We were thinking of spending our last night in Trim and then driving to the Dublin Airport. I understand that it is about a 45minute drive to the airport. Our flight leaves at 11am on a Saturday. We would also be dropping off our rental car as well. Has anyone done this before - Is this easily do-able? or do we have to wake super early in order to do this?
Thank you!
Nicole
You're going to need to be at the airport for check-in/security by about 9:00. You'll most likely be dropping off your car at an offsite location just outside the airport grounds (there will be some paperwork time and then a shuttle ride to the airport there). If you allow roughly an hour for the drive (shouldn't be that long on a Saturday, but you never know) and a half hour or so dropping off the car, you'll need to leave Trim by about 7:30 at the very latest.
We did exactly that (stayed in a B&B in Trim the night before flying out of Dublin) a few years ago. BTW, the B&B was Cranmoor B&B, which is rated by Tripadvisor as #1 of 6 B&B's in Trim - highly recommended. We headed for the airport on a weekday morning and almost immediately hit heavy traffic. We made it, but my heart was in my throat the whole time. Just allow yourself plenty of time...Saturday should be better, I would imagine. Staying in Trim provided easy access to the major road leading to the airport.
If you rent the car at the airport, most allow you to park it in the airport garage near the terminal, and drop off the keys and go.
I have rented and returned two cars at Dublin airport (two different companies), and in both cases the dropoff location was outside the airport, on the main road. And in both cases there was more involved than just dropping off the keys -- a quick inspection of the car for damage, signing for the final bill, etc. Perhaps other companies are different, but that's been my experience.
We opted for the Bewley's Dublin Airport which was a newer hotel, and only $69 ish a night, 5-10 mins from the airport. Rental car pick up was off site, and took a few mins.
