Oughterard on Lough Corrib

Oughterard brings together the town’s history and experiences on Lough Corrib. A heritage project created by schoolchildren, lakeside routes and nearby activities offer different ways to explore the area. During your stay, you can give culture, waterside walks and other activities different priorities to suit your travel group’s interests.

Discover local history through stories and walks

The Oughterard Kids’ Heritage Trail and Podcast Project includes a heritage trail booklet and a series of podcasts. The schoolchildren researched, wrote and recorded the podcasts. The project invites locals and visitors to discover Oughterard’s history through the places, people and stories that have shaped it. It therefore explores different facets of the town: places connected with its history, and the people and stories that belong to it.

Another way to engage with local heritage is the Oughterard Heritage Walk, also known as the “Golden Mile Storymap”. It lets you experience the heritage walk digitally. While the project uses a booklet and podcasts, the focus here is on the digital presentation of the heritage walk. Those interested in culture can choose between two different formats for discovering Oughterard’s history.

Routes on Lough Corrib and a trip to Cong

The routes also differ in their course and length. The Western Way starts in Oughterard and follows the shore of Lough Corrib for about ten kilometres northwest towards Maum. The scenic Lough Corrib route runs 13 km along the lakeshore from Oughterard village square to the wooded Hill of Doon. These starting and ending points, along with the route lengths, give you specific information to help you include lakeside walks in your stay.

For a trip on the water, Corrib Cruises offers boat trips on Lough Corrib, including trips from Oughterard to Cong from June to September. Alongside the shore routes, trips on the lake are another option. The stated period applies to these trips; it does not mean that they are available year-round.

Community and leisure in the town and nearby

Oughterard parkrun is a free, friendly weekly 5 km community event that is open to everyone. You can walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate. The event is therefore not limited to running. Corribdale Park offers a range of other options: it has a children’s playground, a youth area, a walking and running path, a sensory garden, a wooded area and open green spaces. For families looking to accommodate different interests, these are specific and distinct amenities in the town.

There are more leisure activities in the area around Oughterard. The Galway Wind Way in Galway Wind Park offers 48 km of leisure trails on six different routes. Curraghduff Farm is set in the hills overlooking Corrib and the Connemara Mountains; activities there include alpaca encounters, alpaca walks and alpaca yoga. Glengowla Mines and Family Farm Experience offers something different, with an underground mine tour, sheep herding and demonstrations of traditional turf cutting in Ireland. This gives you a choice of different excursion themes, from nature trails and alpaca activities to insights into mining and traditional work.

Choose a holiday rental to suit your interests

When choosing a holiday rental in Oughterard, you can consider which experiences you want to shape your stay: local history and the heritage walk, routes on Lough Corrib, a trip on the lake or activities nearby. The different options give your trip different focal points, without requiring you to commit to just one kind of excursion.

More town pages

If you’d like to explore other town pages too: Claregalway, Monard, Roundstone, Salthill, Headford, Loughrea, Dunmore, Clifden.

For the broader travel overview: Galway.