What is the best route from Dublin to Galway if I want one worthwhile stop on the way?
Take the M6 motorway and stop at Athlone. The full drive is 208 kilometres and about 2 hours 20 minutes in our road dataset, split as roughly 1 hour 25 minutes to Athlone and 1 hour 5 minutes on to Galway, so the town lands at the natural halfway point. Athlone repays an hour: the castle on the Shannon, the old town on the west bank and a proper lunch. If history matters more than lunch, Clonmacnoise, the early monastic site on the Shannon south of Athlone, is the stronger stop, but allow at least 90 minutes there and accept the short detour off the motorway.
Useful pages: Plan your journey · Public transport in Ireland · Dublin · Belfast · Plan your Ireland itinerary · Dublin and the East in 3 Days · The Grand Tour in 10 Days · The Full Island in 14 Days · Ennis · Galway city · Experiencing the Irish coastline · Guided versus self guided tours · Where to stay · Ready-made itineraries · Coming home · County Galway · Cashel · Northern Ireland · Travel notices
Sources
- Irish Escapes itineraries, planner trip type data and road dataset: shared/itineraries.json, shared/roads.json and planner code, irishescapes.ie
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