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Ireland - (AL1 -3) A guided tour of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, outside Dublin city.

Updated: Sep 16, 2022



A view of Lough Tay in the Wicklow mountains, as seen from the Sally Gap.
Lough Tay in the Wicklow mountains, as seen from the Sally Gap.

We recommend a day from a Dublin city break in Ireland should be spent on a guided tour coach trip up to the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains.


Youtube link to the JustRetired50Plus recommended Dublin-Wicklow coach tour Video:-

To view the video select:- https://youtu.be/pz5qCmRxmxc


A one day coach trip, around the Dublin-Wicklow mountains, only a half hour from Dublin, Ireland 2019

For a three or four day city break, Dublin cannot be recommended enough. It is friendly and intimate, yet bursting with life and energy all year round, with luxury hotels, trendy restaurants, cafes, shops and nightlife as well as a thriving arts and culture scene. There is lots to see and do, with its Dublin Bay boat trip from Dun Laoghaire to Howth; Guinness Storehouse and Jameson Whiskey Distillery tours; shopping opportunities; theatre and cultural events; and the easy laid back attitude of the people of Dublin, adding to a sense of well being and the general up-beat nature of the Irish.

So if on a trip to Dublin be sure to take a guided tour around the Dublin-Wicklow mountains.


A sense of Dublin, Ireland 2019

Over the years, we have hosted many friends who have visited Dublin, sometimes as part of their European tour. We recommend that they stay in any one of the numerous city-centre hotels. They are all just “around the corner” from the main shopping area, including Grafton Street, and within easy walking distance of the cobbled alleyways of the Temple Bar cultural quarter, which is a nice place to wander during the day and “do lunch” in one of its many lovely and quirky restaurants. However, be warned, it takes on a very different loud pub scene at nighttime. There are a multiplicity of coffee shops and bars, in which to relax, when retail therapy gets too much.

We reckon that Dublin is a safe city relative to others we have visited around the world, provided of course that you take common sense precautions.


Recommendations for Dublin, Ireland 2019

A great way to spend four days in Dublin, in our opinion, would be something along the following:

Day 1: Explore Dublin City - get a ticket online and do the hop-on hop-off double-decker bus tour of Dublin, taking in all the sights, be sure to get off the bus for a bit of history, of the blood-and-guts kind, at Kilmainham Gaol, the scene of some of the most important and tragic episodes of Irish history, including the imprisonment and execution of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. Take in the near-by IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

Day 2: Do the Guinness Storehouse tour and take in a Jameson or Telling Distilleries Whiskey tour. The Guinness Storehouse provides an interactive experience that fuses Ireland’s brewing heritage with Irish history. The Storehouse is Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction, where thousands of eager-eyed visitors make their way up through the exhibits until they reach the Gravity Bar at the top – and the free glass of what the cognoscenti consider the best Guinness in the world. The Jameson tour is the longest established while the newish Teeling Distillery in the Liberties, is the first distillery to open in Dublin for 125 years.

Day 3: Take a full day Wild Wicklow Tour up the Dublin and Wicklow mountains - It is possible to do day trips to the Cliffs of Moher; the Giant’s Causeway or Blarney Castle, however, all of these destinations are over a 100 miles from Dublin. The wild Wicklow Way is within 15 miles of your hotel. Dublin lies on a secluded bay in the foothills of the Dublin mountains, less than half an hour by coach.

Day 4: If you are interested in cultural attractions, take in the Museums, Art Gallery and the Trinity College tour and if possible try to get to see the Book of Kells in the Library.

If you are more of a music and alcohol buff then do the Dublin Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl.

On anyone of the nights, be sure to book either Taylors Three Rock or The Merry Ploughboy for organised dinner and Irish night stage entertainment, or freestyle it in Johnnie Fox’s pub. All three have buses that do hotel pickups and they are each a great nights entertainment.

I suppose all good things come to an end. So its time to pack up. If your flight is in the evening, it should be possible to leave your luggage in the hotel’s designated luggage room and perhaps hit the shops for the last minute gifts, or you can always linger on a bar stool with your glass of preferred wine or beer……………..”What’s not to like about that !”


Our must see recommendation for a trip to Dublin, Ireland 2019:-

(1) A one day Wild Wicklow coach trip, around the Dublin-Wicklow mountains.

(2) The Guinness Storehouse tour and take in a Jameson or Telling Whiskey Distillery tour

(3) On anyone of the nights in Dublin, book either Taylors Three Rock or the Merry Ploughboy for dinner and an Irish traditional music and dance extravaganza, they are a great nights entertainment. Alternatively, a trip to Johnny Fox’s, reported to be the highest pub in Ireland, is a must - the food is delicious, entertainment great, with lots of old memorabilia to feast your eyes on.


The average cost per person / per week is €800 (depending on type of hotel/ accommodation selected)

All of the tour tickets are available over the web where some savings can be made.


“You should travel away from home, to really appreciate the value of what you have at home, on your return.”



A map extract of the Geographic position of Dublin, Ireland.
Geographic position of Dublin, Ireland.

An aerial view of the Geographic position of Lough Tay in the Wicklow mountains.
Geographic position of Lough Tay in the Wicklow mountains.


A map extract showing the Geographic proximity of Dublin to the Wicklow mountains.
Geographic proximity of Dublin to the Wicklow mountains.


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