Brú na Bóinne, Newgrange, Dunluce, Giant's Cause, Carrick-a-rede: 1 Day?

You probably already know this, but you're not doing any of these sites any justice by even trying to do this in one day.

Here are some things to consider:

The travel time between each of the locations...on Irish roads.

It's about a half-mile to mile walk from visitor center to the Causeway area, then the same walk to return.

It's about a mile walk on a narrow dirt path from the visitor center to the rope bridge and then return on the same path. You may have to wait a few minutes at the bridge if you want to walk across. Only a few people at a time are allowed on the bridge.

The process of getting to see Newgrange can be a time consumer depending on how busy it is. I think Rick covers the procedure in his book.

If your time runs out before you get there, Newgrange could be skipped.

Depending on crowds at the time you go, getting to Newgrange so late might mean that the maximum number of visitors has been reached for the day. And in September you'll be losing the light before 6:30 - and you would still have to get back to Dublin (about a 45 minute drive from Newgrange). You'll also miss Knowth, which is accessed from the same visitor center. In my opinion, as the previous poster said, you won't be doing any of the sites justice, you'll only have time for a glance and a picture, and a check mark on your "I've seen it" list.

Of course it's possible to do this. But also consider it's possible you will get stuck in Dublin traffic on the way out of town (or back) and not make your time frames at all. There aren't really many Irish freeways like in the states, it takes more time to get places.

I did all the Northern Ireland sites you listed in one day, plus Bushmills distillery, as part of Rick Steves tour. We didn't drive from Dublin because were staying in Portrush. Yet it was an exhausting, very full day. You do have to walk to the causeway and the rope bridge if you actually want to see anything. And I think you miss out on a lot if you skip the tour part of Dunluce Castle.

I ran the time using Ricks book as a guide and it showed that it was possible but tight. I wanted to know with this was a dream or something possible.

I looked at a sunset calendar and it stated that the sun will set in Dublin around 7:50pm during the first week of September. Is that wrong?

Just so I know what is unrealistic about my time so I can adjust accordingly.
Place..............................Time..........Driving Time.....Duration
Dublin to Portrush..........06:30 AM.....03:30..........00:10
Dunluce Castle...............10:10 AM.....00:15..........01:00
Giant's Causeway...............11:25 AM.....00:15..........01:00
Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.....12:40 PM.....02:30..........01:00
Newgrange....................04:10 PM.....00:15..........01:00
Bru na Boinne...............05:25 PM.....00:30..........01:00
Finish..............................06:55 PM

ViaMichelin shows Dublin to Portrush as 3 hrs. 19 min. Since about half of this distance is on N roads (like our two-lane highways), you should add about 25% to this driving time estimate. This will depend on just where in Dublin you start out, too. In general, adding 25% to any drive times is more realistic. I haven't been to that part of Ireland, and I don't know about the distances or road conditions for the N Ireland sites, so I can't advise you there. Tours can get a lot more into a day because they already know where they are going, they drop you at the door and do the parking for you, and they don't have to stop for gas, etc.

As far as Newgrange, the only way to visit the site is through the Bru Na Boinne visitor center. From the center you take a shuttle bus to the actual site. If there are still tickets available for that day when you get there, you may have to wait for the next bus or two before you can go. There is a tour there, then you are given a few minutes to wander around on your own. When I visited there last, my group was large enough that they had to divide us for the tour, which meant that we had to wait through one group's trip into the tomb before having our own. You don't have control over your time, you must get there and back via the shuttle bus, so it could take a lot longer than you anticipate.

Sorry somehow some duplicate threads got created. I will copy all the responses to this thread for easier reading.

1/26/10 6:42 AM
Brad
Gainesville, VA
Posts: 3003
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That seems like too much to me. Even if you can do the driving in the given time (I'm a little leery, the distances aren't long but the routes aren't as quick as you might expect), you still want time to see the place you're visiting.

Via Michelin estimates the trip by car from Dublin to Giant's Causeway at 3 1/2 hours (many think Michelin's times are overly optimistic) so you're talking a minimum of 7 hours driving. You're adding five stops. I would allow at least two hours at Newgrange if you're going to see anything (more in tourist season) plus whatever time you want to spend at your other stops and at least one stop for food (I've seen a McDonald's in downtown Dublin but not sure they're common around the country).

My closest experience was a day trip to Newgrange from Dublin on BusEire. The trip included Hill of Tara, Boyne Valley, and New Grange. We drove by Trim castle and through Droughda but didn't have time to stop at either place. The trip was well paced and we felt we saw as much as we could in one day.

As I recall we arrived at Newgrange, scheduled a tour time to enter, looked around while we waited, toured the tomb and left without visiting the other tombs there. I think it was about two hours total but I would have been happy to spend more time.

