Excursión de un día de Dublín al castillo de Dunluce, la Calzada del Gigante y Belfast

It was very enjoyable and educational as well. It was fascinating learning about all the history of Ireland and the troubles. The Giants Causeway was absolutely beautiful as were the ruins of the Dunluce castle. The driver and died were absolutely brilliant and a lot of fun.

Really lovely day trip, looked after well by the tour guide and the bus driver. Lovely stories all the way to the North and back, great insight into Irish history. Really enjoyed the day, thank you Maria and Michael

The journey and total full day experience was great. Our guide Brendan and driver Michael were very organized and prepared. They helped make it a pleasant journey for the total group and Brendan provided history of the area throughout the day. Would book again without hesitation.

Great choice of attractions lead by experienced tour guides who make it fun. The buses are clean and well maintained.

It was a super tour but would have been nice to have more time in Belfast. The guided tour of Belfast was great but was pretty much limited to city hall.

Don't expect to see too much. We we're rushed through the entire day as if we were cattle in a round-up

Confortable bus,nice Guide and good and nice driver.Dunluce Castle is precious sight. Giants Causeway increíble. Belfast city very nice town.

The guide was knowledgeable about the venues, he also spoke on the history of Ireland, and of Northern Ireland. He entertained us with some Irish songs. The places we visited were interesting and well worth the visit. The drawback? An early start and a long day.

After our first Wild Rover Day Tour a couple of days earlier I was a bit apprehensive about this second booked one. Not because there had been anything wrong with that one, quite the contrary. We had enjoyed ourselves so much on that one it would be hard to beat. Like with the first one this was booked through Trip Advisor beforehand as part of our pre trip planning. Again, this meant that it was paid for and the costs forgotten long before we boarded our flight to Dublin. We chose Wild Rover again, probably because it was just easier to book both trips at the same time with the same company. Tickets were a bit cheaper this time 60 Euros each, which translated to $196.34 Canadian on my credit card. This was again an all-day tour leaving Dublin at 7:15am and returning around 8:00pm. Both the pickup and drop off times were later than the first tour. That and the fact we had already mastered the art of picking up of the breakfast bags from reception meant a bit more time to lounge around before boarding. There were more scheduled stops this time, three in all not including the pit stop. First up was thirty minutes at Dunluce Castle then 2 ½ hours each at the Giants Causeway and Belfast City. The overall distance though was shorter which meant a bit more time at two of the destinations than on the west coast tour. Again, perhaps because of the shorter distances there was only one rest stop on the way north a bit more than two hours after we left. I’ve already discussed the reasons why we took this organized tour rather than renting a car or using public transit in my other Wild Rover review so won’t go into it in detail here again. Needless to say, we weighed the pros and cons and decided that this was the best option for us. Pick up was across the street this time, and we passed the Galway Tour out front of the hotel and said a brief hello to our old guide and driver. Apparently, the cane strapped to the camera bag didn’t work this time, or there were others in more need of the nice seats up front as we ended up about halfway back this time. So much for leg room, a table to eat off and a chance for great panoramic views out the front window. This trip was a bit different as we would be crossing a border into Northern Ireland. The border is a bit of an issues especially post Brexit, and I had checked before in the forums here and was advised to apply for and get the UK ETA just in case we were asked for it. We both applied and I had it on my phone saved. We also dragged our Passports along, again in case we needed to show them. My Passport was in a zipped secure hidden pocket in my pants. My wife had opted for hiding hers in the expanse of her travel purse, a place no pick pocket would dare to try and enter. As it turned out neither were necessary, something our guide explained as we were navigating the streets of north Dublin. It was a soft border and no stops or checks would be needed. In fact I was unaware of exactly when we crossed the border on the M1 and it became the N1 in Northern Ireland. The only changes as explained by the guide aside from the flags were that the road signs in the Republic of Ireland were in two languages, English and Irish, while those in Northern Ireland were in English only. A bit about our new guide. Jack the one on the trip two days earlier was young and enthusiastic and as he pointed out a recent graduate of Trinity College. This time we had Dave who had a couple of decades on Jack. I doubt Dave went to Trinity, in fact not sure he went to university at all. He did however have a lifetime of real experience and that showed throughout the trip. He was the consummate professional, knowledgeable and patient. Just like the first tour aside from a headcount and the same basic rules he was quiet at the beginning of the trip giving those who needed it a chance to recover from their night out. He did point out some landmarks when we were still in Dublin itself. Once out of the city and heading north, we received a running monologue on some aspects of Irish history and folklore and what we would be seeing that day. The concentration this time was on the north including the “troubles” a period Dave unlike Jack was old enough to have lived through. Again, this history lesson was interspaced with musical interludes. Unlike two days earlier, Dave didn’t have an iPhone with a playlist. He had spent part of his life as a musician and had brought his ukelele along. Dave serenaded us with a variety of traditional songs some well known, others not so much. This meant once again the day went fast. On the return trip, Dave made it a point of moving among the passengers and chatting with everyone individually answering questions about local history and giving advice on what to see and where to eat and drink in the city. Once more he suggested we stay away from the Temple Bar area unless we wanted crowded tourist traps. He then produced a list of his favourite pubs in Dublin and allowed me to copy it for further use that week. I would be remiss if I also didn’t mention our driver. While this trip she didn’t have to contend with dangerous narrow lanes and hairpin turns as her counterpart did in Ennistimon County Clare we still had a safe, smooth, and uneventful ride which is all that mattered. She even managed to easily navigate the rush hour traffic as we returned to Dublin. For the second time that week, we again returned to Dublin at dusk tired a bit wet but satisfied.

The castle is beautiful and the Giant's Causeway as well. More time would be needed for Belfast. It is worth it, but I think it is very wrong that the guide asks for a tip for the driver and for himself at the end of the excursion.