Dublin Day Trips That Are Worth the Travel
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Dublin’s hinterland is genuinely good and most visitors spend their one free day on the wrong part of it. The honest ranking is not the one the coach desks sell, because the two best options are also the two cheapest and neither of them involves booking anything.
Half day: Howth
The DART runs 25 to 35 minutes from Connolly, Tara Street or Pearse, every 15 to 20 minutes, at the flat €2.00 Leap fare. Four waymarked loops leave the village: green Cliff Path about 6 km, blue Tramline about 7 km, red Black Linn about 8 km, purple Bog of Frogs about 10 km, easy to moderate but narrow, uneven and exposed in places, with an unfenced cliff edge. The cliff walking in Dublin is here, on the head above the harbour.
Ireland’s Eye lies offshore, reached by Ireland’s Eye Ferries and Howth Cliff Cruises from the pontoon at the far end of the West Pier, from about €20 to €29 for roughly 50 minutes, with island landings resuming 17 April 2026 and puffins nesting March to July. Sailings at irelandseyeferry.ie .
Verdict: the best low effort half day the city has, and it costs four euro return.
Half day: Malahide, on the other branch
25 to 30 minutes from Connolly or Pearse, then a ten minute walk. Malahide Castle guided tours are €16 adult, €11 senior and student, €8.50 child, €46 family, about 45 minutes, with the walled garden, the Fairy Trail and the Butterfly House. The Talbots were granted it in 1185 and held it nearly 800 years. In the village, the Casino Model Railway Museum holds Cyril Fry’s collection of roughly 350 handmade models.
Note the routing: the northern DART splits at Howth Junction and Donaghmede, and Malahide and Howth sit on the two different branches, so a day covering both means changing there. Castle details at malahidecastleandgardens.ie .
Half day: Bull Island and Dollymount, for nothing at all
Bull Island is a man made sandbank that has grown seaward since the North Bull Wall was built about two hundred years ago, and it is a UNESCO Biosphere of dunes, saltmarsh and internationally important wintering birds. Reach it on the wooden bridge from Clontarf, or along the causeway. Dollymount Strand runs its length and is the Dublin beach where boards are hired and lessons run in season.
It is flat, open and windy, which is the appeal. Bring a coat you do not mind.
Full day: Glendalough and Wicklow
St Kevin’s Bus route 181 leaves St Stephen’s Green North for the visitor centre, roughly 81 minutes, €14 single and €23 return, twice a day: 11:30 and 18:00 on weekdays, 11:30 and 19:00 at weekends, March to September. Pay on the bus, cash or card; Leap works except the Leap Visitor Card and the Young Adult card. Once there, the park, the monastic city with its round tower and both lakes are free, with the Visitor Centre at €5 adult and €3 child and student. glendaloughbus.com .
Verdict: the best full day, and the two-bus timetable rather than the price is what you plan around.
Full day: the Boyne Valley
Every Brú na Bóinne visit starts at the visitor centre with a shuttle out; private vehicles cannot reach Newgrange or Knowth. The combined tour is €18 adult, €16 senior, €12 student and child 12 to 17, free under 12. Booking opens 30 days ahead from 1 April to 1 November and 7 days ahead in winter, and Knowth closes from early November to the end of February. Newgrange predates Stonehenge and the pyramids at Giza. The winter solstice chamber places are a free lottery with applications closing at midnight on 30 September, so it is not something to build a December trip around. See heritageireland.ie .
Not a day trip, honestly
- The Cliffs of Moher. Three hours each way in County Clare, no train. The coach day is 12 to 13 hours from roughly €65 to €78 and gives you 90 minutes to two hours at the cliffs against about six hours sitting down. Self-driving, entry is about €8 online against €15 at the gate. An overnight in Galway or Doolin is the version that works. cliffsofmoher.ie .
- Galway. Direct from Heuston, 2 hours 20 to 2 hours 30 each way, nine or ten trains a day. That is five hours of train for an afternoon.
- Glendalough with Kilkenny. Two different counties, roughly 90 km apart. One or the other.
- Powerscourt’s house and its waterfall. Two separately ticketed sites 6 km apart with no combined ticket and no bus between them, at €14 and €7 respectively.
- Lough Tay. The lake sits on the private Luggala estate with no public access to the water or its shore. The views are from the R759 Sally Gap pull-ins and the J.B. Malone viewpoint at Ballinastoe Woods, which are a fine stop on a Wicklow drive.
Getting about, and what it costs
Every DART trip on this page is €2.00 on a Leap Card, with free transfers for 90 minutes and spending capped at €6.00 a day and €24.00 a week. That is cheaper than any pass and covers more, because no Dublin pass includes public transport at all. Fares at about.leapcard.ie and DART times at irishrail.ie .
If a coach day genuinely suits your schedule better, compare Dublin day tours on GetYourGuide or see what Viator lists .
Spend the first good morning on the Howth cliff path and the €14 on Glendalough, and let the west coast have the night it deserves rather than a day it cannot hold. More on that in the multi day options , and the city sights will still be there when it rains.