Clifden is the nearest thing Connemara has to a capital: a small, slate-roofed town where the roads from Galway, Westport, Ballyconneely and the western headlands all meet. It grew as a planned 19th-century market town, and the centre still has that slightly formal look, with pubs, shops and guesthouses gathered around the square.
The town itself is modest, but its setting is superb. The Sky Road climbs west of town above tidal inlets and offshore islands, while Derrigimlagh Bog hides two unlikely bits of modern history: Marconi's transatlantic wireless station and the landing site of Alcock and Brown's first non-stop flight across the Atlantic.
Clifden works best when you give it a day rather than treating it as a refuelling stop. Walk out toward Clifden Castle, loop the Sky Road if the cloud is high, then come back for seafood or a music session. The weather can be brutal, but in clear light the bay and bog country feel wide open in a way few Irish towns can match.