Dublin Day Trips: Times, Fares, Routes
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Most bad Dublin day plans are geography problems rather than time problems. Two coastal villages that look adjacent on a map are on separate rail branches. A house and its waterfall are sold as one estate and sit six kilometres apart with no bus between them. Get the routing right and the rest of the day looks after itself.
What goes where, and how long it takes
| Destination | How | Time each way | Fare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howth | DART from Connolly, Tara St or Pearse | 25 to 35 min | €2.00 on Leap |
| Malahide | DART, the other northern branch | 25 to 30 min | €2.00 on Leap |
| Bray | DART south | about 45 min | €2.00 on Leap |
| Dalkey and Killiney | DART south | about 25 min | €2.00 on Leap |
| Glendalough | St Kevin’s Bus 181 from St Stephen’s Green North | about 81 min | €14 single, €23 return |
| Brú na Bóinne | road, visitor centre only | about 1 hr | €18 adult for the tour |
| Cliffs of Moher | coach or car, County Clare | about 3 hrs | coach €65 to €78 |
| Galway | Irish Rail from Heuston | 2 hrs 20 to 2 hrs 30 | varies |
Fares and DART timings are published at irishrail.ie and the flat city fare at about.leapcard.ie .
Howth and Malahide are not one trip
The northern DART splits at Howth Junction and Donaghmede. Howth is on one branch and Malahide on the other, so there is no direct service between them and a day covering both means changing at the junction and doubling back. Take them as two half days.
Howth is the walking one: four waymarked loops from the village at roughly 6 km green, 7 km blue, 8 km red and 10 km purple, a working fishing harbour, and the Baily Lighthouse visible from the cliff path. The cliff edge is unfenced and the path is narrow in places.
Malahide is the castle one: guided tours at €16 adult, €11 senior and student, €8.50 child and €46 family, the classic tour running about 45 minutes, plus the walled garden, the Fairy Trail and the Butterfly House. Granted to the Talbot family in 1185 and held by them for nearly 800 years. malahidecastleandgardens.ie .
Glendalough runs on two buses a day
St Kevin’s Bus route 181 leaves St Stephen’s Green North for the Glendalough Visitor Centre, roughly 81 minutes, €14 single and €23 return. Departures are 11:30 and 18:00 on weekdays and 11:30 and 19:00 at weekends across the March to September season. Tickets are bought on the bus, cash or card, and Leap is accepted except the Leap Visitor Card and the Young Adult card, which catches out anyone who bought a Visitor Card at the airport. Timetable at glendaloughbus.com .
On the ground, the national park, the monastic city with its round tower and both lakes are free. The Visitor Centre is €5 adult, €3 child and student, €13 for a family of four.
Glendalough is in County Wicklow and Kilkenny is roughly 90 km further southwest in a different county, so they are two separate trips. The road drive to Glendalough itself runs about an hour, even though the northern edge of the Wicklow Mountains starts much closer to the city.
Powerscourt is two tickets
Powerscourt House and Gardens in Enniskerry costs €14 adult. Powerscourt Waterfall, Ireland’s highest at 121 m, costs €7 adult, €6 senior and student, €3.50 child under 16 and €18 family, under 2s free. They are 6 km apart, there is no combined ticket, no discount for doing both and no public transport between them; a taxi is the only link. Prices at powerscourt.com .
Nearby on the same Wicklow run, Lough Tay sits on the private Luggala estate, and the lake and its shore have no public access. The authorised views are from the pull-ins on the R759 Sally Gap road and the J.B. Malone memorial viewpoint in Ballinastoe Woods, both of which are worth the stop on a drive.
Newgrange has two booking windows and a closed season
Every visit to Brú na Bóinne starts at the visitor centre and a shuttle bus runs out to the monuments; private vehicles cannot reach Newgrange or Knowth. The combined tour is €18 adult, €16 senior over 60, €12 student and child aged 12 to 17, free under 12, with the exhibition alone at €5, €4 and €3.
Booking opens 30 days ahead from 1 April to 1 November and only 7 days ahead in winter, and Knowth is closed from early November to the end of February, which makes a winter visit Newgrange only and about two hours rather than three. The winter solstice chamber places are allocated by a free national lottery, with applications closing at midnight Irish time on 30 September for that December’s draw. Details on heritageireland.ie .
Bray, Dalkey and the southern coast
Bray is about 45 minutes by DART, and the walk that makes it worth the trip is the Bray to Greystones cliff path, roughly 7 km along the coast with a DART back from the far end. Bray Head is a steep climb on foot from the promenade.
Dalkey and Killiney are about 25 minutes out. Killiney Hill gives the long view over Killiney Bay; Dalkey has the castle and heritage centre and the Vico Road walk. The local writer is George Bernard Shaw, whose family lived at Torca Cottage on Dalkey Hill; he was born at 33 Synge Street in Dublin 8. One stop away at Sandycove, the Martello tower that opens Ulysses is the James Joyce Tower and Museum, and beside it the Forty Foot is a rock promontory with steps into the open Irish Sea, swum year round and never lifeguarded or patrolled.
The Cliffs of Moher, and the trade
Three hours each way, no train, and the coach day runs 12 to 13 hours from roughly €65 to €78, departing around 07:00 and back near 20:00, usually taking in the Burren and Galway City. You get about 90 minutes to two hours at the cliffs against roughly six hours on a coach. Self-driving, the visitor experience is about €8 booked online against about €15 at the gate, under 12s free, with parking included. Details at cliffsofmoher.ie .
If you want to compare departures and prices side by side, browse Dublin day trips on GetYourGuide or check Viator’s Cliffs of Moher runs .
One caution before you buy anything: no Dublin pass covers public transport, and the two commercial cards exclude the Book of Kells and Kilmainham Gaol. A €2 Leap fare with a €6 daily cap already covers every DART trip on this page.
Do Howth first, because it costs four euro return and beats most of the twelve hour options for actual time outdoors. Keep Galway and the cliffs for a trip with a night in it , and read the city basics before you fix the order.