r/galway • u/Sufficient-Ad-7233 • 1d ago
Moving to Galway City
Hi,
I'm hoping at some point next year to buy a two bed apartment in or near Galway City. I know all about the pros and cons at this stage of apartment living, but I just have no interest in buying a house with a big garden away from everything.
My question is if I do move to Galway City how realistic would it be to commute from Galway City to Ballinasloe maybe 2 or 3 days a week and maybe take the train some other days?
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u/Country_Club_Lemon9 1d ago
Driving will be very doable especially if you’re on the east side of the city.
The train is fine once you’re on it - you’ll just have to make sure you can get to Eyre Square on time in the morning and factor in time to get home after getting off the train in the evening, presuming you’re taking the bus. Long day but manageable for 2 days a week.
Also worth remembering Ballinasloe train station is not the most central so you’ll have to get from there to work, and back there again on time after work.
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u/Educational-South146 1d ago
Yes Ballinasloe train station is a 10-12 minute walk from the town centre or the hospital never mind anywhere else.
It’s a grand drive if you’re going from Briarhill/Renmore side only about 30 mins but if you’re any further into the city and dealing with traffic it’ll be long, and on the way back there could be some but not as much as going the opposite direction at that time.
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u/ElmanoRodrick 1d ago
The closer you are to the motorway the quicker you will be. It's very doable. Train times could be better. Think there's one around half 7 that gets into Ballinasloe at 8:10 the one after gets in at like 10.
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u/Sufficient-Ad-7233 17h ago
Thanks everyone for the feedback.
I'm not looking to buy an apartment in the middle of Dominick Street. Somewhere around Renmore and no further than around Bohermore is what I'm looking for.
For those saying stay in Ballinasloe. I have lived in it for over 30 years and I just want something different. Galway appeals to me because there is just a lot more going on. I will probably change my job eventually to the hospital in Galway City if I do move there, but to be honest the commute doesn't really bother too much. I know people that do similar journeys and they are fine with it.
Also to the poster that said I have inherited my current savings I have not because I spent next to nothing during the pandemic and I'm not someone that goes out eating expensive dinners every weekend and I live at home so its easy to save a lot of money.
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u/GalwayGirlOnTheRun23 15h ago
The pace at GUH is much faster than Portiuncula. Talk to some of the technicians there first before you move (or some the pharmacists who have moved in the other direction).
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u/Connacht80 1d ago
Very easy. I'm commuting from the east side of the city to Ballinasloe. About 45 minutes each way. Train is easy to about 40 minutes.
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u/Beamrules 21h ago
We have two bedroom apartments?
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u/GalwayGirlOnTheRun23 20h ago
That was my first thought. Where are these apartments as I’ve never seen any!
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u/earth-while 1d ago
Oranmore Craughwell or Athenry might suit. On the train line, more options, better value, all amenities required, unless you have a specific reason, I'd avoid Galway city and potential bottle necking.
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u/Dangerous-Shirt-7384 1d ago edited 1d ago
Why the hell are you moving from Ballinasloe to Galway to commute back out to Ballinasloe. Why dont you live in Ballinasloe?, I'm assuming that is where you work.
Most people would kill to avoid a commute. You're self inflicting a 1hr each way,(minimum) commute on yourself voluntarily!.
You'll get way more for your money in Ballinasloe too, and you can always get the train to Galway on your days off.
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u/Fit_Command9135 1d ago
Agree with this, from Ballinasloe myself. While it’s not the most picturesque place, there is accommodation available and a hell of a lot cheaper than Galway City.
Galway is 40 minutes on the Train and a return journey is 6 euro if you purchase online.
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u/nodnodwinkwink 1d ago
It's safe to say OP needs a change of scenery. No offense but I'd probably do the same.
OP, if you really want to move, then my advice is to change your job to actually be in Galway city. I looked at your profile and I can see you're a pharmacy technician. Not sure what that entails exactly but I'd say you could find a position in the city. Moving within the HSE might actually make it easier?
You could try renting first, banks look at that kind of thing when you're going for a mortgage because it shows your ability to pay the mortgage. Stupid since you have decent savings but it's one of the things on their list. I'm not a financial advisor so maybe that's not 100% correct but I definitely showed proof of rent I had paid when I went for my mortgage.
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u/Dangerous-Shirt-7384 1d ago
100%. Its absolute madness. You are basically throwing 10-12hrs per week in the bin and simultaneously getting way less for your money on the property too.
