Does anyone know if the student-led tours of Trinity College are still available for "walk-up" purchase, or should I reserve for the Book of Kells and guided tour together?
I found this but no date listed.
Is Trinity College open for tours?
Due to restrictions associated with the pandemic, all visitors must be pre-registered; we are not able to accommodate walk-in visitors at this time. A Campus Visit is 90 minutes and includes a 30-minute information session and a one-hour guided tour of the campus.
TripAdvisor shows that people are actively going there. Regarding the Book of Kells, I will say that in any case, the tour needs to be booked, it is a must-see
Honestly just walking around the grounds, grabbing a pint at the cafeteria by the rugby fields, and doing the library/book of kels should be enough to fill your boots imo.
I don’t think a more in-depth tour inside other buildings is really going to offer you that much more. The library itself is amazing and hard to top
In May I tried to get a student-led tour at the last minute and they were booked. So I'd suggest reserving if you want to do this. The Book of Kells and old library are fascinating and should be reserved in advance. Obviously it makes sense to do both on the same day if you can.
When are you going? The best part of a visit to the Book of Kells is the Long Library, IMO, and it will be closing NEXT October [2023] for 3 years. [Corrected.]
https://www.thetravel.com/see-the-old-library-at-trinity-college-dublin/
We didn't do the student-led tour when we were there in May, but we did book a couple of days in advance to see the Book of Kells.
Nor directly on point, but we recently did a walking tour (included Trinity/Book of Kells with no wait) as a private tour with Dara McCarthy. He is a Rick Steves guide. We then added a pub crawl with him. Fantastic experience.
Just checked (because we won’t be there until May), and the Old Library will be closing for three years next October 2023….so relieved!
Oh, my gosh. I missed that detail. Thanks for the correction. :)
Thank you for the information on the old library closing for renovation (posted as October 2023)… planning on being there in the spring so excited I will still get to see it!
wowmobr2, I could live there. It's so fabulous. Enjoy!
I am going to present the other point of view that the Book of Kells is not necessarily a "must see." People say it is, but I found that it wasn't that for me. You get to see the book in a glass case surrounded by many other people. It was interesting, but looking at the pages online actually was more effective.
If you have time, by all means go see the Book of Kells and the library. If you are short on time, I found other places much more interesting.