We really enjoyed walking around the grounds. Chose to walk to the Victorian Garden instead of the shuttle—if you have the time, I suggest that. We did the loop to the gardennand out the back side along the River wall. The Tea House didn’t have the variety we were expecting so we chose to wait to eat after our walk back to the cafe. Even though we were told it didn’t close until half past 5, we arrived at 4:30 and everything was put away and staff seemed to avoid eye contact and Hope we would go away. We got some desert—from the three things still left in the case. Coffee and dessert were yummy. The store closed at 6 and at 5:30 they were locking the front door and turning people away, so I was disappointed to not get to check it out. The setting is lovely—enjoyed the nature more than anything.

Overall it was well worth going (second time). Gardens are beautiful and you can see allot inside the Abbey. The only negative comment is the historical speaker wasn’t very good, just read facts, which they could have an on going TV screen showing photos w/audio.

Beautiful self guided tour. I wish we could see more rooms in the castle and of course would have loved to see the nuns. Overall, great experience and I would recommend, the visit. You can take your time and it’s self guided so no need to follow along.

Just beautiful - from the Abbey itself, to the walk thru the woods to the waterfall and the gardens. When we got to the gardens, there was Celtic music playing, sheepdog and wool spinning demonstrations and good food and tea service. Very enjoyable trip and highly recommend!

I would highly recommend a visit to the Abbey and surrounding gardens/walled gardens. I know Irish weather is unpredictable but we lucked out with glorious sunshine. I would recommend going early as it gets busier later in the day with tour buses. Plenty of places to picnic if you want. Well organised, easy to get around.

This truly is a great place to visit, set in such a wonderful setting the lake in front and the mountain behind. We did the tour of the house, the gentleman doing the tour was excellent , he gave a good account of the history of the property and explained the uses of each room . Great to learn about the family who built the house and its history of subsequent owners right up to the Nun order that own the property now. We visited the Gothic church and the mausoleum where the original owners are at rest. This place is a must see. We never visited the walled garden as we just ran out of time

A wonderfully restored wall garden which is well worth walking to rather than taking the shuttle bus as there are lots of interesting sights and trees, all well signed, en route. We took a lovely even longer walk back, the river walk. Shows how invasive and damaging rhododendron ponticum is when in perfect growing conditions. The big house/abbey is well worth visiting inside - again good self guided tour. Also the church and the shop and the restaurant. Beautiful setting. All in all a great half day of activities. Top marks to the gardening team for doing such an amazing job.

Sep 19th i stopped in with my wife, family, and a group of travelers as we made our way around Ireland. As it turns out, there were clouds, misty rain, and fog…. We couldn’t have asked for better weather for taking pictures. Nature seemed to align with us at every turn to capture majestic images of the castle, the grounds, the gardens… the experience presented scenes out of a fairy tale. Granted, if you come on a sunny day, while the images will clearly be different, the well manicured grounds and beautifully adorned castle will give you lasting memories to capture. For sure, if i had the chance to return to Galway in the future, I’d definitely revisit the Abbey. I’d spend more time in the Gardens (only have a few minutes left), and I’d love to see the newly completed modernized abbey….(as long as the old castle remains open for visiting, i couldn’t go wrong.) If you’re in Galway, or close by… do yourself a favor, stop by the Kyelmore Abbey and see if you can spend a 1/2 day or better - you’ll be glad you did!

Having visited the Abbey itself before, we pop into the cafe for lunch. This can be a bit hit and miss about how long it takes, if you time it when a coach load of visitors is in front of you (it’s a busy place) then obviously there is a queue (which does usually move quite quickly) but at other times, you can just walk straight in. They offer different food choices and options from other places, hence worth the call in. They have hot food, soups, salads, sandwiches. Their open salmon sandwich for instance is delicious. Great coffee and cake too if that is all you need. No visit is complete without a walk around their shop and again they offer different things in there, many of which are made at the Abbey itself, as well as the usual Irish collections. Well worth a road stop, even if you dont need the Abbey tour.

Don’t miss this gem. The gardens are amazing, the largest walled garden we have seen. You get to see much more of the abbey than we were expecting and the church was a great bonus. The cafes were good value, staff friendly and lots of things to buy in the shop. Although there were a lot of visitors it never felt cramped over over crowded. A brilliant half day out in stunning surroundings - excellent value for €16 each and easy parking for our motorhome.