Dublin takes two days. The coach to the west coast leaves at seven.
Which Cliffs of Moher day actually stops in Galway. Whether the Storehouse beats a Jameson tasting on a wet afternoon. How early the Book of Kells queue forms. Reviews of the tours you can book in and out of Dublin.
The walk, the mountain lake, the Causeway and the dram.
Four bookings most first Dublin weeks are built around, what each one costs, and what the people who took them say.
01Your first Dublin morningDublin Highlights and Hidden Gems Guided Walking TourThree hours on foot from Trinity to the Castle. The quickest way to learn which streets deserve a second look.
02Into the hillsThe Original Award Winning Wild Wicklow Tour incl. GlendaloughGlendalough’s two lakes and its monastic round tower, with the Wicklow bog roads on the way down. An hour south.
03The Antrim coast dayDublin to Belfast Black Cab, Dunluce Castle and Giant’s CausewayBelfast by black cab, then Dunluce and the basalt steps of the Causeway. Prices switch to sterling at the border.
04The wet afternoonJameson Whiskey Distillery Tour with TastingsThe old Jameson distillery on Bow Street in Smithfield, with a guided tasting at the end. Rain cannot touch it.
Cliffs, causeway, mountains or castles: pick the day Dublin sends you out for.
The island is small enough that a coach from Dublin reaches either coast and is back before midnight. Five kinds of day out, what each costs to board, and how long a day you are signing up for.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, Burren, Wild Atlantic Way, Galway Tour · from $94
The west coastThe Cliffs of Moher, the Burren limestone and Galway, about twelve hours door to door.
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The north coastBasalt columns, the Dark Hedges and Dunluce, with Belfast on the road home.
3
Wicklow and GlendaloughMountain passes and a sixth-century monastic valley, an hour south.
4
Castle daysBlarney and the Rock of Cashel to the south, Dunluce on the Antrim cliffs to the north.
5
Newgrange and the BoyneA passage tomb older than the pyramids, under an hour north.
All 80 day trips from Dublin →
Dublin is a walking city that happens to own a few buses.
Trinity to the Castle is ten minutes. The GPO to the brewery gate is under half an hour. Guides fill the walk in between with the 1916 Rising, the Vikings who founded the place and the writers who drank in it.
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3The Dublin tours visitors book most.
Every Dublin tour reviewed →Most of them leave the city centre before breakfast. These are the days more Dublin visitors take than anything else.
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Cliffs of Moher, Burren & Galway City Day Tour
Ride west from Dublin by air-conditioned coach for two hours at the Cliffs of Moher, a stop in the Burren and two hours in Galway. Your English-speaking guide adds Irish history, local stories and, in Galway, a short optional walking orientation. Guides vary, with Aoife, Carol, Jim and Peter among the names who have led trips.
From · $89
Read our review →
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Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, Burren, Wild Atlantic Way, Galway Tour
from $94
3
Giants Causeway, Dark Hedges, Dunluce & Belfast Tour
from $112
4
Dublin to Belfast Black Cab, Dunluce Castle and Giant’s Causeway
from $96
5
Kilkenny, Wicklow Mountains & Glendalough Day Tour from Dublin
from $48
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Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough & Kilkenny Tour
from $45
7
Irish Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum Experience Dublin
from $26
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Dublin Highlights and Hidden Gems Guided Walking Tour
from $29
Guinness at St James’s Gate, whiskey in Smithfield, a fiddle in a Temple Bar back room.
The stout the world drinks is brewed here, and Dublin was distilling whiskey long before that. Book the Storehouse for a dry afternoon, a distillery for a wet one, and a pub crawl for after dinner.
Howth: the fishing harbour at the end of the DART line.
Half an hour from Connolly by train, the peninsula has a cliff path with the whole bay laid out below it, seals waiting at the harbour steps for the trawlers, and fish and chips on the pier. Go by boat, by coach or on foot.
