2 1/2 days outside Dublin - where to go?

Rabbie’s is a good company to use for tours. I’ve taken a couple of day tours with them in Scotland.

If you’d like to go to Dingle, they have a 3-day (2 nights) tour. I’m signed up for this one for next year.

https://www.rabbies.com/en/ireland-tours/from-dublin/3-day-tours/dingle-killarney-wild-atlantic-way-3-day-tour

You can see their other tours from Dublin here:

https://www.rabbies.com/en/ireland-tours/from-dublin

For day tours, I have seen wild rovers and paddywagon recommended. Both these companies use big buses, so more people. And it seemed like too much time on the bus for me.

You could also take the train to Galway for a couple of nights and take a day tour from there. Galway Tour company has some good options. I’m signed up with 2 of their tours for next year.

https://galwaytourcompany.com/

Good luck deciding.

If you are able to maintain your accommodation in Dublin and do a couple of day trips, that seems the most sensible thing.

Paddywagon Tours is an outfit that I see recommended on here often. They run a day trip to the Giant's Causeway, with Dun Luce Castle and the Dark Hedges from Game of Thrones, plus (optional) lunch in a pub on the way back. I took that tour from Belfast last month, and it was enjoyable. The Dublin folks had 60-90 minutes to prowl around Belfast before the return bus ride.

Newgrange is an easy organized day trip from Dublin. Search on the forum for recommended companies for this.

If you did those two, you would see a lot of beautiful countryside from the bus, plus the dramatic coast, a ruined castle and an ancient mystical site. That ticks a lot of the Ireland boxes.

If you don't want to go on an organized tour, you could easily go up to Belfast on your own. The black cab tour (belfasttours.com) is very popular. I found it a little canned, but it's informative and quite moving. The Titanic museum is popular.

If you're last-minute, it may be a question of what is available. Makes choosing easier, for sure. Have fun!

A second vote for Rabbie’s tours. Next July I’m basing in Killarney for a couple days to take Rabbie’s day tours, plus go to the horse races. One tour goes north and the other south. I’m doing the same in June based from London. I just don’t see well enough to trust myself driving alone on the left. This lets me get out of the cities to see more.

If you can go to Dingle do but if not take day trips from Dublin to Brú na Bóinne, the castle in Trim and Belfast. I highly recommend taking a tour for all three.

Thank you all so so much!
We are definitely narrowing down. That 3 days Rabbies tour looks perfect but unfortunately the start day of the week doesn't work. I'm looking into their other tours tours as well as Paddywagon and Wild Rovers.

I think we are going to try to fit in Dingle and Aran Islands and skip Belfast this trip.

We also now have Brú na Bóinne/Newgrange/ castle in Trim on the list. We might have time to do that also, but certainly instead of Aran Islands if can't get out there.

Thank you again!

There is also the early Christian site of Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains which is a popular day tour from Dublin, along with Powerscourt Gardens.

Dingle is very nice but takes longer to reach from Dublin, compared to Galway. I'd recommend Galway, easily reached by train, as a base for tours of places like the Cliffs, Aran Islands, or Connemara. Belfast is another, very different, option that might interest you more. Galway and Belfast have express bus service (Aircoach) direct to Dublin Airport if these non-Dublin days will be at the end of your trip. The tour of Newgrange by Mary Gibbons is a great day trip from Dublin. And the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough could be another (which I haven't done).

See our host's info about all these and more under "Explore Europe" in this website.