New Bus Station in Galway

Earlier this month, a new bus station opened in Galway. It's sleek and modern; we were very impressed when NestorLink called the night before our flight to Stockholm to let us know that our bus from Galway to Dublin had changed locations.

I'm seeing lots of bulletin board posts online with confusion about the new location. I can't believe I google and can't find a story with pictures and directions to this bus station.

Anyway, it's very to easy to find. It's one block northeast of Eyre Square on the corner of Forster Street and Frenchville Lane/Fairgreen Road. (I've seen maps with this road listed under both names. Scary, but typical.) It sits behind the Radisson Hotel, across the road from the main tourism office in Galway, which has also been expanded and redesigned. The old coach station is directly across from the Radisson; you can see the new bus station from the old one. It's a large, shiny, tinted-glass-windowed building. It was designed my McNamara Construction. Their web site describes the mixed-use building. The picture below taken from the McNamara web site is an accurate depiction of the building. There is seating inside the station, and all of the buses are parked in a covered garage -- much nicer than the old parking lot set-up, where travelers had to stand in the rain waiting for their buses.

One stickling point for us: The new coach station requires you to pay to use the toilet. I think that is total crap (pardon the pun). It's like paying to use the toilet at a freaking airport. I can't believe they got so cheap to try to pay for this beautiful, new building.




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