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Ballinasloe, County Galway

Things to do in Ballinasloe

The fair in October, the marina on the Suck, Clontuskert Abbey, the Aughrim battle centre, the Famine park and the Hymany Way.

Plan of Ballinasloe with the main sights labelled

The sights as pins on the model; tap one for its page and directions.

8 things to see

  1. 01

    The Suck and the marina

    290 m south-east of the centre

    The river that made the town, the county boundary, and the public marina that opens it to the Shannon navigation.

  2. 02

    St Michael's Square and the Main Street

    The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century centre, built in the local limestone; the Garda station and the courthouse of about 1840 show the stone at its best.

  3. 03

    The castle wall

    The ruined outer wall of the castle on the east bank that guarded the ford from the twelfth century and was enlarged by the O'Kellys.

  4. Clontuskert Abbey
    04

    Clontuskert Abbey

    5.3 km south of the centre

    A national monument seven kilometres from the town: the cloister and church of the medieval priory are open to all.

  5. 05

    The Battle of Aughrim centre

    7.2 km south-west of the centre

    In Aughrim village, seven kilometres west, the story of the 1691 battle in which three kings' struggle for Ireland was decided.

  6. 06

    Famine Remembrance Park

    The memorial park a kilometre from the centre at Cleaghmore, remembering the years when the workhouse held two and a half times the people it was built for.

  7. Saint John's
    07

    St John's and St Michael's

    161 m west of the centre

    The Church of Ireland church of St John and the Catholic churches of St Michael and Our Lady of Lourdes.

  8. 08

    The Town Hall Theatre

    Society Street · 238 m west of the centre

    The theatre beside which the fair's funfair sets up every October.

Things to do

The October Fair

The horse fair that has run since the eighteenth century, three hundred years old in 2022, with a market, a dog show, fireworks and a funfair, and up to 80,000 people in town.

Traditional music

The Larry Reynolds Weekend, since 2014, remembers the man who took the east Galway style to Boston in 1953, with sessions in the bars; the Dinny Delaney Festival honours a piper of a century ago with concerts and masterclasses.

The Hymany Way

The walking trail from Portumna to Aughrim along the Shannon passes through the town.

Gaelic games, soccer, rugby, golf

Ballinasloe GAA, with St Grellan's footballers and the hurlers, plays at Duggan Park; Ballinasloe Town AFC at the Curragh grounds; the golf club dates from 1894 and the equestrian centre from 1994; two boxing clubs and an athletics club besides.

The cinema

A five-screen Omniplex opened in May 2023.

Castles, abbeys and old churches nearby

  1. 4.3 km
  2. 5.3 km
  3. 6.5 km
  4. 7.2 km
  5. 8.5 km
  6. 8.8 km
  7. 11.1 km
  8. 11.3 km
  9. 11.4 km
  10. 11.7 km
Ringforts and sites41Holy wells4Castles2Abbeys3

Parks, beaches, lakes and views

  1. 3.2 km
  2. 6.2 km
  3. 6.2 km
  4. 6.3 km
  5. 6.4 km
  6. 6.4 km
  7. 6.6 km
  8. 6.9 km
  9. 7.1 km
  10. 7.1 km

Sport and leisure

  1. 120 m
  2. 238 m
  3. 290 m
  4. 424 m
  5. 432 m
  6. 453 m
  7. 484 m
  8. Ballinasloe Town AFC
    Sports centres
    605 m
  9. Omniplex
    Cinema
    630 m
  10. Coral Leisure Centre
    Sports centres
    943 m

Photographs: JohnArmagh, public domain via Wikimedia Commons; Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The descriptions summarise Wikipedia, "Ballinasloe" (CC BY-SA 4.0, read 2026-09-19); positions and the lists are OpenStreetMap. Opening times and admission are not on record here; check before a visit.