Connemara Sheepdog Demonstration Tours with Kylemore Abbey, Compared

One day can give you the abbey and a border collie bringing a flock off a mountain. The days differ on the farm, the time you get there, and whether both gates are paid. Every Kylemore Abbey tour with a farm stop is below, with the farms' own seasons, show times and prices.

Kylemore Abbey sheepdog tours at a glance

The coach seats cost less and carry both tickets. The private cars leave the gates to you but collect you where you stay. For every other way to reach the abbey, see the best Kylemore Abbey tour for your trip.

The sheepdog tours, one by one

1. Lally Tours' small-group day: Joyce Country Sheepdogs, both tickets in the fare

The small-group sheepdog day leaves outside the HYDE Hotel on Forster Street at 10:15 and runs about 7 hours 30 minutes. You get 2 hours at Kylemore Abbey and the Victorian Walled Garden and 70 minutes with the dogs at Joyce Country Sheepdogs, where Joe Joyce runs the demonstration. There is also a 30-minute stop in Leenane. Both entries are in the fare of $134 per person, for 25 at most, rated 4.9 from 214 reviews. Lunch is not included.

2. Lally Tours' sheepdog show day, with a stop in Leenane

The sheepdog show day leaves the same hotel at 10:30. It includes entrance to the abbey and the Victorian Walled Gardens and entrance to the sheepdog demonstration, and stops at Leenane and its Sheep and Wool Centre. The listing names only "a Connemara farm", so ask which one before you book. It costs $126 per person, for 25 at most, rated 4.9 from 104 reviews. Both Lally days are among the bus tours from Galway to Kylemore Abbey.

3. Connemara Chauffeurs' private day: an hour at Joyce Country

The private day from Galway picks you up where you stay. Your driver-guide gives you 30 minutes at Aughnanure Castle, an hour at Joyce Country Sheepdogs, an hour for lunch at Veldon's Seafarer, 2 hours at Kylemore and 20 minutes on the Sky Road. Entry fees and lunch are your own expense. The fare is $673 for up to seven, rated 4.9 from 36 reviews.

4. Walk About Galway's private day: two hours at Killary Sheep Farm

The Killary sheep farm day gives you the longest time with the dogs: 2 hours at Killary Sheep Farm, plus 2 hours at Kylemore and the walled garden, an hour at Aughnanure Castle and 3 hours of Connemara scenery, across 8 hours from a Galway pickup. Both gates are optional extras. It costs $878 for up to three, rated 5.0 from 10 reviews, and is sold as wheelchair accessible.

5. From Dublin: the 10-day small-group tour

If Connemara is one stop on a longer trip, the 10-day small-group tour from Dublin includes entrance to Kylemore Abbey and a sheepdog demonstration on a family farm, which the listing does not name. It costs $3,393 per person for 16 at most, rated 5.0 from 104 reviews. More options are on the Kylemore Abbey tours from Dublin page.

Joyce Country Sheepdogs or Killary Sheep Farm?

The two farms work the same way but differ in when you can go and how you book.

• Joyce Country Sheepdogs is part of a family-run hill farm, where border collies herd Connemara Blackface sheep. Shows run at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:30, Monday to Saturday, from 1 March to 18 October. You do not need to book. The farm lists EUR 15 for adults and EUR 5 for under-12s as its 2025 rates.
• Killary Sheep Farm is Tom Nee's working mountain farm at Bunowen, above Killary Fjord, with about 200 ewes and lambs, mostly horned blackhead sheep. His dogs are Sweep, Lassie and Fly, with a puppy in training. Shows run at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00, seven days a week, all year, weather permitting. Booking is essential, at EUR 12 each or from EUR 40 for a family.

One rule shapes who goes where. The road to Killary Sheep Farm limits buses to 9 metres, and full-size coaches are not allowed at all. The private cars can reach either farm.

What happens at a sheepdog demonstration

The farmer sends the collies up the hill by whistle and command, and they bring the flock down to your feet. At Killary, you can also bottle-feed orphaned lambs in spring and watch a sheep being shorn in summer. Lally Tours says that on its small-group day you may hold a baby lamb or a sheepdog puppy, depending on the season. Children love it; Kylemore Abbey with kids covers the rest of a family day.

When to go: lambs, shearing and farm seasons

• 1 March to 18 October: Joyce Country Sheepdogs is open.
• 17 March to 15 August: bottle-feeding lambs at Killary Sheep Farm.
• 1 June to 15 August: the hand-shearing demonstration at Killary.
• After 15 August: no lambs and no shearing at Killary; the dogs still work.
• All year: Killary Sheep Farm, weather permitting, by booking.

Which fares cover the farm and the abbey?

Both Lally Tours days and the 10-day tour from Dublin include the Kylemore admission and the sheepdog demonstration. The private cars leave both gates to you, so add the farm's own price above and the abbey ticket at the gate to the fare. The full picture for every day is in Kylemore Abbey tour prices, and every car is on the Kylemore Abbey private tours page.

Seeing the sheepdogs without a tour

With a car, you can do both yourself. Joyce Country needs no booking: arrive a little before a show time, Monday to Saturday. Killary needs a booking and asks you to arrive 15 minutes early; it sits on the southern shore of Killary Harbour, on the N59, 6 km from Leenane. Kylemore opens from 10:00 to 18:00, with last admission at 17:00, so a morning show and an afternoon at the abbey fit. Check the abbey's opening hours and entry before you set out, and plan the route with Kylemore Abbey without a tour and the Kylemore Abbey and Connemara itinerary.

Sheepdog tour FAQs

Sheepdog days from Galway

Small Group Kylemore Abbey, Sheepdog Demo & Connemara Tour

A Lally Tours day capped at 25, with the abbey ticket and a sheepdog demonstration both in the fare.

From $134 per person

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Connemara Sheep Farm experience & Kylemore Private Guide Tour

A private guide from Galway for a group of up to three: two hours at Kylemore, an hour at Aughnanure Castle and two at the Killary Sheep Farm. Entries are extra.

From $878 per group, up to 3

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Private Connemara Day Tour

A car and driver-guide for your group alone, from where you stay in Galway: Aughnanure Castle, the sheepdogs and two hours at Kylemore. Entry fees are extra.

From $673 per group, up to 7

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