Ireland Off the Beaten Path: 4 Day Itinerary

Four days is the 3-day plan plus Newgrange and the Boyne Valley, a Neolithic passage tomb older than the pyramids that hands out its best mornings by lottery, not by ticket.

Book these before you go:

Day Focus Travel time from Dublin
1 Dublin city, the odd-facts version City center
2 Howth: cliff loop and fined-for-feeding seals 30-35 min by DART
3 Glendalough and Wicklow: the pint-shaped lake About 1h20 by bus or car
4 Newgrange and the Boyne Valley Guided tour only, no walk-up

Day 1: Dublin city, the odd-facts version

Book Kilmainham Gaol the moment your dates are set, it’s the cheapest major ticket in the city and, despite that, the single hardest to actually get. Spend the rest of the morning at Trinity College for the Book of Kells, budget about 90 minutes and get a timed slot in advance rather than risk a walk-up queue. Slip into the National Gallery of Ireland on Merrion Square afterward, free admission, a deep collection of Irish and European art, and consistently one of the emptiest major rooms in the city center. For the full city treatment, see our Dublin hidden gems guide and the 4-day Dublin city itinerary ; this page only needs the city sorted enough to launch from.

Day 2: Howth, the easy win

Take the DART from Connolly, Pearse, or Tara Street, roughly 30 to 35 minutes, a train every half hour, a few euro each way or a Leap Card zone fare. Walk the Cliff Path Loop for sea views over Dublin Bay, then drop into the harbour, where a colony of grey seals has been working the fishing boats for scraps for years. Buy the seal-safe fish bits sold at the harbour fish shop instead of feeding them your own chips, doing it yourself can draw a fine reportedly up to EUR 5,000 under local bylaws.

Does Howth need advance planning?

No, and that’s exactly the point. No ticket, no tour bus, no backup plan required if the weather turns, the one day trip in this family you can decide to do the same morning.

Day 3: Glendalough and Wicklow, the pint-shaped lake

About an hour to an hour twenty each way by bus or car, no direct train. St Kevin’s monastic ruins and Round Tower sit free to walk beside two lakes in the Wicklow Mountains, but the odder stop is Lough Tay, nicknamed the Guinness Lake because the Guinness family imported white sand to lay along the shore so the dark, peat-stained water looks from above like a pint mid-pour. You can only view it from roadside pull-offs on the R759. Wicklow also doubled as several locations in the film P.S. I Love You, including Sally Gap and the bridge at Ballysmuttan. See nationalparks.ie for current trail conditions.

Day 4: Newgrange and the Boyne Valley, older than the pyramids

There is no walk-up option here. Newgrange, a Neolithic passage tomb that predates Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, is reachable only by guided tour from the Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre, booking windows opening days to weeks ahead depending on season. The chamber floods with sunlight at dawn during the winter solstice, 19 to 23 December, but a spot inside for that isn’t sold, it’s drawn each year by a free public lottery through solsticelottery.ie, entries closing around 30 September. Everyone else sees the effect recreated with an artificial beam on the standard guided tour. See heritageireland.ie for current booking windows.

Can I visit Newgrange without booking ahead?

No. Every visit to the passage tomb runs through a timed guided tour from the visitor centre; there is no independent route to the mound itself. Book as soon as your dates are fixed, especially June through August, when peak-season slots vanish within hours of release.

Before you go

Buy a Leap Card for the DART to Howth and the city’s Luas or bus; Glendalough and Newgrange both run on a tour coach or rental car instead. Pack for rain regardless of month, and book Newgrange the same day you book Kilmainham Gaol, both move fast. Dublin Airport has no rail or metro link in 2026, budget the Airlink 747/757 or Aircoach 700 coach into the city. If four days leaves you wanting more, the 5-day plan adds Galway next.