Is it possible to add a night near the Causeway to double your time to see things and cut your driving time each day in half?

1/25/10 7:20 PM
Dan
Ocean Shores, Wa USA
Posts: 52

Early Sept is still peak season in some areas of Ireland. Most advice I have seen on several forums is to try to get to Bru na Boinne Visitor center by noon. They have a daily fixed amount of trips from the visitors center out to the Newgrange tomb. As the busses fill up, you are given tickets for later busses, and of course there is the high probability that they will be all sold out by 4PM. D.

1/26/10 1:38 AM
Tom
Somewhere Else, Not in USA
Posts: 2798

In short, no, you can't possibly see all this in one day, especially driving over Irish roads.

1/26/10 9:25 AM
Audrey
Keizer, Oregon USA
Posts: 462

You need to consider the walking/hiking time to actually reach the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede bridge. They are not seen or experienced from the road and/or car. In addition the weather conditions may interfere.

1/26/10 11:37 AM
Tanis
Saskatoon, Canada
Posts: 21

I would say no. I don't think you are leaving enough time to actually see the sites you want to go to, let alone time in case anything has a long wait or there is traffic jam/construction.

I did a tour of the castle, Giants Causeway and Carrick-a-rede rope bridge from Belfast and it took almost the whole day and I didn't feel there was very much wasted time. You also have to take a shuttle from the visitors centre at Bru na Boinne and then a guided tour at Newgrange and they only run at specific times.

The day before we will be driving from Dingle and will get to Dublin around 6pm. The next day we plan on going to northern Ireland and the last day will be touring Dublin. There is just not enough time.

Then you will have to plan another trip. As Rick Steves says, "Assume you will return".

Does anyone know if you can call the Bru na Boinne visitor center the day before and ask them how many tours are booked for the next day and what is avaiable for the Newgrange tour?

Bus tours from Dublin have regular time slots so that their patrons don't have to wait in line. Tickets at Newgrange are first-come, first-served and as the shuttle bus fills up for each trip, the next group of people gets booked into a later bus. I don't believe that you can make reservations, and I don't know that they will have any idea how many people might show up on a given day. That's why the advice is to get there early - once the buses are filled, no one else will be admitted. I visited last in the off-season (last week in February). I arrived around noon and had to wait through one bus for the next one.

Great, I was thinking they did not have slots for people who were not in a tour froup. We plan on getting there at 9am so we can be the first one in line.

So you must have modified your plans?

You are correct. Think we will have to play it by ear, but we will try to see Newgrange. We should arrive in Dublin the day before and we will try to see some small sights like O'Conner bridge and the Temple bar. The next day we will go to northern Ireland and if we have time see more small sights. This might free up enough time for the 3rd day which was for Dublin only. If we do have enough time the we will be a Newgrange at 9am and get the first tour. After lunch, spend the day touring the castle and the koal.

That is if we have time.

Mike you will really need your skates on!! We did Carick-a-rede bridge, Giant's Causeway and Dunluce castle last year. From memorary we spent at least 4-5 hours doing these sites. But then again, we were staying in the area. As a previous poster mentioned it's quite a hike to get to the bridge and back to the car park - about 15-20 mins brisk walk one way. You can catch a shuttle bus from the Causeway visitor centre down the hill to the actual causeway which would save valuable time. We didn't tour Dunluce. Just had a walk around. It was our last stop. Personally, if you had to miss Dunluce Castle, I don't think you will lose any sleep over it.
Good idea to do do Newgrange first. BARE MINIMUM of time required there One and half hours.
I will be interested to hear if you managed to see all of the above in one day!

What time did you leave dublin and what time did you get back or did you spend the night up north?

I want to stop at dunluce for a photo opt, so we could be quick.

Mike,

We did almost this exact trip last summer and my advice would be to find a place to overnight up in the Causeway area and make it a 2-day excursion - especially coming all the way from Dublin. The Causeway and rope bridge are very popular & crowded (perhaps less in September; we were there in August). For example, at the Causeway, we sat in our car half an hour just waiting to park. There's a fair amount of walking at both places. With lunch, pit stops, souvenir shop, etc, the causeway plus bridge took us the better part of a day, and we were staying in the area. With 2 days, you could throw in Bushmill's too, which is fun.

I think you're going to be very tight on time. I would suggest focusing in on Dunluce and Giant's Causeway. We waited in a LONG line at Carrick-a-rede, and it wasn't very exciting...in my opinion!

Newgrange has tours, which are well worth taking, so you would need to be sure that you could get into the 4pm tour...otherwise you can't go inside.