Connemara is the part of Ireland that looks most like the idea of Ireland: brown bog, black lakes, the Twelve Bens standing over all of it, and almost nobody about.
The standard loop from Galway runs out through Oughterard and Maam Cross, north to Kylemore Abbey, along the shore of Killary Harbour — Ireland's only true fjord — and back down the coast through Letterfrack and Clifden. The Sky Road west of Clifden is a ten-kilometre detour and is not optional; it is the best half hour of the day.
Kylemore itself deserves a proper stop. The abbey, the Victorian walled garden and the neo-Gothic church take an hour and a half if you are not rushing, and the garden in particular is worth the walk.
