Top Western Ireland Dining Experiences

While visiting Galway, opt to spend some time away from sightseeing on the city’s popular coast with this Irish homemade baking scones and bread class. You’ll meet in a local’s home to learn how to bake Irish favorites from scratch. Your guide takes the time to teach you how to bake from a provided recipe, as you learn about Ireland’s baking practices of the past and present.

Learn about Irish food culture during a private, immersive cooking experience. Prepare traditional Irish soda bread and scones from scratch, all while gaining insight into local food heritage. Taste brown soda bread hot from the oven with Irish country butter and locally made jam over tea and conversation. After the class, bring a loaf of bread home.

While exploring the Emerald Isle, you’ll see many pubs and restaurants serving Irish stew, but this Irish stew cooking class allows you to actually learn from a County Galway local just what goes into making this delicacy. All stew ingredients and use of cooking utensils are included in your class price, and you’ll even get to eat some of the stew you help make afterward.

My name is Gerry Grealish, I am a local guide and owner of Tour & Taste Galway. I have grown up here and love Galway and the west of Ireland. I will take you on a tour through the medieval city of Galway and explore its history and culture using food and drink as a way of telling its story. I will take you to some of my favourite places. The tour starts in the heart of Galway city in Eyre Square with the local guide taking you through the streets of this bustling University city. The tour lasts 3 hours approx. with a maximum of 8 people on tour, visiting different venues finishing with a visit to a traditional pub. Private tours also available.

Enjoy an oyster tour and tasting with your host David on his oyster farm. In 2014, David acquired and started restoring the oyster farm at Ballinakill Bay. Their oysters are a pacific oyster (Crassostrea Gigas) and are available all year round. Smell the fresh wild Atlantic air and hear the soothing sounds of the sea. See the farm crew working hard in the water to grow the most perfect, meaty oysters. Touch the oysters when you shuck your own and finish your tour with the taste of a beautiful fresh oyster. The tour lasts approximately 1 hour and goes through the whole process of how the farm brings the oysters from seed right through to your plate. During spring tides, they run longer tours as you get to experience a seashore walk and see the different stages of growth in the water. The tours are suitable for anyone aged 6 years and up. We recommend that you wear water-proof and slip-proof footwear and dress for the weather of the day. Please note that this is NOT a private tour.

A foodie’s delight. This wonderful culinary walking tour of Galway introduces you to local produce from oysters to cheese; sushi to crab. Indulge your sweet tooth with doughnuts to strawberry tarts, not forgetting a local beers and beverages. Galway’s famous food culture is explored over a morning and takes in some of the city’s best known and secret food haunts with your food loving guide taking you on a food journey that is simply delish! This tour leads food enthusiasts around Galway’s finest food destinations and includes an unforgettable trip to the now famous Galway Market and visits to award winning restaurants and cafes.

The Tea Room and the Connemara National Park is the perfect place to stop off! Enjoy fresh, home baked food and that all important reviving cup of coffee while sitting at the foothills of Diamond Hill. Take in the spectacular scenery in the crisp Connemara air before attempting one of the many walks and climbs.

Avoid large-group cookie-cutter tours and get a real insight into local life in Carrick-on-Shannon in County Leitrim. On this more informal tour experience, you’ll meet your hosts—husband and wife duo John and Mary—and step aboard their houseboat on the River Shannon for drinks and a home-cooked four-course meal.

Take in sweeping views of the Irish riverscape, floating by barge along the Shannon river system between Enniskillen and Carrick-on-Shannon during this down-to-earth countryside experience in Ireland. Step inside an authentic houseboat, featuring a fully-equipped and modern kitchen, to join your host Mary who will whisk you through a hands-on, traditional Irish (and Mediterranean-inspired) cooking class.

Meet an Irish whiskey expert. Learn the history and the unique story of Irish whiskey. Relax, unwind and drink whiskey in a local Irish country pub. Taste 3 premium whiskeys from the Pot Still Irish Whiskey range. Enjoy a full shot of your favourite whiskey from the range.

Hyde is home to the largest Gin Collection in Ireland with a collection of over 500 gins from around the world. If gin is your thing - our Gin Flights are the perfect way to sample a selection of gins and to learn about gin in Ireland. Our bar team and mixologists are on hand for advice and to share their expertise about the distilleries and the local gins that you will get to try

Hyde is home to the largest Gin Collection in Ireland with a collection of over 500 gins from around the world. If gin is your thing - our International Gin Flights are the perfect way to sample a selection of International Gins. Our bar team and mixologists are on hand for advice and to share their expertise about the distilleries and the gins that you will get to try.