Just over a year ago, I moved to Dublin. I’m typically looking for fun things to do on the weekends. These Dublin day trips are easily accessible with public transportation and can be for locals or tourists who want to stay close to the city center. I quite enjoy hiking and so most of my suggestions include some sort of walk, but I have done these day trips with people who are not as much into walking and so there are alternatives!
Top 5 Day Trips From Dublin…
From castles with in character tours to gaols offering virtual experiences, bookshops to farmers markets, delicious vegan eats and cute cafes to sweet shops, and of course beautiful Ireland coastal and cliff walks, pebble beaches, sea swims, hikes, ropes courses and sunset cruises… this post on my top 5 day trips from Dublin has it all – including transportation recommendations on how to land there!
#1 Bray: A Coastal Town In Ireland
Taking the Dart (train) an hour south along the coastline is a picturesque journey. There is a dart station in Bray where you can get off and wander around the seaside town. There are nice restaurants and bars around the area, but I usually opt for a coffee along the shore and then grab food once I get to Greystones.
Bray Option 1: There is a beautiful coastal walk to get from Bray to Greystones, and it takes about an hour and a half to two hours. Upon arriving in Greystones, there are cute bookshops, a sweets shop, and one of my favorite vegan restaurants, The Happy Pear. They have very tasty and healthy food along with some products for sale, such as packaged food and produce.
Bray Option 2: The first time I went to Bray, we opted for a more challenging hike in which we hiked up to the cross. While it was more uphill, it allowed for a beautiful view of Bray.
Bray Option 3: If going on a Saturday, you can pop over to Killruderry House and Gardens. They have a beautiful farmers market on Saturdays with local businesses selling some incredible products and delicious snacks. If the weather is nice, the House and Gardens is also a lovely experience to stroll around. Killruderry is about a 40-minute walk from the Bray train station but there is also a bus option that only takes 20 minutes. There is also a ropes course available next to the market.
#2 Day Trips from Dublin…
Dalkey and Killiney Hill: Two Beautiful Coastal Villages in Ireland
Day Trips from Dublin #2 option in the south along the Dart line is a castle tour and a walk. Depending on the weather, you can decide to do the castle or the walk first but either way, you can get off at the Dalkey Dart stop. The castle is an amazing experience, unlike many other castle tours I have done. It started with a video, then moved outside to an older church. From there, live actors in full garb and backstories came and showed us the rest of the castle, including stories about what it was like to live in that time. My mother was visiting from Dubai and when they asked where that was we tried to explain, but because they were so in character we ended up with the story that it was an 8-hour flight on a dragon to get here.
The walk to Killiney/Dalkey hill has many different routes but I typically enter from the south entrance, left of the “cats ladder” steps. From there, it is an easy trail uphill through a forest, emerging with a beautiful view of the water and the town below. The top of Killiney Hill also has an Obelisk so it gives distinction between the two hills. It is a much shorter hike, more along the 30-minute mark, but still produced beautiful views.
#3 Howth and Malahide: Enchanting North Dublin Coastal Towns
For day trips from Dublin option #3, Connolly station has a direct train to both Howth and Malahide up North of Dublin. Malahide has probably the prettiest exterior of a castle I have seen thus far in Dublin. The tour is quite interesting as it shows the different eras of the castle and how it would have been decorated over time and the gardens are a beautiful place for a stroll. There is a nice downtown area to wander about as well.
The train from Howth to Malahide is not direct and does take two trains but Howth has both a castle and a cliff walk. The walk takes about two or three hours but you can always turn around at whatever point to shorten the hike. While I have not personally been to the castle, it is quite close to the center of town and easy to find. If you are in Howth around sunset, there is a sunset cruise that takes you around Ireland’s Eye and you get a nice view of the birds and sometimes get to see the seals! While this is fun to do with friends, every other person on the sunset cruise was a part of a couple, so this is a great date idea with dinner nearby before or after. Golden hour with the cliffs and the sea is really a spectacular moment.
#4 Glendalough Monastic City in Wickow Mountains National Park: A Beautiful Glacial Valley Town with Monuments and Two Lakes
This is probably the most challenging suggestion with public transportation, but it is worth it. When I went, I was working nearby and my host family dropped my coworker and me off but there is a direct bus from Dublin. The fastest would obviously be renting a car or renting a GoCar (pickup is around the city rather than just at the airport). The direct bus only allows you to be at Glendalough for about 3 hours but there are options available that would allow a longer stay but are a little bit less direct.
This is a beautiful place to hike with plenty of trails around lakes and waterfalls with lots of greenery throughout. I went and did the upper loop, going counterclockwise around the lake because it was the less challenging uphill option when comparing it to the clockwise route. Though, mind you it was still challenging after not going hiking that much. I would also recommend bringing a packed lunch if you go here because I did not see anywhere you could buy something other than maybe a small café. I enjoyed this walk, we started around 11 and did not leave until around 6 pm. While the walk does not take that long, it was a lovely sunny day upon finishing the loop and we sat in the grass by the lake for a few hours. But plan at least 3 hours for the upper loop trail.
#5 Day Trips From Dublin: Wicklow Town – Explore the Gaol, Take a Coastal Walk on a Pebble Beach, Watch the Seals or Find Your Way Out of a Two Meter High Hedge Maze
You can take a bus to Wicklow from the city center, which should take about 90 minutes to 2 hours. In Wicklow, there are plenty of cute cafes and there is also an out-of-use jail, or gaol, as it is in Irish. The gaol has multiple different opportunities with the most expensive being a VR experience to show you exactly what it was like back when it was active. It has rooms where prisoners share their stories of the ridiculous things they could have been imprisoned for.
After visiting the gaol, you can take a walk along the coast to a pebble beach and do a traditional Irish sea swim. Apparently, any day in double digits (Celsius), is a beach day. From the beach, there is a coastal walk which is only about 30-45 minutes round trip but we were able to see seals from the cliffs. Firehouse bakery is rumored to be a very good bakery and could be a good stop before or after the cliff walk.
Other top things to do in Wicklow, Ireland include kayaking, a local skate park, golf, art stores and the Greenan Maze – the two meter high hedge maze along with a gentler solstice maze with stone circles. Use this link for more info on things to do in Wicklow… https://visitwicklow.ie/listing/wicklow-town/
To read more of my travels including my adventures walking the Camino de Santiago and traveling through India, please click on this link to see all of my posts… https://wakewanderrepeat.com/guest/zinnia-crouch/.
