Dublin Ireland 5 Day Itinerary (Day Trips)

Five days is our 4-day plan plus the Cliffs of Moher, the trip that needs the most honest expectations of anything in this family: a 12 to 13 hour day for roughly 90 minutes at the actual cliffs. See our 6-day plan next for Galway, or stop here if the long-haul trips aren’t for you.

Book these before you go:

Day Focus Travel time from Dublin
1 Dublin city: Trinity, Grafton Street, Temple Bar City center
2 Howth: cliff walk and seafood 30-35 min by DART
3 Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains About 1 hour by tour or car
4 Newgrange and the Boyne Valley About 45-60 min, guided tour only
5 The Cliffs of Moher 3-3.5 hours each way by coach

Day 1: Dublin city, the short version

Give yourself one full day in the city before you start using it as a launchpad. Start at Trinity College for the Book of Kells and Old Library, budget about 90 minutes and book a timed slot in advance since summer mornings sell out; book ahead rather than risk a walk-up ticket. See visittrinity.ie for the official calendar. From Trinity it’s a short walk to Grafton Street and St Stephen’s Green, then Temple Bar in the evening, one street back from the busiest corner if you want a normal-priced pint.

Day 2: Howth, the easy win

Take the DART from Connolly, Pearse, or Tara Street, roughly 30 to 35 minutes, trains every half hour, a few euro each way or a Leap Card zone fare. No booking, no tour bus. Take the H3 bus up to Howth Summit first, then walk the Cliff Path Loop downhill into the village, the same coastal views with a fraction of the climbing. Eat at the harbour: Beshoff Bros for fish and chips at half the price of a sit-down table, or the Oarhouse if you want to sit and order properly.

Day 3: Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains

About an hour each way by road, no direct train, so this is a tour-bus or rental-car day. Half-day tours run 4 to 5 hours round trip; the fuller “Wild Wicklow” style tours run closer to 9 hours and add more mountain scenery. St Kevin’s monastic ruins sit beside two lakes ringed by hills, the closest thing to quiet, green Ireland reachable from Dublin without giving up a whole day to transport. Book ahead, peak-season weekend departures do sell out. See heritageireland.ie for the monastic site’s current opening hours.

Day 4: Newgrange and the Boyne Valley

There’s no walk-up option here. Newgrange, a Neolithic passage tomb older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, is accessible only via a guided tour from the Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre. Booking windows open 30 days ahead from April through November and 7 days ahead the rest of the year, and peak-season slots vanish within hours of release. The combined Newgrange and Knowth ticket runs roughly EUR 18 adult; the visitor centre exhibition alone needs no advance booking, about EUR 5. Book the guided tour ahead rather than chase the official booking window yourself. See discoverboynevalley.ie for current pricing.

Day 5: The Cliffs of Moher, the long day

Roughly 3 to 3.5 hours each way by road, no direct train. A full-day guided coach tour runs 12 to 13 hours total, departing Dublin around 6:45 to 7am and returning between 8 and 10pm, priced roughly EUR 65-89 per person and usually bundled with the Burren and either Galway City or Bunratty Castle. Strip out the driving and you’re left with something like 90 minutes to 2 hours actually at the cliffs. Book the coach tour well ahead; these fill by midweek in summer. See cliffsofmoher.ie for current visitor centre hours if you’re self-driving instead.

Does the Cliffs of Moher work as a day trip from Dublin? Technically yes, honestly it’s rough: a 12 to 13 hour day trades roughly 6 hours of driving for 90 minutes to 2 hours at the cliffs themselves. It works if you accept that trade going in. With a spare night, basing overnight in Galway or Doolin turns the same cliffs into a relaxed half day instead of an endurance test, and it’s the better plan whenever an extra night is on the table.

Before you go

Buy a Leap Card for the DART to Howth and the Luas or bus in the city center; the three longer trips all run on tour coaches instead. Pack for rain regardless of month, and expect an early start on Day 5, most Cliffs of Moher coaches leave before 7am. If five days still feels rushed for the long-haul trips, the 6-day plan adds Galway next, ideally as an overnight rather than another round trip in a single day.