Leenane is a small village with a setting that does most of the talking. It sits at the head of Killary Harbour, the long glacial fjord that divides County Galway from County Mayo, with bare mountains rising on both sides and weather moving quickly over the water.
The village itself is modest, but it works as a sharp little base for the wilder northern edge of Connemara. You can walk to Aasleagh Falls, take a boat onto Killary Fjord, or drive the Delphi and Maam valleys for some of the west of Ireland's most dramatic road scenery.
Leenane also has a harder story. The road through the Delphi Valley passes famine memorials tied to the desperate relief march of 1849. That mix of beauty and bleakness is very Connemara: gorgeous in good light, serious when the clouds come down, and never just pretty.