What's on in Ireland, with a B&B near the gate
Ireland's great annual events draw crowds that book out whole towns. Each event here is paired with the real B&Bs and guesthouses closest to it, every one contactable direct with the owner, no platform fee in the middle.
Fairs & races
The great gatherings: horses traded the old way, a goat crowned king, and the biggest racing week in Ireland.
Galway · Late July
The Galway Races
Seven days at Ballybrit, first run in 1869, with well over 100,000 racegoers across the week. The city books out months ahead, so the B&Bs around it become the smart bed.
See the event and nearby B&Bs
Killorglin · 10 to 12 August
Puck Fair
Three days every August when Killorglin crowns a wild mountain goat as king. Documented since 1613 and likely far older, it is one of the oldest fairs in Ireland.
See the event and nearby B&Bs
Ballinasloe · Early October
Ballinasloe October Fair
Reputedly the oldest horse fair in Europe, documented since 1722. Horses change hands on the Fair Green the old way, a slap of hands and a luck penny returned.
See the event and nearby B&BsMusic & arts
A week of pipes in a Clare village, jazz across a whole city, and Ireland’s longest-running community arts festival.
Miltown Malbay · Early July
Willie Clancy Summer School
Widely described as the world’s largest traditional music summer school, filling a small Clare town with around a thousand students and music in every pub, every July since 1973.
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Clifden · September
Clifden Arts Festival
Founded by a local teacher in 1977 and now Ireland’s longest-running community arts festival, filling the Connemara town with music, poetry and performance for ten September days.
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Cork · Late October
Guinness Cork Jazz Festival
Ireland’s biggest jazz festival has taken over Cork city every October bank holiday weekend since 1978, with hundreds of musicians and a free pub trail across the city.
See the event and nearby B&BsFestivals & food
Matchmaking, roses, salmon and oysters, the town festivals that fill every bed for miles around.
Ballina · July
Ballina Salmon Festival
Running since 1964 in the salmon capital of Ireland, the oldest community festival on the Wild Atlantic Way: a week of parades, river races and fireworks over the Moy.
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Tralee · Mid August
The Rose of Tralee Festival
Since 1959, Tralee’s August festival has crowned the Rose before a live national television audience, with parades and free street entertainment filling the town for the best part of a week.
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Lisdoonvarna · All September
Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival
A full month of dancing and matchmaking every September, a tradition of more than 160 years in a Victorian spa town at the edge of the Burren.
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Galway · Late September
Galway International Oyster Festival
The world’s longest-running oyster festival, founded in 1954 for the opening of the native season, crowned by the World Oyster Opening Championship.
See the event and nearby B&BsWhy book direct for an event weekend
Event weeks are exactly when booking direct earns its keep. The big platforms surge with demand, listings vanish behind service fees, and the fine print tightens just when you need flexibility. A B&B owner on the phone can tell you what the town is really like that week, hold a room on a person's word, and point you to the quiet route past the crowds on the morning itself.
Owners know their event better than any booking site does. They have hosted it for years, they know when the road closes and where to park, and their breakfast table on the big morning is half the experience.
Planning around an event?
Find a bed near the big day, book direct
Real B&Bs and guesthouses across Ireland, no platform fee, no middleman, just the owner on the other end.