⚠️ Timetables, opening hours, prices and access conditions may change without notice, for reasons beyond our control (season, weather, decisions by operators, venues or local authorities). Before every trip, check the information with the relevant authorities and service providers. Entry requirements and local rules (reserves, quotas) are subject to the same caveat.
Eight kilometres off the Connemara coast, Inishbofin — "the island of the white cow" — is a thirty-minute ferry ride from Cleggan. Small (about 12 km²) and home to fewer than two hundred people, it is explored on foot or by bike: visitors leave their cars on the quay. People come for the peace and quiet, the white sandy beaches, the coastal paths and an island life that comes alive in the evening in the pubs, to the sound of traditional music.
A 7th-century monastery and Cromwell's fort
St Colmán, a former bishop of Lindisfarne, founded a monastery on the island around 665; the ruins visible today, on the east side, are those of a 14th-century church surrounded by an old graveyard. At the harbour mouth, the star fort of Cromwell's Barracks, built around 1656 after the island was taken by Parliamentarian troops, was used as a prison for Catholic priests.
The island had around 1,500 inhabitants before the Great Famine; today it has 184 (2022 census).
Beaches, seals and corncrakes
Inishbofin is a Special Area of Conservation: you can still hear the corncrake, a bird that has become rare in Ireland, and you will see seals on the rocks. Dumhach and East End beaches hold the Green Coast award.
Three waymarked loops take in the different parts of the island — Westquarter, Middlequarter and Cloonamore — between cliffs, lagoons and old stone-walled fields.
Ferry, bikes and evenings in the pub
The Island Discovery ferry links Cleggan to the island all year round, in about thirty minutes; book in summer. Cleggan is 10 km from Clifden, and the Citylink 923 bus links Galway to Cleggan in just under two hours.
There is no reliable cash machine or large shop on the island: bring some cash. The hotels double as restaurants, and the pubs host traditional music sessions.
The essentials
| Getting there | Ferry from Cleggan (≈ 30 min), 10 km from Clifden; Citylink 923 bus from Galway |
|---|---|
| Best season | May to September; the island is accessible all year round |
| Currency | Euro (EUR); bring some cash |
| Language | English |
| Entry requirements | Valid ID card or passport |
Your questions answered
How do I get to Inishbofin?
By ferry from Cleggan, in Connemara, in about 30 minutes, all year round. You leave your car in Cleggan: the island is explored on foot or by bike.
Can I do Inishbofin as a day trip?
Yes, by taking the first ferry in the morning and the last one in the evening; but a night on the island lets you enjoy the peace and the music in the pubs.
What is there to see on Inishbofin?
Cromwell's Barracks at the harbour mouth, the ruins of St Colmán's, Dumhach and East End beaches, and the island's three walking loops.
Photo: Sonse, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons