Athas’ is the Irish for ‘Joy’ and that is exactly the aim of each and every Athas guided tour. The business was set up with humour, with and laughter in mind. The concept is simple: a visitor to Irish shores wants to engage in Irish culture as best as he/she can but memories are better formed when one has a good time. Athas Tours wants to provide that experience. Every visitor to Ireland wants to engage with its people. And its people are known worldwide for their love of a bit of fun and ‘craic.’

If an American tourist or a French visitor asks for some ‘craic', then each and every Athas Tours guide will know what he or she wants. They want to engage Ireland and the Irish. They want to laugh and see the reflection of their laughter in others. That is where these Galway guided walks come in. The key aim is to provide the necessary atmosphere, to put visitors to the City of the Tribes at ease. There will be no churning out of historical facts to the tour group with Athas Tours. History will be discussed but in a way that befits the overall tempo of the walk.

So, the key to a good walk will be humour through storytelling and engagement with a group. Every request will be looked into as much as is feasible. The visitor is the customer and their wishes must be fulfilled. A tour should leave them wanting more, not glad it is all over. Athas can guarantee a fun experience. It is not that big of an aim. Because it is the company’s only aim. Customer satisfaction through a laugh and a smile. There will be ‘craic’ handed over to foreign visitors or ‘na Gaill,’ as Galway once described the Normans who were suddenly building high walls around their castle by the Corrib. Such is the nature of each and every Athas tour. Every visitor is entitled to a little joy on his holidays.

Each tour will take in the more famous Galway sights. Lynch’s Window, the Browne Doorway, Nora Barnacle’s place of birth and the Spanish Arch, to name a few. Again, these places will be used as props to enhance visitor experience. A stone is only that until it is brought to life through imagination. The tour guide’s primary job is to make that stone or collection of stones a lot more than what can be seen. Storytelling and the ‘gift of the gab’ will be used to do just that. If a group is not amused at knowing the truth of Lynch’s Window and its myth, then the guide is not doing his job properly. The visitor should be inwardly laughing and outwardly smiling at the sheer cheek of Galway 19th century officials who may have created the World’s very first tourist trap.