Dublin Airport to Galway
About 208 km west of Dublin along the M6; Citylink coaches run direct from the airport in around two and a half hours, the standard way to cross the country without a car.
Galway, DublinSuzanne Mischyshyn / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0Galway sits on the west coast at the mouth of the Corrib — a compact, music-filled city of pubs and festivals, the jumping-off point for Connemara, the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Galway, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €220). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €20) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €20 | €220 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €40 | €220 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €80 | €220 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €20, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Bus / shuttle
Direct non-stop coaches to Galway Coach Station take about 2h30. From roughly €20 booked ahead, up to €35 walk-up. Citylink absorbed the old GoBus, so it's one brand now.
Where to catch it: Citylink coach stands at the airport (Zone 11), signposted from arrivals.
Best for solo & budget travellersCar rental
From about €40/day. The motorway run is a straightforward 2h15, and a car pays off for Connemara and the Cliffs of Moher where buses are thin.
Where to catch it: Free shuttle from the terminals to the car-hire compound, then the M50/M6 west.
Best for travellers who want to explorePrivate transfer
One confirmed price for the whole cross-country drive with no changes — around €220-300 for the car. Worth it mainly for groups splitting the cost or for door-to-door with lots of luggage.
Where to catch it: Driver waits in the arrivals hall.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsTaxi
Possible but rarely sensible — a metered run this far runs €300-400 or more. Almost everyone takes the Citylink coach or hires a car instead.
Where to catch it: Taxi rank at arrivals, both terminals.
Best for small groups in a hurryGalway & Dublin in photos
Buying tickets in Dublin
There is no train or tram to Dublin Airport, so you travel by bus. A Leap Visitor Card (about €8 for one day, €19 for three) covers the Airlink 747 into the city plus all Dublin buses, Luas trams and DART, and is sold at the airport information desks and convenience shops. The faster private coaches, Dublin Express (from around €9) and Aircoach (from around €6 online), do not accept Leap — pay those by contactless card or app instead. Book the coaches online for the lowest fare.
Taxi scams & safety in Dublin
Dublin taxis are regulated and metered, and the official rank sits right outside the arrivals hall — join the queue there rather than accepting any offer from someone inside the terminal. Apps like FreeNow, Bolt and Uber all work here, though in Ireland "Uber" simply dispatches a normal licensed taxi at the metered rate, not a private car. Ask for an estimate or watch the meter, keep to the marked rank or app pickup point, and you will avoid the rare overcharge.
Getting from DUB to Galway
Plenty of people land at Dublin Airport with no intention of setting foot in Dublin. Their trip is west — Galway, Connemara, the Cliffs of Moher, a boat out to the Aran Islands — and the good news is that the city on the Corrib is a straight coach ride away. Galway sits about 208 km west along the M6, and a Citylink coach covers that in roughly two and a half hours, non-stop, without you ever queueing for a Dublin bus or a hotel you don't need. For most visitors that single coach is the whole answer, so it's the first thing to understand.
The airport coach that skips Dublin entirely
Citylink 760 — the service that used to run under the GoBus name, now folded into one brand — leaves directly from the airport rather than forcing you into the city first. You board at the Citylink coach stands at Zone 11, signposted from arrivals, and the coach runs west on the motorway to Galway Coach Station in the centre of town, a journey of about 2h30. Fares start from around €20 if you book ahead online, climbing toward €35 if you turn up and pay at the door, so it pays to reserve a seat before you fly. Services run through the day, roughly hourly once the direct departures are combined, which means you rarely wait long between coaches. There's luggage space underneath, so a couple of suitcases and a set of golf clubs or a surfboard bag are no drama. For a solo traveller or a pair heading to the west coast, nothing else comes close on price or simplicity.
Why a metered taxi across the country makes no sense
Galway is roughly 200 km from the terminal, and distance is exactly where a taxi falls apart. A metered Dublin cab will do the run — the rank is right outside both terminals — but the meter keeps ticking the entire way, and a cross-country fare like this lands somewhere between €300 and €400, sometimes more with traffic or a late-night surcharge. That's not a considered choice so much as an emergency one. A pre-booked private chauffeur or people-carrier is the more sensible version of the same idea: you agree one fixed price up front, usually €220 to €300 for the whole car, the driver meets you in the arrivals hall, and there are no changes and no waiting for a departure time. Because that price is for the vehicle rather than the seat, it starts to make real sense for a family or a group of four splitting the cost, or for anyone hauling a lot of luggage who wants door-to-door delivery to a Connemara cottage. Split three or four ways against the coach fare, the gap narrows fast; travelling alone, it doesn't.
When a hire car earns its keep on the west coast
The coach gets you to Galway city beautifully, but Galway city is a base, not the whole point. If your plan involves Connemara's coast road, Kylemore, the Burren, or the Cliffs of Moher, the buses out there thin out quickly and timetables stop cooperating. That's the case for a hire car. Enterprise, Hertz and Europcar all have desks at the airport; a free shuttle runs from the terminals to the car-hire compound, and from there it's the M50 onto the M6 and a clean motorway drive of about 2h15 — actually a touch quicker than the coach because you're not stopping. Rates begin around €40 a day and rise past €70 for larger cars or peak weeks, so book ahead. Remember Ireland drives on the left, and note that many west-coast roads are single-track with stone walls close on either side, so the car is about freedom to roam once you arrive, not speed on the way there. If you'll spend most of the trip in Galway's compact centre on foot, a car is just a parking bill; if you'll be chasing the Atlantic, it's the difference between seeing two headlands and seeing ten.
Picking the option that fits your trip
Match the transport to what you're actually doing. Landing solo or as a couple, staying in Galway, exploring on foot and by day-tour: book a Citylink 760 seat online, walk to Zone 11, and you'll be at the coach station in two and a half hours for the price of a couple of pints. Arriving as a group of four with mountains of luggage and a rural address: a fixed-price private transfer spreads the cost and drops you at the door. Planning to spend your days threading the Connemara coast and the Burren: collect a hire car from the compound and point it west. The taxi rank exists, but at €300-plus it's the option almost nobody chooses once they've seen the coach fare. Book the coach or the car before you fly, and the west of Ireland is barely two and a half hours from the baggage carousel.
