About This Tour
This private car tour picks you up from your accommodation and takes you through Dublin with a 5-star licensed guide at the wheel - or beside it. You choose how much time you have, and the tour is shaped around that.
3-hour: Old Town Highlights
A focused sweep of the city by car - the Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, City Hall, Christ Church Cathedral, and more.
6-hour: Old Town Highlights + St Patrick’s Cathedral
Everything in the 3-hour option, plus a visit to St Patrick’s Cathedral and St Audeon’s Church, with skip-the-line tickets to St Patrick’s included.
7-hour: Old Town, St Patrick’s Cathedral + Book of Kells
The full day. All of the above, plus skip-the-line access to the Old Library Exhibition at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells in person.
Your guide is fluent in the language you select at booking, so you’re not relying on a translation app or half-following commentary in another language.
What’s Included
- Private car transfers for the whole tour, with pickup and drop-off at your accommodation
- 5-star licensed guide, fluent in your chosen language
- Skip-the-line tickets to St Patrick’s Cathedral and free entry to St Audeon’s Church (6 and 7-hour options only)
- Skip-the-line tickets to the Old Library Exhibition with the Book of Kells (7-hour option only)
- Number of attractions visited depends on the option selected
What’s Not Included
- Skip-the-line tickets to St Patrick’s Cathedral and free entry to St Audeon’s Church (not included in the 3-hour tour)
- Skip-the-line tickets to the Old Library Exhibition with the Book of Kells (not included in the 3 or 6-hour tours)
- Admission to the Bell Tower of St Patrick’s Cathedral
Itinerary
- Your guide picks you up from your accommodation and the route takes shape around your interests. (60 min)
- The route covers the Guinness Storehouse - home of the world’s most famous Irish beer - alongside Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedral. (120 min)
- Along the way, your guide shares the stories behind Dublin’s history, its Georgian architecture, and its important monuments including the Famine Memorial Fountain and the Molly Malone Statue. (60 min)
- You’ll pass by some of Dublin’s more interesting shopping spots - the Victorian George’s Street Arcade and the greenhouse-like Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre. (30 min)
- A visit to the medieval Church of St Audoen, now home to the Polish chaplaincy in Ireland, with its coffered barrel-vaulted ceiling lit by lunette windows set high in the walls. (30 min)
- St Patrick’s Cathedral carries a lot of Irish cultural and historical weight. Skip-the-line tickets mean you’re inside looking at the Gothic stonework rather than waiting on the pavement. The route also takes in Temple Bar, the Dublin Docklands, the O’Connell Bridge, the Famine Memorial, and the tall ship Jeanie Johnston. (60 min)
- For the 7-hour option, the Old Library at Trinity College is worth the extra time. The Book of Kells - a 9th-century illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels - is one of the finest medieval artefacts in existence. The library holds over 200,000 old books and is a genuinely quiet, beautiful space. Skip-the-line tickets included. (60 min)
Good to Know
- Wheelchair accessible, including transportation
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Infants must sit on an adult’s lap
- Public transport options are available nearby
- This is a private tour, available in German, Russian, English, Italian, and French
Local Tips
Pick your duration based on your energy, not just your schedule. The 7-hour day is full-on - it covers a lot of ground and the Book of Kells alone deserves unhurried time. If you’re travelling with young children or anyone who tires easily, the 3-hour option is a solid city introduction that doesn’t push anyone past their limit.
The skip-the-line tickets are doing real work here. St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Old Library at Trinity are two of Dublin’s most visited indoor attractions, and queues at peak times can eat 30 to 45 minutes before you’re even inside. Having those tickets already sorted means you spend your time in the places, not outside them.
The Book of Kells is smaller than people expect. The manuscript itself is displayed open at two pages, in a dimly lit room designed to preserve it. It’s extraordinary, but it rewards knowing what you’re looking at - your guide can give you that context on the drive over, so you arrive with the right frame of reference.
St Audeon’s Church is a quiet gem that most visitors walk past. The medieval Church of St Audeon on High Street is one of the oldest parish churches in Dublin, and the Polish chaplaincy that now uses it has maintained it carefully. The coffered barrel-vaulted ceiling is worth looking up at.
Dublin’s Docklands tells a very different story from the old city. The contrast between the Famine Memorial figures on the quays - gaunt, bronze, mid-journey - and the glass offices rising behind them is something your guide can help you sit with. It’s not comfortable, and it shouldn’t be.
Nearby on IrelandMe
- Dublin City Centre - The tour covers the full sweep of the city, from the medieval Liberties to the Georgian squares to the contemporary Docklands along the Liffey.
- Kilmainham - Home to the Guinness Storehouse’s neighbourhood and the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, this part of the city carries layers of Dublin’s industrial and political past.
- Howth - If you have more time after the tour, Howth is 30 minutes by DART and makes a strong contrast - a working fishing village on the coast, with cliff walks and seafood to finish the day.
