Liverpool to Dublin
We flew from Liverpool to Dublin, as mentioned with Ryanair - the flights were around £15pp each way, and we did pay to sit together, so we paid around £84 in total for our flights. My brother kindly dropped us off at the airport, and we grabbed a meal deal ahead of our 7.30am flight. We landed in Dublin just after 8am after a super smooth journey, and we were on the Dublin Express bus by about 8.30am. We paid €30 for two return tickets for the Dublin airport bus, which I didn't think was too bad. The journey was slow due to rush hour traffic, but we got off at Trinity College at around 9.15am!
Dublin hop-on-hop-off bus
I had bought hop-on-hop-off bus tickets the day before on Wowcher, which was £44 for 2 tickets - compared to around £60 for two on the official City Sightseeing website. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for deals like this! We had a quick look at the Molly Malone statue and then boarded the bus at stop number 1 to head to stop 4, St. Patrick's Cathedral. We had a wander around the gorgeous cathedral grounds and then I popped into Marsh's Library, Dublin's oldest public library. You do have to pay €7 to get in, but the old books were just breathtaking.
We got seats on front of the open top deck of the bus, and decided to stay on it for a while and see some sights that way - it was incredibly windy but a lot of fun to see the Guinness Storehouse, Phoenix Park and plenty of distilleries and stunning architecture from this vantage point!
Temple Bar
We got off the bus near the river, and crossed the Ha'Penny Bridge to explore the Temple Bar area - we weren't drinking on our day trip to Dublin but it was really fun to see how cool the vibe is in this part of the city.
From here we took a very rainy walk through the city (even seeing the portal, which was linked with Lithuania!) and ended up in Penney's where I bought a super cute Dublin t-shirt for a fraction of the price of the souvenir shops. I've been wearing it non-stop and I love it.
Lunch at Murray's Bar and Grill
With the Citysightseeing bus tickets we were eligible for a 2-for-1 lunch deal at Murray's Bar and Grill, so we decided to make the most of it as we would have chosen a traditional pub for lunch anyway! Be aware if you're using this deal that you have to choose from a specific (smaller) menu, but we both still found something we wanted. For a beef & Guinness pie and a big chicken roast dinner with two pints of coke we paid £22 which I thought was a bargain for lunch in Dublin city centre! The food was genuinely very tasty and came out quickly, and the pub itself was lovely and cosy.
Our afternoon in Dublin
Well fed and ready to explore again, we got back on the bus - downstairs this time, as the weather was terrible at this point! I loved listening to the commentary on the bus, and we saw many of the gorgeous 'doors of Dublin' as well as Leinster House before getting off at St. Stephen's Green. I wanted to go to the Museum of Literature Ireland, but it was a whopping €14.50 per person and I just didn't think it was worth it - I did find a lot of the museums in Dublin to be very expensive, honestly!
We wandered around the green for a while, spotting all the different statues, and then I got a Coca-Cola slush from the Circle K which felt like a bit of a novelty. Then it was back on the Dublin hop-on-hop-off bus and time to visit Trinity College. Of course it was torrential rain at this point, but it was still really cool to see the college - it's somewhere I've always wanted to visit. The architecture is just bloody lovely.
We decided to walk up to Dublin Castle from here, as it would only be one stop on the bus, and it had finally stopped raining. The castle grounds are beautiful, although half of the castle itself is currently covered in scaffolding - typical. We visited the Chester Beatty library here, which has some stunning books and exhibitions, and a lovely little roof garden with some nice views.
Time was getting on and the rain was bucketing down now, so we got back on the sightseeing bus and did another half-loop of the city before catching the bus back to the airport for our... very delayed flight!
Dublin in a day - my thoughts
It's very easy to do a day trip to Dublin from Liverpool, and I feel like we were able to see plenty during our day in the city. We ticked off St. Patrick's Cathedral, Marsh's Library, the Guinness Storehouse (outside), Phoenix Park, the Ha'Penny Bridge, Temple Bar, a traditional Irish lunch, St. Stephen's Green, Trinity College, Dublin Castle and the Chester Beatty Library.
Overall we spent £240 between the two of us - that's including flights, the airport bus, the sightseeing bus, food, souvenirs, attractions and snacks. So for £120 per person we were able to do an amazing day trip from Liverpool to Dublin, see plenty of the city, and make incredible memories. I don't think that's half bad!
Have you ever done an 'extreme day trip'? If so, let me know where to...
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