Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Your first stop on Inishmore is the town of Kilronan, huddling around the pier. There are
aboutadozenshopsandB&Bs,abouthalfasmanyrestaurants,andacoupleof
bike-rent-
al huts
(regular bikes-about €10/day plus €10 deposit, snazzy new electric bikes-€25/day
plus €20 deposit).
Afewblocksinlandupthehighroad,you'llfindthebestfolk-music
pub
(JoeWatty's),
a
post office
(Mon-Fri 9:00-13:00 & 14:00-17:30, Sat 9:00-13:00, closed Sun), and a tiny
bank
across from the roofless Anglican church ruins (open only on Wed 10:00-12:30 &
13:30-15:00, plus Thu June-Aug). A friendly
Internet café
lurks behind the stony Aran
Sweater Market building, across from the high cross (May-Sept daily 10:00-20:00, shorter
hours in winter, €1/10 minutes, €5/hour, also shows
Man of Aran
film described later, un-
der “Sights on Inishmore”).
The huge Spar
supermarket,
two blocks inland from the harbor, seems too big for the
tiny community and has the island's only
ATM.
If you don't have plenty of cash on you,
get some here—most B&Bs and quite a few other businesses don't accept credit cards.
Tourist Information
Kilronan's TI is helpful, but don't rely on it for accommodations; the B&B owners who
work with the TI are out of town and desperate (daily 10:00-17:00, July-Aug until 18:00,
shorter hours in winter, faces the harbor, tel. 099/61263).
The TI offers free maps of the island (though your ferry operator may have already
given you one). This map is all the average day-tripper or leisure biker will need to nav-
igate. But serious hikers who plan on scampering out to the island's craggy fringes will
want to invest in the detailed black-and-white
Oileáin Árann
map and companion book by
Tim Robinson (€16, sold at the Internet café behind the Aran Sweater Market, and at some
bookstores in Galway).
Public WCs are 100 yards beyond the TI on the harbor road.
Getting Around Inishmore
Just about anything on wheels functions as a taxi here. A trip from Kilronan to Dún
Aenghus to the Seven Churches and back to Kilronan costs €10 per person in a shared
minivan. Pony carts cost about €40 for two people (€75 for 4) for a trip to Dún Aenghus
and back.
