Hi Kellie,
How nice that you have decided to spend Christmas here in Ireland! 🎄
The choice between the two options depends a lot on your needs and the availability of accommodations.
Being Christmas, I suggest you book as soon as possible, also to be able to find cheaper solutions.
If you decide to stay in a B&B and cook, don't worry as the grocery stores will be open and usually open around 6am and close at 6 or 7pm. It's hard to predict exact times that far in advance, but these are usually the opening times for supermarkets such as Tesco or Dunnes Stores on Christmas Eve.
I suggest you go shopping in the morning in any case! 🛒
On December 24th many restaurants in Galway will be closed from after about 5pm and open restaurants are often booked well in advance. So also in this case, if you want to dine in a restaurant, it's a good idea to book in advance.
The same thing happens on December 26th, being another holiday day.
If you want some more details about the accommodations, take a look at
this page, where you can also search for accommodations from our search engine. 🏡
I hope you find this information useful.
Have a great day! 😄