Athenry Castle in Galway

Well maintained. Not a lot to see. Informative video.

Fantastic tour of Castle and information

A wee tour. Interesting and beautiful

It is a good place to relax and ancient place to see

A fine restored castle in Athenry

If you visit the castle just ask your host Rodger about the blue shark! Youll enjoy a great story from a great host and historian.

Nice tour with a good historical perspective.

Lovely place and historical route around the town, younger kids will enjoy the arfs and heritage centre.

Amazing very educational. A great day out with kids

Great place to visit. Got some wonderful insight into the place before we went in from two great people at the visitors centre didnt get their names thought. Children under 12 go for free, doesnt take long and a 10 min or so video about the Tower and Abbey. Pay and display parking right beside and a playground. Wel recommended.

Nice castle in Athenry. Worth a visit. Youll like it if you enjoy history.

5 euro entry. Walking around outside is free and theres a nice park and playground nearby.

Super staff, facilities and excellent history!

Great castle free entry

You NEED to stop here and do a tour. Allan and his staff are very welcoming and the costumes and archery are a blast.

Wonderful and informative. Friendly folk and a good coffee in the Barracks

Very interesting and nice tour. Saw it in the rain and was very fun.

Friendly and very knowledgeable staff! Recommended many awesome places for our time in Ireland! This castle and town has tons of history and I love how preserved it is. They offer ans audio visual tour which gives a lot of information on the castle/town and the eras it was a major part of

A real Norman castle, not a tower house. Very interesting talk by the staff

The castle is just 5 minutes off the M6 motorway and only 30 km east of Galway City, seriously well preserved medieval town with cool restaurants and cafes. Well worth a short detour.

Cool spot!

Great experience the history is very interesting

I loved this place and the man that told us the history. Very funny and engaging.

The castle is one of the oldest Norman castles in Ireland and as one can see the design is very basic and yet the enclosure back in the day was huge in relation to the size of the castle as it encompassed the old medieval town. The town itself can only be described as a planning nightmare, with (bad planning verging on the criminalall over the place.As you approach the town from the motorway you are greeted by a combination of scrap yard and farmers Co op, and old rusty silos. At the back of this horror story is the remains of a beautiful old Abbey that must have been a joy in its day covered in weeds and rubble: at the front of the Abbey there are three houses right on top of it, "I kid you not". And its the same throughout the town. This town can only be described "as an assault on the senses" for all the wrong reasons, so much potential, wrapped up in neglect and gross incompetence.

Explored the Athenry Castle after leaving Galway heading towards Shannon airport

Our guide who told us the history to the castle was very knowledgeable and shared her knowledge in a very interesting way. She really engaged the younger children in our tour and kept them interested.

Unfortunately, when I visited the castle March 2022 it was close due to COVID. However the walk into town and a visit to the Banba Cottage was a lovely and cozy place to.visit

Brillant experience. Kids loved park and playground a lot.

A nice little unplanned visit, being tourists in our own back yard. Really wonderful opw representitive on the gate. Roger I think. Plenty extra information from him. He is an asset.

Visited here with my family on Sunday. Staff very friendly. Kids lived exploring around the castle

Absolutely wonderful experience and History of the Castle and Athenry. A must see historic attraction. Thank you to Chris for a knowledgeable and interesting talk 10/10

Nice park next to castle.

Didn’t get to go inside the castle grounds as it was closed. But the park with the little watch tower was fun to climb up, and across the street at the Dominican church/graveyard (built in the 1200’swas a very nice walk.

I was at the nearby playground with my kids and we popped into the castle as was open. It is very pretty and very well maintained. We enjoyed waking around the castle looking for princesses and princes with my 4 yr old. It is refurbished well and also gives you a good sense of what it was like in its original capacity. The kids were free and I was only 5euro in.

Loved this county.... Ppl are good n cheerful. After living to Galway, this is the go-to place ever !

The staff is so friendly and informative. The castle is well cared for and easy to access and roam. Parking in front or just a very short walk if you park in town. The river that runs along side is beautiful and great for photos. If you visit take the time to cross the street to the priory and explore the grounds there.

Beautiful little castle not too far from Galway main town

Lovely place to see stunning architecture but pity it was closed . Lovely carvings to be seen around grounds.

This was the perfect stop on our way to Dingle from Galway! Great location and very informative!

Staff here was the nicest of all the places we visited. Its €5 per adult to enter but Im not sure why. It was not one of the better castles we visited. If youre passing by it warrants a visit if you have time, but otherwise there are many other better castle options

Great castle and grounds, in a really cool town. This was self guided, informative and very well kept. We really enjoyed this castle visit!

A worthwhile visit made really beneficial by Chris the free, after entry, OPW guide.Long history lovingly restored and beautifully explained.

Fabulous place for Norman history. They bring history to life.

The tour was great! Of course it was partly because I was the only one there. The guide was very knowledgeable, kind, and open to questions. A great find for any medieval enthusiast. The site is renovated in a true to form sense. So there is no handicap accessible unfortunately

Like many others castles managed by the state, well preserved, nice 15min video showed on the last floor... Two Crows nest on the other side of the top windows ... great sir DavidAttenborough moment ;)

Unfortunately closed for the winter season but was able to take exterior pictures and visit the Abbey near by.Irish: Caisleán Bhaile Átha an RíBuilt in 1200s by Anglo Normans there Berginghams. Its classified as a Tower House and was renovated in 2005.

Beautiful castle, which is really well maintained, and is presented well for the public. The staff were super helpful, and they were ready to answer any questions, and even to restart a film so that my group did not miss any of it. They also told us about other sites in the area, and give us information on visiting them as well. Great experience and I would love to go back someday!

The restored towerhouse is impressive. There are places like Ballintober Abbey, Holy Cross Abbey and the gatehouse in Boyle that recreate a simplicity of Norman style that I found surprising but these are all religious. Simply standing inside an undecorated tower house makes this place worth a visit.The guides I met on my three visits were always cheerful and engaging. The place was always well maintained and I enjoyed the visit

3-story Tour and a 20min movie about the history of the castle. Worth a visit

For what it is, it is a beautiful castle. But we kinda expected something more. For €4 each I expected more stuff, alot of empty big rooms.Amazing reconstruction of the top floor and roof. Would be a lovely place for a picnic (on a sunny day)