The Quays Bar 🍺 Galway, Ireland 🇮🇪

Galway, on Ireland’s storied west coast, is as much a sensation as it is a city. Even the word ‘Galway’ will put a smile on the face of anyone fortunate enough to have visited. An MSN travel poll named Galway the ‘8th Sexiest City in the World’ back in 2007, and this designation has only improved the small city’s appeal as a favorite destination for international travelers and locals on holiday. Ed Sheeran’s ‘Galway Girl’ couldn’t have hurt the cause, either.

It’s busy almost every night. You’ll never drink alone. I certainly didn’t.

It’s difficult to summarize the mood and nighttime culture of an entire city in a single pub, but I can’t think of a better fit than the Quays Bar, located on Quay St. in Galway’s Latin Quarter. If you enter on the left side, you’ll find yourself in a perfectly preserved historic pub, left nearly unchanged since the 1800’s. The main bar, entered on the right, is a large, multi-level complex with an abundance of character and history packed into every corner. The aesthetic experience, which includes Gothic arches, back-lit stained glass, inlaid woodwork, and church pews imported from a medieval French cathedral, is worth the visit alone. The experience only gets better as you make your way toward the back.

The Quays Interior

Though I certainly wasn’t the only tourist there, what made the Quays experience special to me was the presence of true locals, representing all ages and walks of life. It didn’t have the tourist trap feel that one would expect to find across the Emerald Isle in Dublin’s Temple Bar.

The Quays has live music nightly with performances by bands that cover the gamut from traditional Irish music to mainstream pop and rock covers. There are many vantage points from which to enjoy the music in the main bar, and there’s also a spectacular live music venue upstairs. The atmosphere upstairs is less an Irish pub and more a high-octane concert experience with a younger, late night crowd and a more clubby feel.

The Upstairs Late-Night Music Venue

At the end of the night, when the live music upstairs ends, the crowd spills out into the street, and the party continues into the wee hours as groups of friends reconnect with one another and collect themselves for the ride home. As I looked for my own group, I found my way into a conversation with a Latvian ex-con named Remy. Remy chatted my ear off as he waited for his Irish friend Martin to emerge from the Quays. Yes – you read that correctly – Remy and Martin.

Outside at The Quays

I could live to be 100, and I’ll probably never have as much fun as I had that night at the Quays. Come early and stay for the evening; Galway doesn’t get any better.