Kinlay Hostel Eyre Square
Biggest Galway hostel at Eyre Square — pool table, in-house bar, group-ready
Kinlay Hostel is the biggest hostel in Galway and winner of Ireland's best hostel (Irish Hostelling International 2025) — 8.9 rating across 3,804 reviews, €28 dorms on Merchants Road at Eyre Square. Pool table, in-house bar, tour desk, and a lot of private rooms for groups.
Kinlay Hostel occupies the corner building at Merchants Road and Eyre Square — the most visible hostel address in Galway, directly opposite the Skeff Bar and diagonally across from Ceannt Bus and Train Station. At around 140 beds it's the biggest hostel in the city, and the Hostelling International-affiliated operation has pulled off what most HI hostels haven't: it picked up the Irish Hostelling 'Best Hostel 2025' award on the back of the 3,804-review 8.9 rating, which is real data not marketing.
The footprint is unusual. It's a 1990s purpose-built hostel rather than a converted house, which means a proper reception desk (24-hour, though staffed lighter overnight), a dedicated luggage room, a ground-floor café and in-house bar (open 17:00 to late), a self-catering kitchen on the first floor, and a lounge with a pool table that becomes the social room every evening. There's a lift, which in Galway is notable — most hostels are walk-up three-storey buildings.
Room mix is the widest in Galway: mixed dorms from 4 to 10 beds, female-only 4 and 6-bed rooms, and private rooms ranging from doubles to group eight-beds. The eight-beds with en-suite bathroom are the reason Kinlay is the default group booking in the city — Cliffs of Moher tour groups, GAA away-supporters, and stag/hen parties routinely book them. All dorms have individual lockers (padlock not included), curtains on bunks, and USB plugs at bed level.
The trade-offs are volume-related: morning shower queues at 8am (peak breakfast), the lobby gets loud when tour groups check out at 9:00am, and the 10-bed dorm facing Eyre Square catches the weekend pub-crawl noise — don't book this if you're a light sleeper. But the 8.9 rating is the honest summary: for what Kinlay is (big, well-run, central), it executes. For solo travelers who want immediate social scene and groups that need five en-suite privates in the same building, this is the Galway pick.
- 01Biggest hostel in Galway (140 beds) with the widest room mix — solos, couples, families, groups all fit
- 02Won Irish Hostelling 'Best Hostel in Ireland 2025' on the back of 3,804 genuine reviews
- 03In-house bar open to 02:00 weekends, plus pool table lounge — real social density
- 04Only Galway hostel with 8-bed en-suite privates — default group booking
- Corner building on Merchants Road directly at Eyre Square, opposite the Skeff Bar
- 24-hour reception, lift to upper floors (rare in Galway hostels)
- Ground-floor bar and café with pool table lounge
- Room types from 4-bed female dorms to 8-bed en-suite group privates
“Friendly, helpful staff. Very good facilities and an excellent location. I'd have liked a quieter room — the 10-bed catches Eyre Square noise on Saturday night — but I paid the cheapest Kinlay price and got what I asked for.”
“Everything was great, it was my first hostel experience, we stayed in a private eight-bed room with our rugby group. En-suite bathroom meant no queueing, pool table downstairs was where we spent most evenings.”
“En-suite room and convenient plug point wall sockets and individual bed lamps. Location is as close to Eyre Square as it gets — zero friction getting to the bus station.”
- Eyre Square (Kennedy Park)10 seconds walk (across road)
- Ceannt Bus & Train Station2 min walk
- Shop Street & Latin Quarter pubs3 min walk
- The Skeff Bar (opposite)30 seconds walk
- Spanish Arch & Long Walk10 min walk
- Galway Cathedral10 min walk
