ssander

Going to Dublin and plan on buying Leap Cards for my wife an me. We have Oyster Cards (London) and Navigo Cards (Paris), so we are comfortable with this type of card. Some questions about the Leap Card (though I've looked at it online):

1. There appears to be a 5€ refundable deposit...can we turn the card in at the airport? (I assume they have a place in the departures section as well as in the arrivals section.)

2. Can we load a 72hr pass on it? Or only an amount of money?

3. Do we need photos (like the Paris Navigo Card)?

4. Do they take credit cards?

5. After we have spent our 72hrs, we will be on the road. When we return to Dublin (less than 24hrs before we have to be at the airport), can we load a 24hr pass on it at any of the regular shops that sell the card?

Thanks.
ssander

Scampibear

The refund isn't available at any shop, you have to post the card off and a cheque is sent out. It's not designed for short stay visitors in that regard. The Visitor Leap Card is available for tourists arriving at the airport. https://about.leapcard.ie/leap-visitor-card

There are no 72h passes available on ordinary Leap Card. There is daily and weekly capping but how often are you likely to be using public transport anyway? Dublin is quite compact and walkable and you'll likely not reach the cap. https://about.leapcard.ie/fare-capping

29FEB

We looked at this too, sander, because like you, we likeLondon's Oyster card. But for us, it didn't make sense as mostly we wanted airport transport and AirExpress offers round trip for €10...and we usually walk in smaller cities like Dublin.

YMMV and have a great time!

Macross

We get the three day card and usually time it so that we get a return to the airport. I use the Luas a lot and like it for that mostly. Last trip I knew we would only be in Dublin one night so we paid for the bus to get us into town and paid for the luas once. We returned and did the 72 hour card timing it perfectly for the return to the airport so got our money's worth. We were staying in Smithfield where the Luas passes by so love it for that.

ssander

Macross...

I was planning to time both cards (72hr & 24hr) to include 4 and 2 days respectively by timing, as you described.

If I understand everyone, what I want is a 72hr <strong>Leap <em>Visitor</em> Card</strong> (19.50€) to use like this:

Tue ~10am - pick up card at airport - take bus 747 to our hotel
Tue-Wed-Thu - use card on buses
Fri - take bus to car rental for 9am pickup.

This gets us under 72hrs.

Does this make sense? I think the airport bus and Fri morning bus would total ~8€, so that makes the break even point 7 bus trips (@2.00€ each)in 2-1/2 days. Even if we don't take that many trips, we like the convenience factor of not needing to buy tickets...and have done things this way many times in several cities in Europe.

ssander

Macross

Yes, also we found a ten dollar family card once for 24 hours. Ask at the airport info desk if they have any family cards.

https://www.luas.ie/ You also can use for luas which is our favorite mode of transportation.