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Private Guided Tour of Ireland
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From €540 per person
This private day trip takes you north of Dublin into the Boyne Valley - some of the most historically dense ground in Ireland, where you can move from a 5,000-year-old Neolithic passage tomb to a medieval castle that’s hosted The Rolling Stones, U2, and Guns N’ Roses in the same afternoon.
Your guide-driver takes care of everything in an air-conditioned vehicle. Getting from Dublin to Brú na Bóinne (the Newgrange area) takes roughly 45 minutes; plan on up to three hours at the site itself. From there, Slane is about another 30 minutes.
Newgrange - The passage tomb at Newgrange is over 5,000 years old, making it older than the pyramids. It’s a remarkable example of Neolithic construction and one of the most visited ancient monuments in Ireland. (180 min)
16th-century Franciscan church ruins - The ruins of a Franciscan church with deep early Christian roots. According to tradition, St Patrick lit an Easter fire here in the 5th century to spread the Christian faith and draw the attention of the Irish King Laoghaire on the nearby Hill of Tara. (30 min)
Slane Castle - The grounds of this 18th-century castle sit on the banks of the River Boyne in a natural amphitheatre. It has hosted legendary rock concerts by The Rolling Stones, U2, Guns N’ Roses, and many more. (60 min)
Hill of Tara - The Royal Seat of the High Kings of Ireland: an ancient ceremonial and burial site dating from the Neolithic through to the Iron Age. You’ll see the Stone of Destiny and the Mound of the Hostages. (60 min)
Newgrange is older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian Pyramids. That fact hits differently when you’re standing inside the chamber. Built around 3200 BC, the passage tomb was engineered so that on the winter solstice - 21 December - the rising sun shines directly down the entrance passage and lights up the inner chamber for about 17 minutes. The alignment is exact. Access to the monument is managed through the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, so your guide will have everything arranged before you arrive.
The Hill of Tara is quieter than Newgrange and just as worth your time. It doesn’t have a dramatic structure to walk through, but standing on that ridge with the landscape spreading out below you, you understand why this was the seat of the High Kings of Ireland. The Stone of Destiny - the Lia Fáil - is still there, and the Mound of the Hostages is one of the oldest passage tombs in the country, dating back to around 2500 BC.
Slane Castle has a specific kind of magic to it. The natural amphitheatre formed by the grounds on the banks of the River Boyne means you can stand there and understand exactly why promoters chose it for some of the biggest outdoor concerts in Irish history. The Rolling Stones, U2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie - the list is long. It’s a different kind of history from Newgrange, but it’s history all the same.
The Franciscan ruins connect two strands of Irish spiritual history. The site ties early Christian tradition - with St Patrick’s Easter fire - to the later medieval church, and the physical remains give you a sense of how layered religious life in this part of Ireland has always been. It’s a short stop but one that tends to stay with people.
A moderate level of fitness is needed for this tour. Newgrange involves some walking and a slightly low entrance passage into the tomb itself. The Hill of Tara is open ground with some gentle slopes. Neither is strenuous, but it’s not a tour designed to be done entirely from a vehicle.