Five paid outings and what each costs Every attraction below sells tickets, and most change prices by season. Where a figure comes from a tourism listing rather than the operator, it says so. Prices are in euro. Atlantaquaria, Salthill The National Aquarium of Ireland has an ocean zone with sharks, a ray pool and an octopus. Online adult tickets are €15 and child tickets €10, while seniors and students pay €12.

Four evenings, four moods Rather than a single itinerary, here are four ways to spend an evening as a couple in Galway. Pick the mood that suits you. Prices are in euro. Mood one: golden hour Walk out onto the Long Walk, the row of coloured houses running along the river mouth beside the Spanish Arch. As the sun goes down, the bay turns gold and the Burren hills fade into outlines.

Sorting day trips by how you travel The question that decides a day trip from Galway is the transport, not the sight. Boats leave on a timetable, buses run few services, and cars give the most freedom. Prices are in euro. By ferry: the Aran Islands Rossaveel is the year-round port, roughly 37 km west of Galway. Aran Island Ferries runs a shuttle bus from Victoria Place; plan about 50 minutes for it and arrive 20 minutes before departure.

Choosing by weather first Galway weather changes fast, so families do best with a wet-day plan and a dry-day plan. Ages matter too. Costs are in euro. Wet days Galway Atlantaquaria (Salthill). Sharks, rays and an octopus among native species. Online it costs €15 for an adult, €10 for a child, and €12 for seniors and students. Family packages run €32 for one adult with two children, €36 for two adults with one child, and €45 for two adults with two children.

Nights, not days A multi-day trip works best when you decide where you sleep. Galway city is the default base, and Doolin or Inis Mór are alternatives. Costs are in euro. Reaching Galway Scheduled airline service at Galway Airport ended in 2011, so Shannon (about 85 km south), Ireland West Knock (about 85 km north) and Dublin (about 215 km east) are the real gateways. Direct coaches connect Dublin and Shannon, and trains from Dublin Heuston to Ceannt Station take about 2 hours 20 minutes.

Reading the city by date Galway’s landmarks span seven centuries, and sorting them by age makes the layout easier to follow. Visiting costs little, because most of these are free to see. 1300s: St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church Founded in 1320, it stands as Ireland’s largest medieval parish church still in regular use. Weekend traders fill the churchyard with a market. The stone window beside it on Market Street remembers a 1493 story about Mayor James Lynch FitzStephen; historians regard the tale as folklore.

A day built around the clock Galway’s attractions fall into natural time slots, and a few of them have fixed opening days, so it helps to plan by the hour. Everything here is in euro and within walking distance of Eyre Square unless noted. Morning (10:00 to 12:00) Galway City Museum, Spanish Parade. No admission charge. Doors open at 10:00 from Tuesday to Saturday. The building is a modern one dating from 2006.

Quick comparison Route Length of time Best for Quays and Claddagh loop About 2 hours First-time visitors Canal and cathedral circuit About 90 minutes Quiet river views Salthill seafront About 3 hours return Sea air and sunsets All three start near the Spanish Arch or Eyre Square. The old core is pedestrian, so expect street musicians and a few cyclists. 1. Quays and Claddagh loop Begin at Eyre Square, outside Ceannt Station.

A couples break in Waterville is built around slow hours: a walk along the water, a long dinner, a dark sky overhead. The village is small, so there is little to rush between. The sections below follow a day from morning to night and finish with where to stay. Prices are in euro. Morning on the seafront Start on the seafront promenade. A bronze statue of Charlie Chaplin stands there, a reminder that the Chaplin family holidayed in Waterville from 1959 and came back for over ten years.

Waterville sits on the Ring of Kerry, with several worthwhile outings within an hour’s drive. The times below are estimates for planning, and the roads are narrow in places. This guide orders the trips from the shortest drive to the longest. Trip Drive from Waterville Time to allow Derrynane and Staigue Fort about 25 minutes half to full day Cahersiveen 25 to 30 minutes half day Skellig Ring and Valentia about 35 minutes to Portmagee about 5 hours with stops Killarney about 2 hours each way a full day Derrynane and Staigue Fort Derrynane is the nearest big outing, roughly 25 minutes by road.

