Day Trips from Dublin
 

We will be spending 7 days in Dublin and would like to do some day trips to the countryside -- any recommendations for places to go? I would love to see a castle and get a glimpse of the countryside. Thanks

I recommend the Rock of Cashel and Clonmacnoise and the peat bog tour at Shannonbridge for two. Cobh would be a good 3+ hour drive so perhaps too long for a day trip.

We highly recommend Raitours Ireland. They are on the web although I don't remember their address. We took the Waterford Crystal train tour last summer and it was Fantastic! They offer several day tours of Ireland and the trains travel through the countryside and you will love them! Let us know how it turns out and if you meet our tour guide Michael pronounced Meehaul tell him the Collins recommended him. Have a nice trip.

Newgrange is around 1/1.5h drive North from Dublin and is definitely worth visiting - it is very interesting and you can follow up with a visit to the National Museum to see some of the artefacts they found there. Also, the countryside is pretty there.<BR><BR>Powerscourt House is also very nice and it is is only 0.5h South of Dublin - it's a large country house with fantastic landscaped gardens. Also it has a *really* good cafe for lunch with an outside courtyard where you can eat it overlooking the gardens.<BR><BR>

Glendalough- one hour from Dublin on St Kevins bus- fine monastic settlement and good walks- breathtaking scenery. go there and Powerscourt in the same day. Visit Enniskerry village for quirky craft shops and Victorian prettiness all round. Stop at Avoca Handweavers shop for woven linen blankets to take home, a slice of lemon cake and needless to add, tea. After that, stop at Johnnie Foxs pub (near Dublin on Wicklow side) for traditional music and Guiness but not the food.

I would second the recommendations for New Grange and Powers Court. They are in different directions, so they would be different days. New Grange is a pre-Celtic, stonehenge era, site, a massive mound that must have riveled the Pyramids in its day. The Irish equivalent of the Park Service does a great job at this and just about every other site it operates. Tours are by timed ticket, so don't plan on arriving too late in the day. Here's a web site about the tomb http://www.users.bigpond.com/kirwilli/dolmen/newgrange.htm<BR><BR>You mention castles--many Irish "castles" are really 18th and 19th century manor houses. Powerscourt is as splendid as any of them in outline. Unfortunately, it was gutted by fire the evening after its restoration had been completed (back in the 1930's, I think). But the house itself and the grounds are wonderful. See this link http://www.powerscourt.ie/ <BR><BR>Clonmacnoise would stand for a third era in Ireland, the age of the great monasteries when the rest of Western Europe was in the hands of illiterate barbarians. If it is too far, you might consider Monsterboice, which could be visited on the same day as New Grange. It has a famous High cross and round tower.<BR><BR>

If you go to Avoca (previous post) stop for a pint at Fitzgerald's. Avoca is the town where the BBC show "Ballykissangel" was shot. If you ever watched the show, the pub is the same one and the main street and bridge going over the river are featured prominently in the show.