Going Back in Time on the Aran Islands

I honestly never heard of the Aran Islands before our trip and it always makes me think of the Iron Islands from Game of Thrones when I hear it LOL. But, I’m so glad we decided to add it to our itinerary on our trip to Ireland.

Let me start by saying that we learned quickly that most people take the ferry over to the islands for the day, but the secret is to stay a few nights on the island. You get to experience the island with fewer crowds, and quickly feel like a local.

We took the ferry from a port outside of Galway. You can buy tickets in advance here, which I recommend doing a few months prior to your trip. Prime times like the first or last ferry of the day tend to sell out. The drive from Galway was about an hour and was really easy to find. We kept our large suitcases in the car and packed what we needed for the next few days into our carry-ons. I highly suggest doing this, as you don’t want to be lugging your large suitcases around the island.

The ferry took about an hour to get to Inis Mor. This is the largest island and the most popular. The ferry ride passed by rather quickly, but we happened to have some entertainment when the Irish Coast Guard decided to conduct practice drills on our ferry. It definitely captivated everyone onboard, that’s for sure!

Once we got to Inis Mor, most people headed straight to the bike rental shop, but we decided to first check-in to our accommodations. There are a couple of hotels/inns on the island, but we decided to “rough” it and went glamping at Aran Islands Camping and Glamping. Oh. my.gosh. If you go to the Aran Islands and you spend the night or more, YOU HAVE TO STAY HERE! I am not a camper by any means, but the adorable little pods are awesome. Each pod has a bed, pull out couch, bathroom (with a working shower and toilet) and a kitchenette. Not to mention, the views are unlike any other. PSA there is no AC, but we were there in July and really didn’t’ feel like we missed the AC. It never got very hot during the day and it cools down at night.

Biking, Biking and More Biking on Inis Mor 🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏻‍♂️

I mentioned that most people head straight to the bike rental shop after docking. There’s good reason for it. There are no cars allowed on the island, unless you are a resident, and there aren’t many residents, so the amount of cars on the island is minimal. Bicyclists and horses rule the roads.

You can rent bikes for the day, or keep them overnight, which is what we did since we had no other mode of transportation. It depends on what kind of bike you rent, but they range anywhere from 10-30 euros, with a 20 euro security deposit if you keep them overnight (which you get back when you return your bikes).

Once on our bikes, we grabbed a map of the island and literally, biked this entire place. We rode past the seal colony, an area where seals like to sunbath, went to Dun Duchathair (the Black Fort), the Worm Hole, and everywhere in between.

I highly recommend renting bikes if you want to see any part of the island that’s not right in port. I’m really not sure how you would see the island if you didn’t have bikes. It was tough biking the entire island (our poor bums 🍑), but I can only imagine what it would have been like if we had to walk everywhere. No thanks. ✋🏻

It’s a vibe

I truly did feel like we went back in time once we got off the ferry on Inis Mor. There was little to no cell service, let alone wifi, unless you went to one of the few main restaurants. Our spot quickly became The Bar. It’s your typical Irish pub, with live music every night. Anyone left on the island seemed to always end up at The Bar at night to cozy up with a Guinness (yes, the weather was cold and raw at night even in July), chat with friends and listen to good music.

It was a welcome change to not have so many options, not be on overdrive with all the different places we could or should go to for dinner, or drinks. It was nice that when we left The Bar at the end of the night, we didn’t have to figure out how to get back to our glamping pod because it was literally down the road (the one of a few main roads). It was nice that morning “traffic” consisted of bicyclists and horses, and not hundreds of cars, trucks, and buses. It was fun to use a map (no Google maps or GPS here) to figure out which unnamed road we needed to turn down to get to our next destination. Not to mention, relying on anyone we passed to trust that they’d help us get to where we were looking to go (very minimal signs on the island). And, it was comforting that we could stash our bikes along a rock wall, because where we were headed required us to walk on foot, and know that our bikes would still be there when we returned.

We packed in a lot of physical activity while we were on the Aran Islands (mainly because of all the biking we did), but we also felt refreshed and recharged after our stay. The island forced us to slow down and enjoy the simple (though magnificent) things around us. The scenery alone is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and the sense of community, country, and tradition has me dreaming of this place long after we’ve been gone.

-Steph, xx