Cong Itineraries
Half a day or a full weekend. Here are the best ways to spend your time in Cong, planned step by step.
Whether you have a few hours or a full weekend to explore, these itineraries give you a local’s route through Cong. Each one links directly to the restaurants and activities along the way.
Half a day in Cong on foot
Everything in Cong that is free, everything that is actually in the village, and no car. This is the honest version of a Cong visit: the abbey, the fishing house, the wood and the canal cost nothing and are the best things here, and you can do all of them between breakfast and a late lunch without moving your car from the village car park.
- 109:30·30 minutes
Coffee on Abbey Street
Start at Mc Hughs of Cong with a hand-cut sandwich for later and a coffee now. It opens at ten Tuesday to Sunday, so on a Monday start at the abbey instead and eat afterwards.
View Mc Hughs of Cong - 210:00·45 minutes
Cong Abbey
Walk in the Abbey Street gate. Give the carved doorways and the surviving north-east corner of the cloister the time they deserve, then keep going through the yew walk rather than turning back.
View Cong Abbey and the Royal Abbey cloister - 310:45·20 minutes
The Monks' Fishing House
About 130 metres on from the cloister along the riverbank. A roofless stone hut built out over the water with a fishing hole cut through its floor. This is the single best thing in Cong and it is free.
View The Monks' Fishing House - 411:05·1 hour
Into Cong Woods
Cross the footbridge and pick up the Coillte nature trail. About an hour round the 2.3 km loop, with redwoods and sequoia standing in the middle of a Mayo wood and swallow holes in the limestone underneath it. Turn back in time for the noon walking tour.
View Cong Woods and the Guinness Tower - 512:00·1 hour
The Quiet Man walking tour
Be back at the museum for the noon departure if you are in season and have booked; the tour leaves at 12 sharp and does not wait. If you are out of season, go into the museum instead, which is also shut outside the April to September window. The tour is an hour on flat ground around the locations that are genuinely here.
View The Quiet Man film locations walking tour - 613:30·1 hour
Lunch at Pat Cohan's
Eat in the building everyone photographs. Lunch runs to five, and the walls are worth reading while you wait.
View Pat Cohan's Bar & Dining Room
A full day: the lake, the estate and the county line
A day built around the two things you have to pay for and book, the boat and the estate, with the free village walking fitted around them. It also crosses the Mayo and Galway boundary three times without leaving the parish, which is worth noticing as you go.
- 109:00·45 minutes
Breakfast and provisions
Ryan's Food Emporium on Main Street for the bakery counter, or Puddleducks from Wednesday to Sunday for a sit-down breakfast. If you are heading out on the afternoon boat, buy something to take with you.
View Puddleducks Cafe - 209:45·1 hour
The abbey and the fishing house
The free half hour that most people rush. In and out through the Abbey Street gate, down the yew walk to the river.
View Cong Abbey and the Royal Abbey cloister - 311:00·1 hour 30 minutes
Board at Lisloughrey Pier
The one-hour history cruise leaves Lisloughrey at 11:15 and Ashford Castle Pier at 11:00. Lisloughrey is the cheaper boarding point by five euro and it is a pleasant walk or short drive east out of the village.
View Corrib Cruises on Lough Corrib - 412:45·1 hour 15 minutes
Lunch at The Lodge
Wilde's at The Lodge is a few minutes back from the pier and looks straight down the lake. Book it; do not turn up.
View Wilde's at The Lodge - 514:15·1 hour 30 minutes
Fly a hawk on the estate
An hour with a Harris hawk in the estate woodland. You must book in advance: the school keeps only a limited number of daily slots for people who are not staying at Ashford Castle. Park in the castle visitor car park and allow fifteen minutes to walk in. You cross into County Galway on the way.
View Ireland's School of Falconry - 616:00·1 hour
The Dry Canal
Back into Mayo and out the north side of the village to walk the canal that was dug for six years and abandoned before a boat used it. Full of water in winter, empty in summer.
View The Dry Canal - 718:00·2 hours
Dinner and the last of the light
The Crowe's Nest at Ryan's Hotel, with the patio over the river if the evening allows it, or Lydon's Lodge on Circular Road if Main Street is full.
View The Crowe's Nest Bar & Bistro
Ready to plan your visit?
Check the weather forecast before you head out.