If you are planning a trip to Galway, stay with Annamarie! Her apartment is beautiful-- plenty of room for 4 people although it was just my husband and me this trip. The location is perfect, a couple of blocks from the pub/cafe/shopping district but away from it, on a little canal which makes for peaceful walks and watching the swans when the tide comes in and out.
Annamarie could not have been more welcoming and helpful, including bus station transportation, restaurant suggestions, showing us how the showers etc worked (not always obvious in Europe) and food in the kitchen when we arrived after our endless travel day from the U.S. She had lovely little touches like fresh flowers and a bottle of wine. There is an oil-powered fireplace stove we lit on a couple of evenings, making the apartment so cozy after rainy days.
The apartment is walkable along the water to the Salt Hill district, probably a 15 minute beautiful walk or so. I would recommend going to the Salt Hill area for different types of pubs and shops. The Aquarium is there too, so staying at Annamarie's would be great for families.
I have stayed with and visited homes from Airbnb hosts in other European places, and Annamarie's is a gem. She is the perfect B&B host-- available but lets you alone if that is your preference. If we were to visit Galway again I would hope to book her place again.
As an aside--In terms of bus tours, I would not recommend the Galway Tour Company, as we took that tour to the Cliffs of Moher but the time they said we would get at the Cliffs was quite cut short. So I would say book a different tour company if you can.