Irish coast, is connected to the mainland by a swing bridge and reachable from Westport in about an hour by…

Cycling the Great Western Greenway, Westport to Achill

The Great Western Greenway is a 42 kilometre cycling and walking path along the route of the old Westport-to-Achill railway, which closed in 1937. It…

Climbing Croagh Patrick, practical advice

Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain of Saint Patrick, is climbed by around 100,000 people a year. It is doable by most people in reasonable health, but…

Westport, Mayo's prettiest small town

Westport regularly tops national polls for prettiest town in Ireland and it earns it. The 18th century planners who laid the place out, including the…