Waterville packs a good deal of sightseeing into a small area. The village has two statues and a cable-station exhibition, the hills behind it hold ancient stone monuments, and the coast road has viewpoints over Ballinskelligs Bay. Most of the stops are outdoors and free. This guide sorts them by how far you need to go. In the village The promenade statues. A bronze Charlie Chaplin stands on the seafront. The comedian and his family first holidayed here in 1959 and returned for more than ten years.

Waterville works well as a base for a few nights because the Skellig Coast, Derrynane and Cahersiveen are each between 25 and 40 minutes away by road. These times are estimates. You can unpack once and still see very different country each day. This page covers two nights, three nights, walking stages and the bus, then where to sleep. Two nights With only two nights, spend the first day in and around the village: the seafront promenade, the cable-station exhibition at Tech Amergin, and a clear-sky evening with Kerry Dark Sky Tourism or from a beach.

The attractions around Waterville fall into two groups: those you book weeks or months ahead, and those where you simply turn up and pay at the gate. The Skellig boats are in the first group and need the most planning. Everything else is close enough to be a half-day outing. Prices are in euro. Book ahead Skellig Michael landings Skellig Michael is a UNESCO World Heritage monastic island 11.5 km off the coast.

Waterville is a walking village on the Kerry Way, with marked routes in every grade from a flat promenade stroll to an eight-hour lake circuit. The routes are self-guided, so carry a map, wear boots and check the forecast before setting out. This page sorts them by effort. Walk Distance Time and grade Promenade and cliff road to Inny Beach about 2 miles return an easy outing Waterlily Bay walk 5 miles return see below Glenmore Route 8.

Families do well around Waterville if they plan for the weather and treat the sea with respect. The beaches face the open Atlantic, so the good days out here are a mix of indoor stops, gardens and short drives. Costs are in euro. Sea safety first Waterville Strand and Inny Strand are open Atlantic beaches with strong swell, and experienced surfers use them. Do not count on a lifeguard at either one, and keep children out of the water unless a lifeguard flag is flying.

Waterville is a village of 555 people at the 2022 census, so its activity list is short and specific. The easiest way to plan is by conditions rather than by attraction, because Atlantic weather on the Ring of Kerry can change several times in a day. The sections below sort the options into dry-day, wet-day and after-dark choices. Prices are in euro. On a dry day Links golf Waterville Golf Links is a par 72 course on the shore, laid out by Eddie Hackett and opened in 1973.

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Two things in this city need booking weeks ahead and neither of them is a hotel. Dublin holds seven Michelin stars across a very small area, and the boat that crosses Dublin Bay sells out before it sails.

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. The most common Dublin mistake is booking five nights in the city and then spending two of them on coaches. The city core is genuinely good and genuinely finite, and knowing where it runs out is the single most useful thing to work out before you book anything.

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Dublin is an easy city with children, mostly because the good free options are large and outdoors and the paid ones are cheap by Western European standards. The planning work is in the hours and the age limits, both of which move more than the prices do.

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. Dublin’s core is small enough to cross on foot in twenty five minutes, so nobody needs a guide to get around it. What a guide buys you here is the part you cannot see: which building the Rising was run from, which excavated street lies under the Civic Offices, and why a pub crawl became the city’s oldest running tour.

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. 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.

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. “Book in advance” is the advice every Dublin guide gives for the three big guided attractions, and it is close to useless, because the three of them fail in completely different ways. One sells out in minutes a month ahead.

Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use. The hard part of doing things in Dublin is not finding them. It is that three of the best hours in the city run on three completely different booking systems, one of which is not online at all, and turning up hopeful works for exactly one of them.

