Skip to content
GalwayOnFoot.ieGalway
County Galway · Connacht · Gaillimh

About Galway

Galway city is a city in County Galway, with 85,910 people at the 2022 census. A fort at the mouth of the Gaillimh, fourteen merchant families behind a wall, a port that traded with Spain, and the city of festivals it turned into. Its motto is “Laudatio ejus manet in secula seculorum”.

Population
85,910 (2022 census)
Where
185 km from Dublin
Position
53.2744° N, 9.0491° W, 25 m above sea level
In Irish
Gaillimh
On the model
39,574 buildings, 840 streets, 2269 places in 266 kinds
Read more
Galway on Wikipedia
The 3D model of Galway with every named place pinned
Galway - River Corrib & Wolfe Tone Bridge
Galway - River Corrib & Wolfe Tone Bridge
Suzanne Mischyshyn, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Quay Street, Galway
Quay Street, Galway
Ian Hawfinch, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Eyre Square Galway 1974
Eyre Square Galway 1974
Klaus Liphard, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Galway - Wolfe Tone Bridge & River Corrib
Galway - Wolfe Tone Bridge & River Corrib
Joseph Mischyshyn, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A short history

  1. 1124
    A fort at the mouth of the river. Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht and High King of Ireland, completed Dún Gaillimhe, a fort at the mouth of the river that gives the city its name.
  2. 1477
    Columbus at the church. Christopher Columbus visited Galway in 1477, possibly on a voyage towards Iceland.
  3. 1562
    Keeping the O'Flahertys out. The town's relations with its Irish neighbours were uneasy.
  4. 1845 to 1849
    The Queen's College. The quadrangle of what is now the University of Galway went up in 1849, during the Famine, as one of the three Queen's Colleges of Ireland.
  5. 1937 to 2001
    Borough, county borough, city. The urban district became the Borough of Galway in 1937, left County Galway as a county borough in 1986, and was renamed Galway City in 2001.
  6. 2020
    European Capital of Culture. Named a UNESCO City of Film in 2014 and European Region of Gastronomy in 2018, Galway was European Capital of Culture for 2020 together with Rijeka in Croatia.

The full history, 16 moments in order

What to see

  1. Eyre Square62 m

    The square at the heart of the city, with Kennedy Park inside it and the banners of the fourteen Tribes flying over it.

  2. The Spanish Arch and the City Museum589 m

    The 1519 arch at the end of the old wall, beside the museum that holds the city's heritage collections, the civic sword and mace, and the original statue of the poet Pádraic Ó Conaire.

  3. Lynch's Castle250 m

    A medieval townhouse on Shop Street built by the Lynch family in the sixteenth century, now a bank branch, and the finest reminder of the Tribes in the middle of town.

  4. St Nicholas' Collegiate Church367 m

    Founded in 1320 and enlarged over the next two centuries, the largest medieval church in Ireland still in everyday use.

  5. Galway Cathedral556 m

    The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, consecrated in 1965 on the site of the old gaol, limestone under a green dome.

  6. The Hall of the Red Earl485 m

    The oldest piece of the medieval town, built by the de Burgos in the thirteenth century, where taxes were collected, justice dispensed and banquets held.

All the things to see and do

Population since 1813

21,47842,95564,433181318511901195119712002202285,910

Source: Wikipedia article 'Galway', Historical populations template, citing the CSO census.

Questions people ask

Where is Galway?
In County Galway, in the province of Connacht, in the west of Ireland: 185 km west of Dublin, on the M6 to Athlone and Dublin, the M17 to Tuam, the N63 towards Sligo and the M18 to Limerick.
What is the population of Galway?
85,910 people at the 2022 census, up from 79,934 in 2016.
What is there in Galway?
On the map, 2269 named places in 266 kinds: 373 places to eat and drink, 507 shops, 176 schools, churches and public buildings, and 166 things to see within 12 km.
Why is Galway called the City of the Tribes?
Because fourteen merchant families, twelve of Norman origin and two Irish, ran the walled town from the fifteenth century to the seventeenth. Their banners fly in Eyre Square and their names, Lynch, Blake, Browne, Martin and the rest, are on the streets.
What is there to do in Galway?
Walk the medieval streets from Eyre Square through Shop Street and Quay Street to the Spanish Arch; see St Nicholas' church, Lynch's Castle and the Hall of the Red Earl; cross the Corrib to the Claddagh and the cathedral; take the prom at Salthill; and, in July, the Film Fleadh and the Arts Festival, in August the Races.
What is the history of Galway?
A fort of 1124, a Norman capture in the 1230s, a charter and mayor in 1484, two centuries of merchant rule and trade with Spain, a Cromwellian siege of nine months, a Williamite capture in 1691, decline, the Queen's College and the railway in the 1840s and 1850s, and a rebirth as a university and festival city in the twentieth century.

Getting around

Galway sits on the M6 to Athlone and Dublin, the M17 to Tuam, the N63 towards Sligo and the M18 to Limerick. 346 bus stops and 28 car parks are on the map.

History, sights and civic facts summarise Wikipedia, "Galway" (CC BY-SA 4.0, read 2026-09-19). Population is the CSO census as listed there. Distances and everything on the model are OpenStreetMap.