Galway Docklands Festival

Date: 25 September 2026 – 27 September 2026

Location: Galway Docks, Galway, Ireland

Organizer: Galway Hooker Sailing Club

The Galway Docklands Festival turns the city's working harbour into a free weekend event built around the Galway Hooker, the black-hulled, red-sailed traditional workboat of the bay. The Galway Hooker Sailing Club organises it with Galway Bay Boat Tours and Galway Bay Seafoods, and the 2026 edition runs 25 to 27 September, timed to coincide with the Galway International Oyster Festival, which makes for one very good combined weekend. Activity spreads across the Docks, the harbour and the Claddagh. Visitors can board hookers, try rigging and knot work, learn about restoration and boat building, and take short trips out on the water. Ashore there is seafood, regional beer and music. The hookers themselves are the reason to come. Most were built for carrying cargo and turf rather than for sport, and a fleet of them under full sail off the Claddagh is a genuinely rare sight.

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