Two days based in Dublin covers exactly the two easiest real day trips out of the city and nothing else: Howth by DART on Day 1, Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains by bus on Day 2. Staying longer? The 3 Days itinerary nests this same plan and adds Newgrange and the Boyne Valley. 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 Book these before you go

Two days in Dublin is enough for exactly the essentials and nothing else: Trinity College and the Book of Kells plus a first night in Temple Bar on Day 1, then Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Storehouse back to back on Day 2. Staying longer? The 3 Days in Dublin itinerary nests this same plan and adds Dublin Castle’s courtyard and the cathedrals. Day Focus Don’t miss 1 Trinity College, Temple Bar Book of Kells timed slot 2 Kilmainham Gaol, Guinness Storehouse The 28-day Kilmainham release window Book these before you go

Three days based in Dublin covers Howth and Glendalough exactly as the 2 day version, then adds a full day at Newgrange and the Boyne Valley. Coming from the 2 Days itinerary, this nests that same plan and adds one guided-access prehistoric site that needs booking well ahead of the other two. 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 Book these before you go

Three days in Dublin adds real breathing room to the essentials: Trinity and Temple Bar, Kilmainham Gaol and the Guinness Storehouse, then a third day for Dublin Castle’s courtyard, the cathedrals and the free National Museum. This nests the 2 Days in Dublin plan and extends it by one day; go to 4 Days in Dublin if you want the Liberties and Phoenix Park too. Day Focus Don’t miss 1 Trinity College, Temple Bar Book of Kells timed slot 2 Kilmainham Gaol, Guinness Storehouse The 28-day Kilmainham release window 3 Dublin Castle courtyard, cathedrals Free National Museum of Ireland Book these before you go

Four days based in Dublin nests the 3 Days plan, Howth, Glendalough and Newgrange, and adds a fourth day out to Galway, the longest train ride on this list and the first one worth weighing an overnight against. 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 Book these before you go

Four days in Dublin means the paid-ticket trio, the castle and cathedrals, and a full day for the Liberties, whiskey and Phoenix Park without rushing any of it. This nests the 3 Days in Dublin plan and extends it by one day; go to 5 Days in Dublin if you also want the Docklands and the National Gallery. Day Focus Don’t miss 1 Trinity College, Temple Bar Book of Kells timed slot 2 Kilmainham Gaol, Guinness Storehouse The 28-day Kilmainham release window 3 Dublin Castle courtyard, cathedrals Free National Museum of Ireland 4 The Liberties, Phoenix Park Distillery tour timing Book these before you go

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.

Five days in Dublin adds a fifth angle to the city, the Docklands and the National Gallery, on top of the paid-ticket trio, the castle courtyard and the Liberties. This nests the 4 Days in Dublin plan and extends it by one day; go to 6 Days in Dublin for Northside history and Croke Park too. Day Focus Don’t miss 1 Trinity College, Temple Bar Book of Kells timed slot 2 Kilmainham Gaol, Guinness Storehouse The 28-day Kilmainham release window 3 Dublin Castle courtyard, cathedrals Free National Museum of Ireland 4 The Liberties, Phoenix Park Distillery tour timing 5 Docklands, National Gallery Free National Gallery of Ireland Book these before you go

Six days based in Dublin nests the 5 Days plan, Howth, Glendalough, Newgrange, Galway and the Cliffs of Moher, and adds Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway, the only day trip on this list that crosses an international border. 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.

Six days in Dublin means the paid-ticket trio, the castle, the Liberties, the Docklands, and a sixth day for Northside history and a Croke Park stadium tour. This nests the 5 Days in Dublin plan and extends it by one day; go to 7 Days in Dublin for a genuinely slow final morning. Day Focus Don’t miss 1 Trinity College, Temple Bar Book of Kells timed slot 2 Kilmainham Gaol, Guinness Storehouse The 28-day Kilmainham release window 3 Dublin Castle courtyard, cathedrals Free National Museum of Ireland 4 The Liberties, Phoenix Park Distillery tour timing 5 Docklands, National Gallery Free National Gallery of Ireland 6 Northside history, Croke Park Croke Park stadium tour Book these before you go

Seven days based in Dublin nests the 6 Days plan, Howth, Glendalough, Newgrange, Galway, the Cliffs of Moher and Belfast, and adds one flex day at the end for weather or a repeat visit. 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.

