Planning a Trip

Getting There

Several airlines serve Ireland West Airport Knock, Charlestown, County Mayo (tel. 094/936-8100; www.irelandwestairport.com). From Dublin you can fly to Knock on Aer Arann (tel. 011/353-81821-0210 in the U.S., 0818/210-210 in Ireland, or 0870/876-7676 in the U.K.; www.aerarann.ie); bmibaby (tel. 1890/340-122 in Ireland; www.bmibaby.com) serves Knock from Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

Irish Rail (tel. 096/20229; www.irishrail.ie) and Bus Éireann (tel. 096/71800; www.buseireann.ie) provide daily service from Dublin and other cities into Ballina, Westport, and Castlebar, with bus connections into smaller towns. There is also express service from Galway into most Mayo towns.

From Dublin and points east, the main N5 road leads to many points in County Mayo; from Galway, take N84 or N17. From Sligo and points north, take N17 or N59. To get around County Mayo, it's best to rent a car. Three firms with outlets at Ireland West Airport are Casey Auto Rentals, Ltd. (tel. 094/904-8620; www.caseycar.com), Europcar (tel. 094/936-7221; www.europcar.ie), and National Car Rental (tel. 094/936-7252; www.carhire.ie).

Visitor Information

For year-round information, visit or contact the Westport Tourist Office, The Mall, Westport (tel. 098/25711;www.westporttourism.com). It's open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm (1pm on Sat Nov-Apr). There is no longer a tourism office at Ireland West Airport.

Seasonal tourist offices, open from May or June to September or October, are the Ballina Tourist Office, Cathedral Road, Ballina, County Mayo (tel. 096/70848); Castlebar Tourist Office, Linenhall Street, Castlebar, County Mayo (tel. 094/902-1207); Knock Village Tourist Office, Knock (tel. 094/938-8193); Cong Village Tourist Office (tel. 094/954-6542); and Achill Tourist Office, Achill Sound (tel. 098/45384).