← All Dublin tours via partner · From €30 · 2 hours 
Dublin: Ferry from Howth to Ireland's Eye island
Free cancellation 377 traveller reviews Booked securely via partner
Check availability & prices →
From €30 per person
You can see Ireland’s Eye from Howth Harbour wall. It sits about a kilometre offshore - close enough to look almost touchable, far enough to feel completely apart from the mainland. That gap is exactly the point. Once you cross it, the noise of the day disappears.
The ferry that takes you across has been doing exactly this since 1947, run by the same family right through to today. The crossing itself only takes a few minutes from Howth Harbour. When you land, able-bodied passengers step ashore over steep rock steps and the island is yours to explore. There’s the 19th-century Martello Tower to poke around, the west-facing beach where a swim is very much on the cards in good conditions, and the cliffs where puffins, gannets, and cormorants nest within easy watching distance. Bring binoculars if you have them - you won’t regret it.
The island is a seabird sanctuary, so it’s deliberately left wild. There are no cafes, no toilets, no facilities of any kind. That’s a feature, not a flaw. The return ferry is included in your ticket, and the full experience - crossing, island time, and return - runs about two hours. Whether the boat actually stops to let you off depends on the weather on the day, so pack light and go with the flow.
Get to Howth early and walk the cliff path first. The cliff walk around Howth Head is one of the finest short walks on the Dublin coast, and doing it before your ferry gives you a proper sense of Ireland’s Eye from above before you visit from sea level. The full loop takes about two hours, but even the stretch from the harbour to the east pier lookout point is worth the detour.
Howth has excellent fish and chips. The harbour is lined with fish shops, and the debate about which one is best is a local institution. Most people go to one of the takeaways along the pier rather than sitting down in a restaurant, and eating on the harbour wall watching the boats is about as good as a Dublin lunch gets.
Pack for real Irish weather even in summer. Out on the island the wind comes straight off the sea with nothing to break it. A light waterproof layer takes up no room in a bag and makes a big difference if the breeze kicks up while you’re waiting for the return ferry.
If you’re swimming, the west-facing beach is the one. The water around Ireland’s Eye is clear and genuinely Atlantic cold - water temperatures typically sit between 12°C and 16°C depending on the time of year. It’s bracingly beautiful. Wear something you can get into and out of quickly on the rocks, and bring a dry bag for your stuff.
Howth itself deserves more than just the ferry trip. The village has a castle, a working harbour, the National Transport Museum, and one of Dublin’s best Sunday markets. If you’re coming out on the DART from the city, it’s worth making a half-day of the whole thing rather than just the island crossing.