Dublin Day Trips on a Budget: The €2 DART Runs
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The best day trip from Dublin costs two euro each way and the second best costs fourteen. Neither needs a coach, a guide or a booking, and both beat the twelve hour bus rides that dominate every list of day trips from the city.
Howth, for €2
The DART runs from Connolly, Tara Street or Pearse to Howth in 25 to 35 minutes, every 15 to 20 minutes, and the fare is the standard €2.00 adult TFI 90 Minute Fare on a Leap Card. That is the entire transport cost of the best half day Dublin has.
Four waymarked loops leave from the village:
| Loop | Colour | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Cliff Path Loop | green | about 6 km |
| Tramline Loop | blue | about 7 km |
| Black Linn Loop | red | about 8 km |
| Bog of Frogs Loop | purple | about 10 km |
They are graded easy to moderate, but the paths are genuinely narrow, uneven and exposed in places and the cliff edge is unfenced. Wear proper shoes, start early, and expect company in summer. The Baily Lighthouse is visible from the cliff path. Down at the working fishing harbour, chowder runs roughly €8 to €12 a bowl.
Offshore, Ireland’s Eye is reached by Ireland’s Eye Ferries and Howth Cliff Cruises from the pontoon at the far end of the West Pier, opposite Aqua restaurant, from about €20 to €29 for a roughly 50 minute cruise. Island landings resume on 17 April 2026 and the puffins nest from March to July. Timetables at irelandseyeferry.ie .
Glendalough, for €14 each way
St Kevin’s Bus route 181 runs from St Stephen’s Green North to the Glendalough Visitor Centre in roughly 81 minutes, at €14 single and €23 return, with two departures a day on weekdays at 11:30 and 18:00 and at weekends at 11:30 and 19:00 through the March to September season. Tickets are bought on the bus, cash or card, and Leap is accepted except the Leap Visitor Card and the Young Adult card. Timetable at glendaloughbus.com .
The timetable, not the fare, is the constraint: two buses a day means one realistic window. On arrival, the national park, the monastic city with its round tower and both lakes are free. The Visitor Centre is €5 adult, €3 child and student, €13 family of four. If you drive instead, parking is €4 at the Lower Lake and €5 at the Upper Lake. Park information at nationalparks.ie .
Bray, for €2, and the walk to Greystones
The DART reaches Bray in about 45 minutes on the same flat fare. A Victorian seafront promenade, an amusement arcade, and the real reason to go: the Bray to Greystones cliff walk, roughly 7 km along the coast, with a DART home from the far end so it is a one-way walk rather than an out and back. Bray Head itself is a steep unserviced climb on foot from the promenade.
Malahide, for €2, and it is a different line
Malahide is 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 and €46 family, and the classic castle tour takes about 45 minutes and includes the walled garden, the Fairy Trail and the Butterfly House. The Talbot family were granted the estate in 1185 and held it for nearly 800 years. See malahidecastleandgardens.ie .
One routing fact worth having: Howth and Malahide sit on two different branches of the northern DART, splitting at Howth Junction and Donaghmede. Doing both in a day means changing there, so most people take them as two separate half days.
Dalkey and Killiney, for €2
Killiney Hill gives the view down over Killiney Bay that people have compared to the Bay of Naples for two centuries, and there is a DART station at the bottom. Dalkey has its castle and heritage centre and a short walk round the Vico Road. The local literary claim is George Bernard Shaw, whose family moved to Torca Cottage on Dalkey Hill when he was a boy, though he was born at 33 Synge Street in Dublin 8. A stop further north at Sandycove, the Martello tower that opens Ulysses is now the James Joyce Tower and Museum, free to enter and run by volunteers.
Beside it, the Forty Foot is a rock promontory with steps down into the open Irish Sea, swum year round for three hundred years and deep at every state of the tide. It is never lifeguarded or patrolled at any time of year, so it belongs to people who already know what cold open water does to them.
Newgrange and the Cliffs of Moher, priced honestly
Brú na Bóinne is a full day and private vehicles cannot drive to Newgrange or Knowth. Every visit starts at the visitor centre and a shuttle runs out to the monuments. The combined Newgrange and Knowth tour is €18 adult, €16 senior over 60, €12 student and child aged 12 to 17, free under 12, or €5, €4 and €3 for the exhibition alone. Booking opens 30 days ahead from 1 April to 1 November and only 7 days ahead in winter, and Knowth closes from early November to the end of February. The winter solstice chamber places are a free national lottery with applications closing at midnight on 30 September for that December’s draw. Details at heritageireland.ie .
The Cliffs of Moher are roughly three hours each way in County Clare with no train. Coach tours run 12 to 13 hours from about €65 to €78, usually bundling the Burren and Galway, and you get about 90 minutes to two hours at the cliffs against roughly six hours on a coach. Self-driving, the visitor experience is about €8 booked online against about €15 at the gate, children 12 and under free, parking included. If the cliffs are the point of the trip, an overnight in Galway or Doolin is the better version. Prices at cliffsofmoher.ie .
If you would rather someone else drive, compare Dublin day tours on GetYourGuide or check Viator’s day trips .
Take the DART to Howth on your first clear morning, walk the green loop, eat chowder at the harbour and come home for four euro. Then decide whether anything on the coach list beats that, or give the far ones a night each and keep the city sights for the wet days.