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DUBLIN: Malahide castle and Howth MULTILINGUAL full day tour
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From €59 per person
You’ll head out from Dublin and trace the north bay coastline, moving between the interior and the sea as the day unfolds. First stop is Malahide Castle - one of Ireland’s most storied fortresses, which stayed in the hands of the Talbot family for a remarkable 800 years. Dating from the 11th century and restored to Georgian grandeur, it comes with its fair share of ghost stories, and your guide will make sure you hear them all. The tour also takes you through pretty spots like Malahide village itself, the parkland of St Anne’s, and the beach at Portmarnock.
In Howth, you have the option to walk from the Summit cliff down to the village, with views stretching across Dublin Bay to the Wicklow Mountains. Down at the harbour, keep an eye out for seals bobbing around the boats and looking for a handout. There’s free time here for lunch.
The return leg runs along Bull Island and through St Anne’s Park and Fairview - a nice way to close out the coastal loop.
The tour is available in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and German.
The Howth harbour seals are a genuine highlight. Grey seals hang around the fishing boats in Howth Harbour on a regular basis, particularly near the fish market. They’re wild and they’re used to people, so you can get a pretty good look - just don’t try to feed them or get too close. Kids absolutely love them, and honestly, so does everyone else.
Malahide Castle’s ghost stories are better than they sound. Every old castle in Ireland claims a ghost or two, but the stories attached to Malahide have some unusual historical texture behind them - the Talbot family’s 800-year occupation makes for genuinely strange family history. Let your guide tell the stories properly before you make up your mind about them.
Use the free time in Howth well. The lunch stop in Howth is genuinely free time, so have a plan. The village has a good range of seafood places right on the harbour - it’s worth eating properly here rather than grabbing something quick. If the weather is good, picking up a crab sandwich from one of the harbour stalls and eating it on the pier is one of those simple Dublin pleasures that people remember for years.
The Bull Island return is underrated. A lot of people are tired by the time the tour heads back through Bull Island and St Anne’s Park, but it’s worth paying attention. Bull Island is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a proper wild bird habitat - you might see wading birds along the mudflats, and St Anne’s Park is one of the nicer green spaces in north Dublin that most visitors never see.
The multilingual format works well for mixed groups. If you’re travelling with people who speak different languages, the audio guide format means everyone gets the full commentary in their own language without the guide having to switch back and forth. It’s a practical detail that makes a real difference over a seven-hour day.