Ireland’s most scenic bus service? Ennis to Galway via the Cliffs of Moher

The 350 bus in County Clare offers sublime views of some of Ireland’s most dramatic scenery, stops off in historic villages and gives glimpses of a rich cultural heritage

The winding, medieval streets and gorgeous architecture of Ennis, County Clare’s main market town, are the southerly starting point of route 350, a bus service that navigates sleepy villages, historic landmarks, epic landscapes and some of the finest coastal scenery in Ireland.

Ennis is just 30 minutes by bus from Shannon airport and midway by rail from Galway to Limerick City – yet, in spite of all that connectivity, there are no early starts here, and that includes the 350. The town stretches and yawns awake sometime after 9am with the clanking of empty kegs to the rear of the pubs that line Abbey Street as far down as Ennis Friary. It had a literary nod as a location in James Joyce’s Ulysses, which brings a flurry of visitors for its book festival in early spring, but apart from that, Ennis ambles along at its own pace until late May. That’s when Fleadh Nua starts – a traditional Irish music event, hallmarked by the sound of uilleann pipes or a bodhrán filtering through every bar door and window.