Every Howth day out →Four Dublin tickets that sell out before you land.
Most of this city can be decided over breakfast. These four cannot: timed entries, capped groups and coach seats that go weeks ahead from June to August.
- 01Dublin Book of Kells, Castle and Molly Malone Statue Guided TourEntry to the Old Library runs on timed tickets, and summer mornings are gone days ahead. A tour with the ticket built in holds the slot for you.
- 02Guinness Storehouse Entry TicketThe Storehouse admits by timed slot. Afternoons at summer weekends are the first to go.
- 03Boyne Valley with Newgrange and Bru Na Boinne EntryThe passage tomb is visited in small guided groups from the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre, and summer days fill. A tour with entry included takes the gamble out.
- 04Game of Thrones Studio Tour with Coach TransferThe studio tour in Banbridge runs on timed entry, and the coach packages from Dublin carry a fixed number of seats.
Dublin on three budgets: a museum, a coach day, a private driver.
Every tour on the site, sorted by what it costs a head. Walks and museum tickets sit at the cheap end; the coach days to the coasts land around a hundred.
Walking tours, museum tickets, distillery tastings and the Liffey boat.
The coach days: Cliffs of Moher, the Causeway, Wicklow, Kilkenny and the Boyne.
Private drivers, rail tours down to Cork and Killarney, and small-group days with a horse ride thrown in.
Three things people cross Ireland to see, each a day from Dublin.
Plenty of cities have cathedrals and pubs. Only this corner of Europe has a ninth-century gospel book, a coastline paved with basalt hexagons, and a tomb aligned to the winter sunrise.
The Book of Kells
Four gospels copied and painted by monks around the year 800, probably begun on Iona and finished at Kells in County Meath. It has belonged to Trinity since the 1660s and lies open under glass, a pair of pages at a time, turned on a schedule by the conservators. The first slot of the morning gets you the room before the coach groups.
- 1Dublin Book of Kells, Castle and Molly Malone Statue Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,825 reviews
- 2Fast-Track Book of Kells Ticket & Dublin Castle Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,661 reviews
- 3St Patrick’s Cathedral, Book of Kells and Dublin Castle Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 882 reviews
The Giant’s Causeway
Some forty thousand basalt columns, most of them six-sided, left by lava cooling where the Antrim plateau meets the sea. Legend credits Finn McCool, who laid it as a road to fight a Scottish rival. It is three hours from Dublin each way, which is why the tours fold in Belfast, Dunluce Castle and the Dark Hedges to earn the drive.
- 1Giants Causeway, Dark Hedges, Dunluce & Belfast Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 8,843 reviews
- 2Dublin to Belfast Black Cab, Dunluce Castle and Giant’s Causeway★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 7,954 reviews
- 3Dublin to Dunluce Castle, Giant’s Causeway, Dark Hedges & Belfast★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,781 reviews
Newgrange
A passage tomb raised around 3200 BC, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids at Giza. For a few mornings either side of the winter solstice the rising sun slides down a nineteen-metre passage and lights the chamber floor; the rest of the year a guide shows you with a lamp. The kerbstones carry the spiral carvings found on half the souvenirs in Dublin.
- 1Celtic Boyne Valley & Ancient Sites Day Tour From Dublin★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 865 reviews
- 2Boyne Valley with Newgrange and Bru Na Boinne Entry★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 635 reviews
- 3Dublin to Newgrange, Monasterboice Small Group Guided Tours★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 500 reviews
It will rain in Dublin. Plan the indoor half now.
Showers blow in off the Irish Sea in every season, usually short and rarely announced. Keep a museum, a distillery or a tasting room in reserve and swap it in when the sky turns grey over the Liffey. Most need an hour or two and no forward planning.
The Little Museum of Dublin Famous Guided Tour
One Dublin bed, five days out: the week most first visits follow.
HowthBy place, from the quays to both coasts
By kind of day: on foot, on a coach or at the bar
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