You’ll need to charge the batteries before a day of exploration, so head into one of Westport’s cafés for breakfast. If you like to start the day with something sweet, Serv’d on Bridge Street has dishes like Nutella stuffed French toast and apple streusel pancakes with spiced maple syrup. Cornrue is a cult bakery making sourdough used in all the best local restaurants, but they also cook up fresh pastries in their café – visit from Thursday to Saturday and you can snag a warm, sticky cinnamon bun straight from the oven.  

Westport is a lovely town to stroll around, but it’s even better when you have a guide. Take a tour with Westport Walking Tours and you’ll make your way around the town and learn interesting facts along the way. Take the Octagon monument, for example – the statue of St Patrick at the top of the plinth may look like it’s been there for centuries, but it was only put there in 1990 to replace a statue of local agent and banker George Glendenning, originally erected in 1845. Free State troops during the Civil War took to using George as target practice, with the damaged statue eventually removed in 1943 (you can still see bullet holes in the restored plinth).  

Part of the walking tour includes nibbles from local food spots, so you’ll pop into places like Currys Cottage Tea Room for a lemon apple pie, or Marlene's Chocolate Haven for chocolates made onsite and filled with local honey or Achill Island salted caramel. When the tour wraps up, take a walk around Westport’s independent shops, like West Coast Rare Books, with an excellent selection of first editions and quirky titles, and the local adventure clothing shop Port West.  

Where to get lunch in Westport

This Must Be The Place is right by the art deco-style Clock Tower (which locals refer to as the Four Faced Liar, as it once told four different times). The lunch menu kicks in at noon and features things like ham and Emmental toasties on Cornrue sourdough, or a decadent French onion soup, which arrives at the table bubbling and topped with heaps of melted gruyere. There are loads of sandwiches on offer in Christy’s Harvest, like a tuna melt pan fried in butter, as well as homemade boxty with a variety of toppings.  

Photo credit: @thismustbetheplace_westport

After lunch, take a walk over to Westport House. From the river, make your way along what was once the grand entrance to the house, up St Mary’s Crescent to the back of Hotel Westport, where there’s a pedestrian entrance. This walk to the house is lovely, through the estate woodland and past the 18th century cascade on the Carrowbeg River. You also get one of the best reveals of the house itself from this path, catching your first glimpse as you emerge from the riverside trees.  

There are several tours a day of the house, but it’s a good idea to book in advance. And a tour is well worth it – after all, there are over 300 years of history to get through and that’s before you get to pirate queen Grace O’Malley, who built a castle on this spot in the 1500s. 

One of the knowledgeable guides will lead you through the impressive home, built by the Browne family (descendants of Grace O’Malley) in 1730. The front hall is a showstopper, with hand formed flowers on the barrel-vaulted ceiling, antlers from an extinct Irish elk and a Sicilian marble cantilever staircase. Halfway up the stairs there’s an Angel of Welcome, which the family would shake the hand of when walking past. Take a look at her head, too – what a lot of people think is a unicorn horn is actually a flame.  

You’ll walk through the old rooms of the house, including the portrait gallery and the dining room that’s all set for dinner, before getting some time to explore by yourself. Be sure to go down to the dungeons – this is where you’ll see the ruins of Grace O’Malley’s original castle, the water dripping down the thick stone archways and slivers of light illuminating the spooky crevices (and a model of a shackled skeleton) in the corners. 

Back outside, head over the bridge and follow the woodland trail out to the Westport harbour, walking through the woodland and around the edges of the lake, until you emerge by the Quay. Just by the estate gates you’ll find the Custom House Studios, an art gallery with exhibitions by contemporary artists and a print room where you can sometimes spy on them at work. From there, walk along the water’s edge up along the Quay to the Point, a lookout spot where you can see the shape of nearby islands or watch the waves lap (or crash) against tiny Roman Island Beach.  

There are a few boat companies set up on the Quay, so hop on board for a tour of Clew Bay. On a 90-minute trip with Westport Cruises, you’ll see a healthy number of Clew Bay’s 365 islands (one for every day of the year, as locals will tell you) and get a close up look at the resident seal colony and the island once owned by John Lennon. The tour times change each day depending on the tide, which changes rapidly – sometimes the trips depart in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. If you head out in the morning, simply switch the day’s itinerary on its head. 

When you’re back on dry land, stick around the marina for dinner, before walking the 30 minutes back to Westport town, up along the Quay Road. If you’re not up for the walk, you can catch the 450 bus (six times a day, 8 minutes) back into town.    

Where to eat in Westport Marina

Unsurprisingly, there are no shortage of great seafood spots in the harbour. The Towers Bar and Restaurant is right on the tip of the marina, with views of the water and Croagh Patrick, as well as outdoor seating for sunny days. They serve up big bowls of mussels caught within eyesight of the restaurant, swimming in garlic and cream, alongside Clew Bay oysters, Clare Island salmon and fish and chips made with a local Mescan beer batter. The Helm is open for dinner and they do a range of seafood classics like chowder, calamari and crab salad, and a mean surf and turf.  

If you’re at the harbour earlier in the day, The Creel is a good spot for lunch or brunch, with stuff like eggs Benedict, fish tacos and buddha bowls. Just a few doors up, their deli is handy for bites to go, like focaccia sandwiches and paninis, as well as fresh pastries, chocolate brownies and lemon drizzle cake to have with a coffee.