Seven days in Dublin is the full city, without a single day trip: the paid-ticket trio, the castle, the Liberties, the Docklands, Northside history and Croke Park, then a genuinely slow last morning before you fly out. This nests the 6 Days in Dublin plan and adds one unhurried day at the end. Day Focus Don’t miss 1 Trinity College, Temple Bar Book of Kells timed slot 2 Kilmainham Gaol, Guinness Storehouse The 28-day Kilmainham release window 3 Dublin Castle courtyard, cathedrals Free National Museum of Ireland 4 The Liberties, Phoenix Park Distillery tour timing 5 Docklands, National Gallery Free National Gallery of Ireland 6 Northside history, Croke Park Croke Park stadium tour 7 Departure Airlink or Aircoach, no train Book these before you go

Dublin’s real advantage as an Ireland base is logistics, not sightseeing: six genuine day trips sit within reach of the city, and exactly one of them does not actually fit into a normal day. Howth is a 30 minute DART ride. Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains run about 80 minutes each way by bus. Newgrange needs a guided slot booked days ahead. Galway and Belfast both clear 2 hours each way by train.

Here is the deal on Dublin in 2026: you need four to five days minimum, you need roughly EUR 90-130 a day if you want to eat and drink properly, and you need to book three things the second your dates are locked, Kilmainham Gaol, the Guinness Storehouse, and the Book of Kells, because at least one of those will otherwise wreck your first morning. Dublin Castle’s State Apartments are also shut to tours for the rest of the year, and Trinity’s historic Long Room is mid conservation, so this guide flags exactly what is open right now instead of repeating what worked in 2019.

Dublin in 2026 comes down to three tickets and one big closure. Book Kilmainham Gaol (EUR 8, sells out in minutes), the Guinness Storehouse (EUR 22-36, dynamic pricing) and the Book of Kells (EUR 21.50-25) before you land, and know going in that Dublin Castle’s State Apartments are shut to tours all year for Ireland’s EU Council Presidency. Get those four facts right and the rest of the city is easy, walkable, and genuinely one of the best pub cultures on earth.

Glendalough is the easiest genuine nature day trip out of Dublin: a 6th-century monastic settlement wrapped around two lakes in the Wicklow Mountains, about 1 hour 20 minutes away by bus and free to walk once you get there. This page covers Glendalough itself as the flagship stop; the wider Dublin-as-a-base network, Howth, Newgrange, Galway, the Cliffs of Moher and Belfast, gets its own Dublin Day Trips guide . Key facts at a glance Question Answer Entry to the monastic site Free OPW car park (Lower Lake) EUR 4 per day Travel time from Dublin About 1h20 by St Kevin’s Bus or car, no direct train St Kevin’s Bus fare EUR 14 one way, EUR 23 return Booking lead None for the site itself, book ahead for summer weekend tours What is actually at Glendalough The Round Tower, over 30 metres tall and visible from most of the valley floor, anchors a cluster of ruined churches, a graveyard and a cathedral dating to between the 6th and 12th centuries, all founded around a hermitage that St Kevin supposedly built after retreating here for solitude.

Temple Bar is a genuine historic riverside quarter, cobbled streets dating back centuries, and it is also, flat out, the most expensive place in Dublin for a pint. Both facts are true at the same time, so here is how to visit it properly: come for the streets, the trad music, and the atmosphere, and walk one block back before you order your third round. Key facts at a glance What Detail Cost to visit Free to wander; a pint runs EUR 10-12 here versus roughly EUR 7 citywide Best hours Daytime for the cobbled streets and shops, after 8pm for live music Time needed 2-3 hours to wander, a full evening for the pub scene Live music Free to walk into most sessions, tip jar on the bar, no ticket needed How to visit Temple Bar without overpaying Walk in from Dame Street or the Ha’penny Bridge during the day, when the cobbled lanes, the street art, and the original Temple Bar Pub itself (the building the whole quarter is named after) are easiest to actually see.