News & Stories

The festive season in Galway is packed with excitement, and it’s the perfect time for families to come together and make cherished memories! From sparkling lights and winter markets to cosy family outings, Galway offers endless ways to celebrate the magic of this special time of year. Here at The Connacht Hotel, we are so excited for the festive season and can’t wait to welcome families for a holiday filled with joy, warmth, and unforgettable memories! We’ve put together an itinerary filled with festive cheer and fun for all the family.

Spooky season is here, and there’s no better place for a family Halloween adventure than The Connacht Hotel! With plenty of fun activities and Halloween-themed events, both at the hotel and around Galway, there's something for everyone to enjoy. From our friendly fellows’ kids' club to our Family Halloween Celebration and disco, your little ones are in for a treat. Plus, Galway offers a variety of family-friendly attractions, from pumpkin patches to ghastly treasure hunts. Join us for a spooktacular stay and create magical Halloween memories with your family this year!

Autumn is here, and Galway is bursting with colour and energy! As the leaves turn golden and the air gets a bit cooler, the city comes alive with all kinds of exciting events and cosy happenings. At The Connacht Hotel, we’ve put together a list of the best things to do this September, from local festivals to fun outdoor activities. Whether you’re a Galway local or just visiting, we’ve got the scoop on how to make the most of this vibrant season. So, throw on your favourite Aran sweater and get ready to dive into everything Galway has to offer this autumn!

The Fun Continues This Summer in Galway With a New Concert Series

Get ready for something truly special this August with the Galway Airport Summer Sessions! This brand-new concert series is set to light up Galway with ten amazing nights of live music. Held in a marquee with a limited audience of just five-thousand attendees, it's the perfect way to enjoy world-class acts in an intimate setting. Here at The Connacht Hotel, we're so excited to see Galway Airport transform into a buzzing musical hotspot. Book your stay with us and dive into the incredible vibes of Galway's newest summer event!

Read on for the full line-up of amazing acts!

As summer reaches its peak, Galway comes alive with a burst of activities and events that promise fun, engagement, and lasting memories. Whether you're a local or a visitor, there's something for everyone. Here’s a sneak peek into the exciting lineup of  "What's On in Galway" this August!

Galway Race Week with Connacht Hospitality Group

Welcome to the heart of Galway Race Week 2024!

As the excitement builds for this iconic event, the Connacht Hospitality Group is thrilled to present a week full of unforgettable experiences across our venues: The Connacht Hotel, M. Fitzgerald's Bar, An Púcán, and Hyde Bar. From thrilling horse races to the lively Galway Summer Vibes Festival, Galway is the place to be. Let’s dive into what we have in store for you this race week

Summertime is one of our favourite times of the year. It usually means we get some nice weather, we have a few days booked off, and there’s a good vibe in the air.

It also means there’s something fun happening somewhere around the city pretty much every hour of the day.

Luckily for you, we’re here to make it easier for you to find out what’s going on, where, and when. 

Easter at The Connacht Hotel means family fun, an eggstravaganza of treats, and plenty of reasons to get out and about to explore.

So, if you’re looking for a family-friendly experience at a Galway hotel, we have so much to make your visit as enjoyable as it deserves to be.

Plus, we’ll even throw in a few incredible additions to really make your Easter enjoyment the best it deserves to be.

This St. Patrick’s Day, you owe it to yourself to book a stay at The Connacht Hotel.

We love this national holiday because it celebrates so much about why we love this country and what it represents. We’re here to help you maximise your enjoyment of the March 17 festival, and you’re welcome to extend your stay either side of that date.

After all, there is so much to savour and explore around Galway City. So, let’s dive in!

The holiday season is the most magical time of the year, and Christmas in Galway is even doubly spectacular.

When the lights go up, the decorations twinkle, and the novelty Christmas jumpers appear, you just know it’s time to start decking the halls and rocking around the Christmas tree. But before that, make sure you explore the City of Tribes – after all, Christmas activities in Galway are plentiful.

So, join us on a virtual sleigh ride as we dash through this list. 

The Baboró International Arts Festival for children is Ireland’s flagship festival devoted exclusively to children and families. The 26th annual Baboró festival returns this year from Friday October 14th to Sunday October 23rd.

This festival takes places across theatres, galleries, schools and communities across Galway city and county. This year the festival will occur over an extended time period of 10 days and will feature over 50 live events!

Baboró celebrates art in all its forms, through literature, theatre, music and dance. The full festival programme will be announced on the 6th of September, but in the meantime, here is a sneak peek of the fun to come!

Apartments at The Connacht Hotel

As people continue to explore this beautiful country of our they are looking for new twists on accommodation options. Here at the Connacht Hotel we have a host of room types including our very popular Apartments which are ideal for corporate leisure or even students who are experiencing a very different academic term for the semester ahead.

