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I LOVE having friends and family come visit me in Dublin! They often like to use my apartment as a base and hop around, but a lot of the more popular places in Ireland to visit outside of Dublin (like Galway, Cork, the Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher), are hard to do as a day trip.
I’ve compiled the day trips that I ALWAYS recommend to all of my visitors that can be done in one day while staying in Dublin for the evening.
1. BRAY TO GREYSTONES
Just a short DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) ride to the south side of the city will bring you to a really cute little seaside town called Bray. This is a great town to spend an afternoon in on a sunny day, especially if you stumble upon one of the many festivals held throughout the year. One of my favourite things to do on a non-rainy day, is to walk the Bray to Greystones cliff walk.
Once in Bray, head towards the big cross on the hill (Bray Head), and continue along the trail. You will have some UH-MAZING views of Dublin Bay along the cliff. The walk takes about 2 hours, bringing you out into Greystones where you can grab brunch or an ice cream and head back to Dublin City on the DART.
2. MALAHIDE
On my first weekend as a Dublin resident, I went to Malahide because I heard they had a castle… and one of the main selling points of living in Ireland is the castles, right?
When I arrived, I bought my tour ticket for Malahide Castle, and had some time to walk around the back gardens before my tour time (included in the ticket). Safe to say, I saw the castle, then started crying because I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to have moved to Ireland (and it sometimes still doesn’t feel like #reallife).
Malahide is another short DART ride from Dublin. Definitely go on the castle tour (it was a working castle until the 70’s when it was sold to the Irish State and turned into a museum). And don’t forget to stop into the Avoca shop for lunch and to peruse all of the Irish made products they sell! Avoca is a definite favourite among Dubliners!
Malahide is also a beautiful place to go for a walk along the harbour if you have the time!
3. Howth
If you’re not Irish, you’re going to pronounce this wrong, but if you want to sound like you know what you are talking about… pronounce it like hoe-th. It has taken me many years of practice to get that one right!
The DART will take you to Howth as well, and it’s probably one of the more popular day trips on my list for tourists. When you get there, you can do a cliff walk here as well, which is a bit steeper than the one in Bray, but you can go up, see the views, and walk back town to the town (taking you about 45 min round trip depending on how long you spend taking Insta worthy photos). 🙂
Once you get back to town, you’ll find some of the best seafood in the Dublin area along the harbour, so definitely plan to have some fish and chips, a seafood platter, or even some seafood tapas!
When you need a walk after your yummy, seafood meal, take a walk along the harbour and, because of all of the fish mongers coming back into the harbour after their daily catch, if you are lucky, you’ll see the Howth seals trying to catch some scraps from the boats!!
Staying in Dublin for a few more days? This list has the BEST 48 hour itinerary! Or, head to Northern Ireland where they have just as many great views!!