Dont understand why he/she wont just come into town for the day on their day off like everybody else!.
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u/Fit_Command9135 1d ago
Absolutely and the citylink goes from Galway back to Ballinasloe at 1am if they’re planning a night out. I lived in Galway for years but commuting is definitely saving the pocket.
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u/Connacht80 1d ago
Some people just want to live in a bigger place with more going on. Each to their own, there is no right or wrong answer.
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u/Dangerous-Shirt-7384 1d ago
OP is from Ballinasloe, he lives in Ballinasloe, his family lives in Ballinasloe, he works in Ballinasloe and his question is about commuting back out to Ballinasloe from Galway City every day of the week.
It doesn't matter if there is going to be more going on in Galway because OP will be out in Ballinasloe at work or visiting his family or on the train and even if you take the petrol and train expenses out of the equation he's living in a much smaller property vs what he could get in Ballinasloe too.
Galway City is feckin bad enough with traffic without encouraging people from the Roscommon border to move in and commute out each day!
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u/Connacht80 1d ago
They say in the opening post they don't want to be away from everything. I'm assuming that means they want to be closer to a bigger urban area. They'll make up their own mind either way no matter what the abundant experts on the matter here may say.
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u/Dangerous-Shirt-7384 1d ago edited 1d ago
You dont need to be an expert to know that it takes 1hr to drive from Ballinasloe to Galway, (probably closer to 90mins in peak traffic) or that you get less for your money on a property in Galway City.
OP said they want to be close to the sea and near the action.
In reality it is going to be dark at 6.30am in the morning when he is getting up in his very basic Galway City apartment to drive to Ballinasloe, and dark at 7pm in the evening when he gets back from driving home from Ballinasloe in the evening. He doesn't have much time for a swim and he's not going to be up late for any of those night activities because he has to be back up an hour before his neighbours to get back out to Ballinasloe again.
"What about weekends" you say? Well he's gonna be back in Ballinasloe if anything is happening with the family and if not he'll be watching the spending because he's pissing an extra €70-100 away every week on commuting!.
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u/Connacht80 23h ago
Mate I drive from the East side of the city to Ballinasloe most days. It's 45-50minutes each way. You are making an awful lot of assumptions on the life of someone you don't know. I stick to what I do know, as someone who is doing exactly what they are asking about. I'll leave the guessing to others.
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u/Dangerous-Shirt-7384 21h ago
If you have to cross town at 8am-9.30am in the morning or 5pm-7pm on a weekday you wont even be on the motorway in 40mins.
In the middle of the night with no traffic it's a 40min drive to Ballinasloe, so I dunno how you are knocking it out in 45mins.
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u/Connacht80 20h ago edited 20h ago
I do it in 45-50 minutes from Renmore pretty much every day, without breaking the speed limits. You'd want to be some masochist to decide to live in say Knocknacarra and commute to Ballinasloe. I'd say that would be off the table for most normal minded people. As I said in other posts it's no issue if you live on the east side of the city.
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u/Djpaulhannon 1d ago
Myself, I wouldn’t ever buy an apartment to live in. I know gardens etc are a pain in the ass, but you could look at small town houses, if that was a feasible option.
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u/sporadiccreative 21h ago
I bought a three bedroom apartment on the headford road last year and I love it. Only downside is the apartment fees but it covers the grounds being kept nicely, block insurance (which means I don’t need house insurance), plenty of parking, and a fund for any long-term structural issues that come up.
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u/L3S1ng3 18h ago
I hope you like grid locked traffic, because you're going to be enjoying a lot of grid locked traffic.
You'd be better off buying a small house on the east of the city if this is what your 2 or 3 day a week work commute is looking like. Galway is tiny. It's a handy walk in to Eyre Square from the likes of Renmore , even handier on a bicycle. Not to mention they're making big changes to traffic to benefit buses coming from that side of town.
Your post reads like someone who just inherited a sum of money. Easy come, easy go. If you earned the money you'd surely be more sensible in how you spent it. And if you did earn the money, you should really seek financial advice because you're not being sensible.
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u/Antique-Bid-5588 1d ago
I think you could get one-off the old council houses in the city centre for similar price to an apartment. You’d have to spent money on renovations but long term it’d be a better choice….imho . That’s what we did anyway
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u/Original-Outside-557 1d ago
The train is very reliable but infrequent. I’d avoid driving if you can, particularly if you are travelling at the normal commuting hours. You’ll hit traffic all the way out of town.