Westport

Welcome to our colourful, friendly community of Westport. Visitors have been flocking here for generations and with good reason!

Our gorgeous town, with its wide streets, cheery shopfronts, beautiful planting, stone bridges and Mall River, is renowned for its warm welcome and sense of fun. Big enough to spend a day wandering, small enough to get to know fast, it really is the ideal West-of-Ireland retreat.

Be warned, you might fall in love. We have a healthy population of ‘blow ins’ – people who came to visit but couldn’t bear to leave!

Westport is fast becoming a food lover's destination. Artisan produce, boutique cafés and top-class restaurants of all kinds combine to make a tempting menu of must-dos for foodies.

Acclaimed local artisan produce, from award-winning Kelly’s black pudding to our ever-popular Mescan ales, appear on menus, while our local chefs win national industry titles each year. You can even do brewery and distillery tours, sample Connacht’s best boxty, or enjoy Ireland’s Best 99!

If the food's your thing, check out our 5 Ways To Get A Taste Of Westport.

Is your trip all about family fun? Check out Westport House Estate with its Pirate Adventure Park, restaurant and campsite, as well as fantastic gardens and forest walks. (There’s also historic Westport House itself to explore – including the spooky dungeons!)

Or gaze out to Clare Island as you go pony trekking on the beach at the foothills of Croagh Patrick. Or dodge some paint ‘bullets’ at Kids’ Splatball. Or try FootGolf (yes, you read that right). Children love the water and the seaside, so why not spend a morning learning how to do stand-up paddle boarding, or how to surf or to sail? For families whose grown-ups like some time out, check out the myriad of brilliant kids’ clubs offered by most of the local hotels.

Culture vultures flock to Westport knowing it is the artistic hub of Mayo, boasting a host of galleries and a thriving local art scene, as well as its own annual arts festival, Westival.

Other festivals to watch out for include the Westport Food Festival, the Westport Festival of Chamber Music, Mac Luí – Westport Children’s Arts Festival, the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival and the Gráinne Ale beer festival. Venues range from the state-of-the-art Westport Town Hall Theatre to Westport’s amazing pubs, parks and streets.

Westport is steeped in cultural heritage. One of Ireland’s few architect-planned towns, it was commissioned in the late 18th century by the first Earl of Altamont, of Westport House, as a place for his workers and tenants to live. Elegant Georgian buildings frame the charming banks of the Carrowbeg River, and the generous streets are treelined.

Westport recently made headlines for becoming the first town in Ireland to ditch plastic straws in favour of biodegradable ones – but the town’s sustainability credentials don’t stop there. The town’s Edible Landscape Project has seen fruit trees and edible plants spring up along the Greenway, while Westport’s Biodiversity Plan focuses on ecologically sound vegetation management, habitat creation, ecological corridors and connectivity, and increasing biodiversity.

Schools, businesses and families all throughout the town take pride in keeping the town and its beaches litter-free, and regular clean-ups are embraced by all. Members of the town’s religious communities have even banded together to form Westport Eco-Congregation, which promotes awareness of the need to protect our natural environment.

Kissed by the Atlantic and hugged by a stunning landscape, Westport has so much to offer for anyone who loves to be in nature and the great outdoors.

Conquer Croagh Patrick, stroll along our sandy beaches, surf our waves, forage in our forests, fish our seas, ramble along our boreens and over our hills, be amazed by our wildlife and enchanted by our wildflowers. Discover the road less travelled and delve into ‘hidden Westport’, from scenic drives through jaw-dropping landscapes to out-of-the-way picnic spots and lesser-known beaches.

We don’t have the major high-street stores here in Westport. Nope, we’re all about cherishing the small, the local, the boutique and unique. Behind our colourful shopfronts, you’ll find local shopkeepers, bakers, artists, producers and craftspeople offering everything from stunning fabrics, stylish clothes and beautiful jewellery to hand-picked antiques, traditional crafts and contemporary art.

If you’re here on a Thursday morning, be sure to get a real slice of local community life and pick up a few treats at the Westport Country Market in the old Railway Hotel. Here, locals sell a variety of wares, including handmade soaps, local cheeses, hand-cut flowers, home-baked cakes, organic veg, fresh bread, tempting sauces and lots more!

Westport is renowned the world over for its amazing hotels, each one offering its own unique atmosphere and welcoming accommodation. Of course, hotels mean spas, and we are blessed with a fabulous choice of pampering palaces – sure no wonder we all look so relaxed and happy! If a trip to a hotel always means a massage, you’re in luck. Many of the spas also have thermal suites with steam rooms, saunas and more where you can spend a serene morning or afternoon after enjoying a spa treatment.

Check out the treatment packages at the Westport Woods Hotel’s Beech Spa; Westport Plaza’s Spa Sula; Knockranny House Hotel’s Spa Salveo; Hotel Westport’s Senses Spa; or Spa Veda at the Westport Coast Hotel.

Those who like to stretch and chill should check out the new dedicated yoga studio, Yoga Root, located in in a beautifully restored 18th-century mill at on Westport's waterfront.

Whether your ideal night out is a quiet pint by a crackling fire, a hot whiskey and a trad session, a nice merlot in a wine bar, or a multicoloured cocktail and a spirited dance-floor, we have it all. Everywhere is within walking distance, so it’s easy to stroll around the town at your leisure, drifting from one place to the next or just soaking up the friendly atmosphere.

If you’d like to catch a show, don’t forget to check out what’s on in Westport Town Hall Theatre, while pubs like Matt Molloy’s, McGing’s and Cobbler's often have live acts.

Love a good tour? So do we! Westport Walking Tours are great craic as well as a mine of information, with lots of stories, facts and anecdotes. Or take a tour around the town on a horse-drawn carriage with the Paddy Joe Foy (AKA the Clew Bay Jarvey) and his trusty cob, Podge.

Westport House and Estate offer a whole range of fun and insightful tours, both inside the house and through its gardens. It also runs a fun and informative miniature-train tour through the town.

Or take a tour of Westport’s very own microbrewery, Mescan, named after St Patrick's right-hand man. Find out how their hugely popular range of delicious Belgian-style bottle-conditioned beers are made using spring water from Mescan’s own well.

What better way to jump in the slow lane than swapping four wheels for two?

Hop on a bike (bring your own or hire one locally) and take a spin on the famous Great Western Greenway, which runs from Westport to Achill – 42k of farmland, rolling hills, picturesque villages, dramatic mountains and wonderful views of the bay.

If you fancy a quick walk, the Westport Greenway is just perfect. Also known as The Old Railway Line Walk, the beautiful tree-lined Westport Greenway is 2.5km long, running between Westport’s two urban areas, the town centre and The Quay.