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Direction of Dublin Hop On Hop Off Bus

Posted by (Tuscaloosa, AL) on

We are visit Ireland in late August following our sons wedding in London. We will have roughly 1.5 days in Dublin and we are booked on a Hop On Hop Off bus to get us started. I understand that many of the top tourist spots are within relative easy walking distance, but I am wondering if there is a general direction that these buses usually go. We will probably catch the bus at the National Museum of Ireland. The spots we want to take in, in no particular order will be The Book of Kells, Dublin Castle, St. Patricks Cathedral, City Hall, St. Stephens Green, Christ Church Cathedral, and if possible Kilmainham Gaol.

So I'm asking probably a difficult question, but if we do get on at the National Museum, what would you think the next closest place of the ones I have listed might be? I'm trying to maximize our limited time and be ready before we arrive.

Posted by
2980 posts

There should be a system map showing all of the stops and the direction of travel on the website of whichever company you've booked with.
When we did this ourselves on our first visit many years ago we rode thru a complete circuit in order to get our bearings within the city, then chose which sites to get off at once we determined which attractions were within easy walking distance of each other.
One tip: get an early start if you can - the buses do start to get crowded by late morning.

Posted by
8 posts

I've been researching for my trip and Hop-on/off tours were one thing I've looked into. You don't say which one, but this site compares the big 3 and has links to the route maps. Most seem to go in a clock-wise direction. If the sites are in the west of the city, they're in the last 1/2 of the tour. If they're in the center/east, they'd be in the 1st 1/2 of the tour. https://freetoursbyfoot.com/dublin-bus-tours/
Here's the link to one of the bus' maps: https://www.bigbustours.com/en/dublin/dublin-routes-and-tour-maps

Posted by
86 posts

Our travel agent booked the Hop On Hop Off as part of our package. I can’t really tell by what has been sent to me which company the tour is with.

I may just go to all the ones I can find and see if I can determine the direction of the tours.

Posted by
6713 posts

Except for Kilmainham Gaol, all the sights you listed are within about 20 minutes of each other on foot. You'd probably spend at least that long just waiting for the HOHO bus. Since you've paid for it, you might want to use it for an orientation without getting off, but it would be a bad idea for real transportation purposes.

Your list is a very ambitious one for 1.5 days, but maybe doable if you don't waste time waiting for buses. I'd suggest a taxi for Kilmainham Gaol.

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