Galway Oyster Festival

Held every year on the west coast of Ireland, the Galway Oyster Festival, which is an international food festival, is held on the last weekend of September, the first month of the oyster season. This festival was started in 1954 by Brian Collins, the manager of the Great Southern Hotel. After being successfully organised every year, The Sunday Times described the Galway Oyster Festival as “one of the 12 greatest shows on earth” in the year 2000. It has also been mentioned as one of Europe’s Seven Best Festivals in the 1987 AA Travel Guide. This year, the Galway Oyster Festival will be held between the 23rd to the 25th of September, 2022.

The Galway Oyster Festival

The Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival is held every year in Galway city in Ireland during the last few days of September. It is a feature among Ireland’s celebrations and in the world, it is the oyster festival that has been running for the longest time. It is also perhaps the most universally perceived Irish occasion.

Highlights of the Festival

The Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival has been held every year since 1954 and receives more than 500,000 people who enjoy over three million oysters, along with drinks and music. People can enjoy the scenic Claddagh area in Galway, which is next to the sea.

During this food festival, one can hope to encounter a wide mix of activities from fish trails, mollusk problem areas, shellfish opening (shucking) titles, including the Oyster ‘Olympics’ or World Oyster Opening Championship. Other activities include:

• Food talks and tasting occasions in a piece of Galway’s best restaurants
• Food provenance visits
• Test delights at the nearby food town at The Festival Marquee
• Mardi Gras style event through the roads of Galway
• Best Dressed Lady rivalry
• Tribal Oyster Feast Of mollusk eating challenge nearby family works out
• Music
• Cooking shows
• Hot Oyster Awards cooking challenge and much more

The Seafood Trail

The Seafood Trail is another feature of the festival that displays Galway’s best eateries that serve privately-obtained ingredients and seafood. Every eatery will have Galway oysters from Thursday to Sunday during the celebration so guests can savour the popular delicacy. It is expected that the 2022 Galway Oyster Festival will include the famous Seafood Trail, which will have 17 of the city’s driving seafood establishments, from McDonagh’s widely acclaimed fish café on Quay St. to the city’s most popular clam houses Tigh Neachtain and Chef JP McMahon’s Tartare. 

The Seafood Trail Participants

• Galway’s’ Neachtain of Tigh

For over 120 years, Tigh Neachtain has been Galway’s favourite. Their homegrown talent takes you to the roots of Galway. Along with their meals, they serve a pint of Guinness and a glass of Prosecco.

• The Twelve (West)

This is a food paradise that offers traditional and contemporary dishes. Their wines have won many awards in Ireland, and most recently, it was decorated with the Best Wine List in Ireland.

• Restaurant of Rúibín

Rúibín restaurant and bar are located on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.  Situated in the centre of Galway, it overlooks the city’s historic docklands. The building is also the birthplace of Pádraic Ó Conaire, a famous writer and journalist from Ireland.

• McDonagh’s

Mcdonagh’s tempts the taste buds of both locals and tourists. Started in 1902, Mcdonagh’s brings over 115 years of knowledge to their speciality of serving the best fish, and are considered one of Ireland’s best fish houses. In the seafood restaurant, people can choose from multiple fish dishes on the menu, from the local Clarenbridge shellfish to salmon, mussels, scallops, and hake. 

Here are the few popular places for tourists to visit while in Galway for the Galway Oyster Festival. There are many other exciting traditional restaurants down by the bay that will give visitors the feel of the festivities and entertainment taking place in the city.

• The Galmont Hotel and Marinas Restaurant 
• The Harbour Hotel and Dillisk on the Docks 
• Sonny Molloys
• Cava Bodega
• The Huntsman Inn
• McSwiggans
• Martine’s Wine Bar
• Cava Bodega
• The Front Door Pub
• The Dáil Bar

Places to Stay

There are many good hotels and motels in Galway where people can stay for the duration of the Galway Oyster Festival, but they run out of vacancies quickly. Here are some hotels that are in the vicinity of the festivities:

• The Clayton Hotel
• The Maldron
• The Connacht Hotel
• The House Hotel
• The Huntsman Inn
• The Galway Bay Hotel
• The Galmont
• The Harbour Hotel
• The Twelve
• The Jurys Inn
• The Imperial Hotel

Conclusion

The Galway Oyster Festival in Galway, Ireland, is an interesting and enthralling once-in-a-lifetime experience. In addition to sampling oysters, which is the key feature of the festival, people can enjoy other types of seafood, which has also become a major highlight of the traditional food festival. The festival will be held this year from September 23rd to September 25th, 2022 and will welcome visitors from around the world to introduce people to their local oyster and seafood samplings. Bon appetité!