5 Days in Dublin: The Day-Trip Itinerary
Five days based in Dublin nests the 4 Days plan, Howth, Glendalough, Newgrange and Galway, and adds the Cliffs of Moher, the one day trip on this whole list that genuinely does not fit into a normal day.
| Day | Day trip | Travel time from Dublin | Don’t miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Howth | About 30 min by DART | The Howth Head cliff walk |
| 2 | Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains | About 1h20 by bus | The free monastic site by the Lower Lake |
| 3 | Newgrange and the Boyne Valley | Guided tour only, no walk-up | The passage tomb older than Stonehenge |
| 4 | Galway | About 2h20-2h30 by train | The Latin Quarter and the Spanish Arch |
| 5 | Cliffs of Moher | About 3-3.5h by road | 90 min to 2h actually at the cliffs |
Book these before you go
- Cliffs of Moher full-day tour with Galway and the Burren, the single biggest booking on this itinerary: Viator
- Newgrange access through the Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre, 3 to 7 days ahead in peak season: book direct at heritageireland.ie , or a small-group day tour on Viator
- Glendalough and Wicklow half-day tour, if you want a guide instead of the public bus: GetYourGuide
- A bed near Temple Bar or St Stephen’s Green for the Dublin nights, plus one in Galway if you overnight there: compare rooms on Booking.com
Day 1: Howth, the easy warm-up
Morning: Take the DART from Connolly, Pearse or Tara Street, about 25 to 35 minutes to Howth, running every 30 minutes and covered by a Leap Card zone fare. No booking, no tour bus, just a train ticket. Walk the Howth Head cliff path for sea views over the Irish Sea; the full loop takes about 1.5 to 2 hours at a normal pace.
Afternoon: Drop down into Howth harbour for fresh seafood, a bowl of chowder runs about EUR 8 to 12, and browse the weekend market if your day trip lands on a Saturday or Sunday.
Evening: DART back into the city centre and have dinner in Dublin proper; Howth itself goes quiet after dark.
Day 2: Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains
Morning: St Kevin’s Bus leaves St Stephen’s Green North for Glendalough, about 1 hour 20 minutes each way, EUR 14 one way or EUR 23 return. The monastic site itself, the Round Tower and the ruined churches by the Lower Lake, sits inside Wicklow Mountains National Park and is free to walk; the OPW car park costs EUR 4 a day if you are driving instead of taking the bus.
Afternoon: Walk one of the marked trails into the mountains from the Upper Lake, lake and valley views the whole way, or stick to the flatter monastic-site loop if a hike is not the plan for today.
Evening: Catch the return bus, 18:00 on weekdays or 19:00 on weekends, back to St Stephen’s Green, or stay on a full-day guided tour if that is what you booked, those run closer to 9 hours round trip.
Day 3: Newgrange and the Boyne Valley
Morning: Newgrange is guided-tour-only through the Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre ; a shuttle bus takes you from the centre to the passage tomb itself, no independent walk-up. Book 3 to 7 days ahead in peak season, June through August, 1 to 2 days ahead the rest of the year.
Afternoon: The tomb predates Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids by centuries, worth the advance planning on its own; many tours bundle in Knowth or the Hill of Tara if you have a full day rather than a half day.
Evening: Coach day tours run about 8 to 9 hours round trip from Dublin; you are back in the city with time for a normal dinner.
Day 4: Galway, the long day (or the overnight)
Morning: Irish Rail runs Heuston to Galway in about 2 hours 20 to 30 minutes, 9 to 10 trains a day, fares from EUR 14 to 22 one way. It is a genuinely long ride each direction, not a casual hop the way Howth is.
Afternoon: Galway’s Latin Quarter, the Spanish Arch and the harbour are compact enough to cover on foot in an afternoon, with plenty of pubs for live trad music if you linger past dinner.
Evening: With the Cliffs of Moher the next day, this is the itinerary where an overnight in Galway genuinely pays off, wake up already on the west coast instead of adding a fourth hour of driving on top of tomorrow’s tour.
Day 5: The Cliffs of Moher
Morning: This is a full-day commitment, not a stop on the way to somewhere else. Coach tours depart Dublin, or Galway if you overnighted there, around 6:45 to 7:00am for the drive to County Clare, typically bundled with the Burren, priced roughly EUR 65 to 89. Check cliffsofmoher.ie for current visitor centre hours if you are self-driving instead.
Afternoon: Expect 90 minutes to 2 hours actually at the cliffs, self-driving visitor centre entry alone runs EUR 8 off-peak or EUR 12 in the 11am to 4pm peak window if you skip the tour and drive yourself.
Evening: Tours typically return to Dublin between 8 and 10pm, a 12 to 13 hour day overall from the city, shorter if you started from Galway. Either way, this is the one day worth the extra planning.
Planning a longer trip
Five days covers Howth, Glendalough, Newgrange, Galway and the Cliffs of Moher, effectively everything on the Irish mainland side of this list. If you want Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway too, extend to the 6 Days itinerary, check the full Dublin Day Trips guide , or read the flagship Glendalough page. For the city itself, a different trip from this one, see the Dublin travel guide and the 5 Days in Dublin city itinerary.