Missed Moments in 2020? Claim them back...

That’s tough on those who celebrated special birthdays, anniversaries or family events this year. However here at the Connacht Hotel its not too late to celebrate those missed moments.

If one thing come’s out of Covid19 it is a new found appreciation for this stunning little island of ours.

Check out social media any day and you are inundated with the most amazing photos from all over the country, amazing cliffs, beautiful beaches and gorgeous greenery. It’s challenging not to be able to head off to the sun but an Irish staycation is much more than a consolation prize.

Galway is known as the City of the festivals and as the Galway Races have just complete their festival behind closed doors the Galway International Arts Festival have just announced a reimagined festival for the Autumn.

The team behind the arts festival are as creative as you’ll get so it was almost to be expected that somehow they would deliver and extraordinary ensemble of online and offline offerings to once again stun the culture vultures of the city.

2020 promises to be an incredible year in Irelands cultural heart on the Western seaboard. The European City of Culture title has been embraced with exuberance by locals, with the programme that is in place there is truly something for everyone. 

Anyone else feeling a bit sad after the last three brilliant weeks of festivities in Galway, it almost feels like we are on the run in to the C word already. Fear not Galway is the county of festivals and there is no shortage of fantastic events on the horizon. From next Monday August 12th Galway Pride kicks off with a week long schedule of events. From panel discussions in Irish, Mental Health Events, Comedy Nights and of course the Pride Parade there’s something for everyone in this years Galway’s Community Pride Festival.

Published in Galway Daily; 4th August 2019

Race week is always a crazy time for the hospitality industry in Galway as visitors pack hotels, bars, and restaurants throughout the city for the world famed celebrations.
It was a particularly busy week for the Connacht Hospitality Group which has put on a week of incredible events that shine a spotlight on everything that makes Race week so well know; high fashion, fun guests, and good craic for all.

The Connacht Hospitality Group is a growing family business in Galway that comprises three hotels, Galway’s long running Connacht Hotel, home to the 24/7 Active Fitness Centre; the recently Forster Court Hotel; and the stylish boutique Residence Hotel on Quay street.

Published by MICHEÁL Ó MAOILEOIN in the Galway Daily  on 27th July 2018

As the Galway International Arts Festival winds down, we begin preparing for one of the biggest weeks of the year with the Galway Races.

And among the festivities this year is a very special event “Bubbles & Brunch at the Galway Races” in aid of local charity ACT for Meningitis, hosted by the Connacht Hotel.

The event will take place on Wednesday, 1 August, supported by a number of Galway businesses including Catwalk Model Agency, local milliners Suzie Mahony Design, Emily Jean Design and Standún, with special guest appearances.

It’s finally here, the week we have all been waiting for, if you are going racing the best of luck, we hope you have a few wins.

Hey everyone! Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weather. This is such an amazing Arts festival this year, the crowds are incredible again this time around.

Hey everyone! Hope you had a wonderful weekend, this is such an amazing time of the year in Galway. We are in peak festival season and the sun is shining, every now and again.

Happy July everybody, it's hard to believe how fast this year is going, no bigger sign of that than the fact that we are only four weeks away from the highlight of the Galway summer, the Galway Races. Speaking of which;

Hope you are all enjoying the amazing weather of the past few days, there is really nowhere nicer than Galway in the sun.

Well its back to normal after another lovely long weekend, at least we have lots of sun today to help get us through Tuesday. So much happening in Galway at the moment.

Place to go, people to meet...its all happening in Galway this week.

As we move into the second quarter of the year things are heating up, hopefully its not our "summer" this weekend...

I can’t believe its almost the last week of March already, hopefully the weather is a bit better in April.

Welcome back from The Connacht. Read more to see how you can win tickets, taste the best gin in Ireland, and witness a rivalry match-up!

Happy Saint Patrick’s week everybody, we always love the feast of the partron Saint but especially when it falls on a Friday.

Hey guys, we’ve finally made it to February the month of love, be it Valentine's Day, the Six Nations or the Champions League.

Week 2 of The January Blues - we've got something to cheer you up...

The festive season is in full swing this week at the hotel but our spirits were dampened by the news from Connacht Rugby this week...

As usual we have lots of meetings and events in the hotel this week. One that might be of particular interest to jobseekers is Goodman Medical.

Hey guys, hope you all had a lovely long weekend. Here at The Connacht Hotel we take pride on being one of Galways best family friendly hotels.

As October draws to a close, we look forward to the Halloween festivities that the season brings.

As we enter the third week of October it’s another busy one here in the Connacht Hotel.

As we enter the second week of October it’s another busy one here in the Connacht Hotel.

Welcome to October and our first of a new weekly blog. This month promises to be very busy in the hotel as usual with lots going on. Each week in this blog we will be looking at events of interest both in the hotel and in Galway city.