Giant's Causeway Day Tour from Dublin
Description
Discover the spectacular highlights of Northern Ireland on this popular 12 hour tour from Dublin. Along the way you’ll enjoy wonderful visits to UNESCO Giant’s Causeway, Belfast, Dunluce Castle, Dark Hedges and experience the very best of Northern Irish scenery. Volcanic activity shaped this wonder of the world over 60 million years ago - although locals will insist it was actually a legendary giant from Celtic mythology. Learn all about it from your guide and decide for yourselves! Game of Thrones fans will recognise Kings Landing and House of Greyjoy at Dark Hedges and Dunluce Castle and enjoy refreshments and downtown highlights in Belfast city. This is the most comprehensive route possible from Dublin and has proven extremely popular over the last 20 years. Booking at least 24 hours in advance is recommended to avoid disappointment!
Tour Options
Itinerary
We depart from Dublin and travel North, crossing the border and arriving to Northern Ireland. A brief comfort stop on the way will ensure you arrived refreshed and ready for a great day of sightseeing.
We visit the most popular natural phenomena in Northern Ireland, the Dark Hedges. The trees were planted in the 18th century by the Stuart family to impress their guests upon arrival to their house. Most of you will recognize the Dark Hedges as King's Road from the hit TV series Game of Thrones. It is a wonderful photo-stop and an opportunity to be a part of a real life set!
On our way towards the North Coast, we enjoy a scenic drive through some of the Glens of Antrim. This area has been named as an area of outstanding natural beauty. Enjoy a panoramic drive admiring the valleys, and lovely countryside of County Antrim.
We make our way to the Causeway Coast where we can see fine views of Rathlin Island, and on a clear day we may even see the Scottish coast 13 miles away. The views along this coastline are spectacular, no wonder it is one of the most visited destinations in Europe!
The Giant's Causeway is the highlight of this trip for most! Built by the Irish giant Fionn and his Scottish rival Angus, it is a real masterpiece formed of perfectly shaped hexagonal columns. Your tour guide shall tell you more about the Causeway, and the legends of the area. The path to the causeway stones starts behind the center, it is only 10 mins walk! For a small fare there is a mobility bus that can bring you all the way down the path to the Causeway, for those with walking difficulties. Enjoy 90 minutes here to explore at leisure, walk, hike, rest and take awesome pictures!
We arrive at one of the most dramatic castle ruins in the world for a 60 minute stop, prepare to be amazed at the way this old castle hangs over the edge of the cliffs. Part of the Dunluce Castle fell into the sea in the 1600's, and some servants died in the tragedy. Since that time, it is believed to be haunted by the unfortunate servants. Your entrance fee is included so enjoy 60 minutes at leisure to explore and get some incredible photos before we leave the coast and make our way to Belfast.
On our way back to Dublin we stop in Belfast for some time at leisure, with your guide pointing out some of the highlights of this great city as we arrive. We will stop near the City Hall for approximately 60 minutes, so you can enjoy some free time in the city centre for fresh air and refreshments. Please note: This is a brief visit to Belfast for those who may not have another opportunity to visit. You do not have enough time to adequately explore both Giant's Causeway region and Belfast in one day from Dublin. If you wish to experience Belfast properly we recommend you spend at least one full day there. From here, the return journey to Dublin is smooth and efficient. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!
We relax as we make our way back to Dublin via the motorway, and expect to return to Dublin at approx 8.30 pm after a fun-filled day!
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- This tour will return to Dublin at approximately 8:00-8:30pm.
- This tour is operated by Paddywagon Tours, the market leader on this scheduled group tour route. Your bus will highly likely be a green bus or coach with "Paddywagon Tours" written on the side in yellow.
- Due to occasional roadworks in Dublin city, it is possible that your bus might not enter the street you have chosen and a tour representative may walk around to the group instead. So keep your eyes and ears out!
- Please be in place 5- 10 minutes in advance of departure.
- Seats are allocated on a first- come, first- served basis.
- Similar to the airline industry, we cannot ask drivers to wait for latecomers due to government route- license restrictions.
- Please request baby seat at the time of booking.
- Bookings made through Viator will automatically be signed up for the pickup point and collection time specified in the booking.
- If you wish to change your reservation to one of the other pick-up locations offered by Paddywagon Tours, you will need to contact us by telephone or email not later than 17:00 the evening prior so that we can guarantee the change. Please note that changes are only guaranteed once confirmed in writing by us.
Reviews(946)
Excellent tour. Not only was the ride comfortable, but the guide was quite knowledgeable and gave a thorough history along the way. The pub at which we stopped for lunch was outstanding. We had wished to visit the Giant's Causeway for years, and the experience was more than we ever hoped! We hope to return soon.
Loved this trip! If I had more time at the Causeway I would have hiked along the rim a bit Could have skipped Belfast
The guide was very knowledgeable which was a big plus, but there were many challenges on the day trip. First, the lang room in the van is minimal, about like a couch seat. Not really unsurprising but it was advertised a roomy :). We arrived at the giants causeway and did the classic walk. The entrance fee into the visitor center was supposed to be included according to the ticket, but we were not given tickets so didn’t go inside. There was no way to contact the guide until the meet point. We had an option to do the black taxi tour or the titanic museum, but with unpublished caveats. If there aren’t at least 5 or 6 people they won’t take you on the black taxi tour. But if they don’t buy tickets in advance the titanic museum can sell out— which it did. They did some quick manufactured tour that was good, but not great if you wanted the titanic museum At the end of the day we were dropped in a central location farther away from our morning pick up at individual hotels— not great
Well organised trip, excellent!!!
The tour was fantastic. The stops at Dark Hedges and Dunluce Castle were actually a highlight for me. Giant's Causeway as always is magnificent. The bus was comfortable and our tour guide, Michael, was fun and knowledgeable. I would definitely book with Paddywagon Tours again.
This tour sucked! First driver was a few minutes late to pickup. Could not hear driver commentary, too quiet and microphone not working. No WiFi on bus as advertised. Very short stops, not enough time at any stop. Did not drop off at start point as advertised, far from pickup point. Would definitely not recommend!!
It was an enjoyable trip to Giants Causeway. Gerry was very knowledgeable about Ireland and the history. The trip felt very long towards the end but overall a great trip!
It was a wonderful experience; the views, the route, the food, everything was worth it. The bus driver was very kind and entertaining. During the tour, he occasionally narrated the history and legends of what we were seeing.
Viator’s itinerary is not kept updated to what the vendor(s) schedule is. We were not afforded the amount of time at each location that Viator advertised. The bus tour company we received, Paddy Wagon, had a different itinerary. This is the sixth tour we’ve booked for this trip to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and only one tour experience was as advertised on Viator’s website. We’ll begin booking tours directly with tour companies in the future.
Our driver was excellent. He is a good storyteller, and we liked his many comments about where we were, etc. However- the bus trip was much too long as we left Dublin, but had to pick up more folks in Belfast. Our trip then included seeing a castle, the Giant's Causeway, and also time in Belfast. Bus ride went from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.- too long.
