Most of Ireland is a day trip. These are the ones worth the early start.
What the Cliffs of Moher coach really costs out of Dublin. Whether Glendalough beats the Causeway when you only have one spare day. Which distillery actually pours the good stuff. Reviews of every tour you can book in Ireland.
The four Irish bookings a first trip is built on.
The west-coast day, the mountain day, the black stuff and the long run north. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The Atlantic dayDublin to Cliffs of Moher, including Wild Atlantic Way and GalwayDoolin, the cliff edge and Galway city on the way home. Leaves Dublin before seven and gets back after dark.
02The mountain dayDublin to Glendalough, Wicklow and Kilkenny Full Day Guided TourA ruined monastic city beside two black lakes, an hour south of the quays. The cheapest full day on this list.
03The city afternoonGuinness Storehouse Entry TicketSeven floors of the old brewery, ending at the glass bar above the rooftops. Book a slot, not a queue.
04The long day northDublin to Belfast Black Cab, Dunluce Castle and Giant’s CausewayBasalt columns, Dunluce on its stack and Belfast in a black cab. Fourteen hours, and worth it once.
Ireland pays out on the road. Four days out, four directions.
The coach leaves before the cafes open and the country starts about an hour later. Here is what each of the four standard Irish days out costs, and which one fits the time you have.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, including Wild Atlantic Way and Galway
West to the cliffsDoolin, the Burren and Galway city, back after dark.
South into WicklowTwo lakes, a round tower and a stop in Kilkenny.
Out through ConnemaraBogland, Killary fjord and Kylemore on the water.
North to the CausewayBasalt columns, the Dark Hedges and Belfast.
All 280 days out on the road →
The Irish days out more travellers take than any others.
The whole Irish catalogue →The tours that carry more travellers than anything else in the country, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, including Wild Atlantic Way and Galway
Travel from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher, across the Burren and along the Wild Atlantic Way to Galway. You get two hours at the cliffs, a short optional Galway walk, onboard Wi-Fi, entry fees, and lively commentary. Guides such as David, Stephen, Sarah, Eve, and Daithi are praised for music, humor, and Irish storytelling.
From · $90
Read our review →
2
Cliffs of Moher, Burren & Galway City Day Tour
from $89
3
Guinness Storehouse Entry Ticket
from $34
4
Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, Burren, Wild Atlantic Way, Galway Tour
from $94
5
Dublin to Belfast Black Cab, Dunluce Castle and Giant’s Causeway
from $96
6
Kilkenny, Wicklow Mountains & Glendalough Day Tour from Dublin
from $48
7
Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough & Kilkenny Tour
from $45
8
Irish Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum Experience Dublin
from $26
Dublin first, then Galway, then wherever the road runs out.
A capital you can walk across in an hour, a west-coast city that never quite stops playing, a harbour town under its own cathedral, and the lakes that made Killarney. Six bases, and the best day out from each.
The Irish castles you can actually get inside.
Blarney and its stone, Dunguaire on the tide at Kinvara, the Long Room at Trinity and the slipway at Cobh where the last tender left. The heritage days that carry the most travellers.
What an Irish day out really sets you back.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A good number of the best Irish days come in under the price of dinner in Temple Bar.
City walks, museum entries, distillery tastings and the short hops out of town.
The full-day standards: the cliffs coach, Connemara, the Ring of Kerry and the run north.
Private drivers, chauffeured days and the once-a-trip splurges that earn it.
Three things that only happen in Ireland.
Sea cliffs and old libraries exist everywhere. A wall of Liscannor shale seven hundred feet above the Atlantic, a room holding two hundred thousand books under an oak barrel vault, and a pint poured where it was invented do not.
The Cliffs of Moher
Eight miles of Liscannor shale standing seven hundred feet out of the water, with O’Brien’s Tower on the high point and the Aran Islands on the horizon when the air is clear. The wind arrives with nothing in its way since Newfoundland, and it decides how long you stay. Most coaches allow ninety minutes at the visitor centre, which is about right.
- 1Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, including Wild Atlantic Way and Galway★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 23,331 reviews
- 2Cliffs of Moher, Burren & Galway City Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 18,888 reviews
- 3Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, Burren, Wild Atlantic Way, Galway Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 12,924 reviews
The Book of Kells and the Long Room
Four gospels written on calfskin around the year 800, kept a few doors from the room that holds two hundred thousand of Trinity’s oldest books under a barrel-vaulted oak ceiling. One page of the manuscript is turned at a time, so nobody sees the same spread twice. Entry runs on timed slots and the morning ones go first.
- 1Dublin Book of Kells, Castle and Molly Malone Statue Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,825 reviews
- 2Fast-Track Book of Kells Ticket & Dublin Castle Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,661 reviews
- 3St Patrick’s Cathedral, Book of Kells and Dublin Castle Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 882 reviews
The Storehouse pour
St James’s Gate has been brewing on the same ground since 1759, on a lease with nine thousand years still to run. The old fermentation plant is now seven floors of exhibition built around an atrium shaped like a pint glass, and it finishes in a glass bar with the whole city laid out below. You pour your own, badly, and they let you keep it.
- 1Guinness Storehouse Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 16,863 reviews
- 2Guinness Storehouse Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,629 reviews
- 3Dublin Jameson Distillery and Guinness Storehouse Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,608 reviews
Four Irish bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be sorted the night before, at the bar. These four run on timed slots, ferry timetables and one coach a day.
- 01Dublin Book of Kells, Castle and Molly Malone Statue Guided TourEntry is a timed slot with a cap on each one, and the Long Room takes a fixed number of people at a time.
- 02Guinness Storehouse Entry TicketThe Storehouse sells timed entry and the middle of the day goes first. Arrive without one and you queue on Crane Street.
- 03Galway to Inisheer Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher and Boat TripThe islands run on a ferry timetable and the Atlantic overrules it. Out of season there are two crossings a day and no arguing with the swell.
- 04Dublin to Cliffs of Moher, including Wild Atlantic Way and GalwayThe Dublin coaches leave once, before seven, and the better operators sell out days ahead through the summer.
In Ireland the evening is a booking too.
A crawl through the Liberties with somebody who knows which snug to ask for, a distillery that lets you blend your own bottle, a session where the fiddle players turn up when they feel like it. Book the evening the way you book the day.
By place, from Dublin to Donegal
By kind of day, cliff, castle, distillery or road
Dublin, Galway, the cliffs and the Ring: the loop almost everybody drives first.
Just added to the Irish catalogue.
The rest of this week’s →
Trinity College, Castle, Guinness and Whiskey Tour
Read our review →
Guinness Storehouse, Roe & Co Irish Whiskey Tour
Read our review →
Guinness Storehouse & Perfect Pint Tour Experience
Read our review →
