I'm looking for a hosted day trip out of Dublin in April. I'd like to see castles, historic landmarks, perhaps an abbey or monestary. Any suggestions for tour guides or day tours? Thanks

several options:

Do a searh above for Dublin day trips

Go to the web site of the Irish tourist board and they will have a listing of all the companies that do day and 1/2 day trips out of Dublin - there are a bunch

As for Castles - do you have Dublin Castle on your itinerary - it's far better than anything else in the immediate neighborhood.

Malahide Castle is worth the time to go. It's just north of the city, not all that far from the airport. Easy drive, easy parking. Quite well maintained, a lot of history to it and there are frequent guided tours inside the castle.

We drove ourselves there so I couldn't say as far as tours that take you to the castle. I'm sure there must be. I do know that I saw public buses running nearby.

My friends are visting me from the states and they have brochures with various trips. 1 is Manahide Castle Half day, another is Glendolough and Avoca town, another is Powerscourt house and Gardens with a stop elsewhere. Most are a day and its a nice trip outside the city.

Dear Siobahn is hiking around glendalough lakes and avoca village a good trip...pretty country side etc.???
thaks so much

I leave in 2 hrs and am excited.

I guess you've left by now...but I'd highly recommend seeing Glendalough. Avoca is OK. Also worth considering is Powerscourt Gardens and Waterfall.

Dublin castle, Trim castle,boyne valley burial tombs,also Trinity college national museum all able to do from dublin or day trip to.Boyne valley highly recommended.
killarney guesthouse www.glenahouse.com

I think the Glendalough tour is good but my friends felt that Avoca is just OK. Its more of a lunch stop and you can go to the Avoca Handweavers store (Probably the main reason they stop here). If you were into Ballykissangel it would be fun to see but they just thought it was ok and would prefer more time to hike to Glendalough. The tour gives a lot of history which they liked. Its a lovely place in the summertime.