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Dublin Live Guided Panoramic Open-Top Night Bus Tour
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From €26 per person
Dublin looks genuinely different after dark, and this one-hour open-top night bus tour is a lovely way to see why. You’ll roll through areas like Temple Bar and the Docklands with a live guide on board sharing stories about the city’s history, culture, and architecture. Landmarks like Christ Church Cathedral and Trinity College take on a different character when they’re lit up at night, and the route covers a solid sweep of the city’s most iconic spots.
It’s a relaxed, panoramic experience - no walking required, no rushing between sights. The guide keeps things interesting the whole way round, which is what makes it worth doing rather than just watching the city go by from a taxi window.
The bus passes by: General Post Office, River Liffey, the Jeanie Johnston (the Irish Famine tall ship), Samuel Beckett Bridge, Trinity College, Merrion Square, Oscar Wilde Statue, St Stephen’s Green, Molly Malone Statue, Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, and Christ Church Cathedral.
Meeting point: Departs from 13 Upper O’Connell Street at 7:00pm and 8:30pm. Present your booking confirmation to a Big Bus Tours staff member at least 15 minutes before departure.
The 8:30pm departure tends to be the better one. Depending on the time of year, Dublin doesn’t get fully dark until well after 7pm in summer - sometimes closer to 10pm in June. If you want the landmarks properly lit and the sky dark, the later departure gives you that. The 7pm slot works better in autumn and winter when darkness falls earlier.
The Jeanie Johnston is worth knowing about before you pass it. It’s a replica of a famine ship that carried Irish emigrants to North America between 1847 and 1855, and it now sits on the north quays as a museum vessel. Your guide will mention it, but the context matters - around one million people emigrated from Ireland during the Great Famine of the 1840s, and the quays you’re rolling along were the departure point for many of them.
The Samuel Beckett Bridge is one of the most photographed pieces of modern architecture in Ireland. Designed by Santiago Calatrava, it’s shaped like an Irish harp lying on its side - a detail the guide will point out, but one that doesn’t get less satisfying when you spot it for yourself.
Merrion Square at night is worth remembering for a daytime return visit. The park itself is quiet and beautiful, the surrounding Georgian terraces are some of the finest in Dublin, and the Oscar Wilde statue is at the northwest corner. It’s also where the National Gallery of Ireland is located, which is free to enter and holds an impressive permanent collection.
O’Connell Street, where you board, is the main axis of the north inner city. The General Post Office at the centre of it was the headquarters of the 1916 Rising, and the original front columns still carry bullet marks from the fighting. If you’re arriving early to meet the bus, it’s worth a look.