Kinvara Village Galway
Kinvara is a small village on the south shore of Galway Bay in County Galway whose combination of the perfectly scaled harbour, the sixteenth-century Dunguaire Castle on the headland above the bay and the character of an authentic Galway Bay fishing community creates one of the most rewarding and most photographed small village destinations in Connacht. The castle reflected in the still water of the harbour at high tide provides one of the most frequently reproduced images of the west of Ireland.
Dunguaire Castle, a sixteenth-century tower house associated with the kings of Connacht, stands on a low promontory extending into the bay and the combination of the water on three sides, the intact tower and battlements and the views across Galway Bay to the Burren hills to the south creates a castle setting of considerable charm. The castle hosts medieval banquets in summer in the tradition established at other Shannon Heritage properties, providing a theatrical dimension to a building that is already scenically exceptional.
The annual Cruinniú na mBád, the gathering of traditional sailing vessels on Kinvara Bay each August, is one of the finest traditional boat festivals in Ireland, the Galway hookers and other traditional western Irish sailing vessels racing in the bay in a celebration of the maritime heritage of the Galway coast that draws large crowds of spectators and participants.