Dublin City To Marble City - Kilkenny City Private Day Tour

About This Tour

Your private chauffeur guide picks you up at your Dublin hotel and drives you down to Kilkenny - Ireland’s heritage capital and one of the country’s most rewarding day trips. The city sits on the banks of the River Nore and packs a lot into a small footprint: a 12th-century castle, a medieval discovery trail, a contemporary art gallery, independent boutiques, and some seriously good food and drink.

Tickets to Kilkenny Castle and the Medieval Mile Museum are included. At the end of the day, your driver brings you back to Dublin.

What’s Included

• Private transportation in an air-conditioned vehicle
• Attraction tickets: Kilkenny Castle and Medieval Mile Museum
• Bottled water
• All fees and taxes

What’s Not Included

• Gratuities (15% recommended)

Itinerary

1. Drive from Dublin to Kilkenny. (90 min)
2. Guided or self-guided tour of Kilkenny Castle and its grounds. The 12th-century castle is one of the most recognisable landmarks in Ireland. (60 min)
3. A visit to the Kilkenny Design Centre, housed in the old stables of Kilkenny Castle. The centre has excellent collections of jewellery, knitwear, gifts, and glassware from some of Ireland’s best craftspeople and designers. (30 min)
4. Across the road, the Butler Gallery is a contemporary art space in the old castle kitchens. It shows domestic and international work including an impressive collection of 20th-century art. Entry is free and it opens every day. (30 min)
5. The Medieval Mile Museum guided tour: 800 years of Kilkenny history under one roof. Starting at the museum, your guide takes you through the medieval city - the architecture of Rothe House and Shee’s Almshouse, stories of witchcraft on Kieran Street, Kyteler’s Inn, and the site of Smithwick’s Brewery, once the home of a medieval friary. (120 min)
6. Lunch stop at the Left Bank Bar - a world-famous bar and grill set inside a beautifully renovated Victorian banking hall. (60 min)
7. Drive back to Dublin. (90 min)

Good to Know

• 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
• Suitable for all fitness levels
• This is a private tour, conducted in English

Local Tips

Kilkenny is called the Marble City after the local black limestone - fossil-flecked, polished up like marble - that everything is built from. Walk the footpaths after rain and the stones go almost mirror-shiny under the streetlights. The whole medieval centre runs barely 1.5 km from Kilkenny Castle to St Canice’s Cathedral, which means you can cover a lot of ground on foot without feeling rushed.

The Medieval Mile Museum guided section is the highlight of this itinerary for most visitors. It’s not just the building - the guided walk through the lanes to Rothe House, the Butter Slip, and the sites around Kieran Street fills in the context the castle alone doesn’t give you. Kyteler’s Inn on the route is on the site of Dame Alice Kyteler’s house, where Ireland’s first recorded witchcraft trial was held in 1324. Alice herself escaped to England; her maid, Petronella de Meath, did not.

If there’s any time before the lunch stop, Tynan’s Bridge House on John’s Bridge is the pub most locals point to for the best pint of stout in Kilkenny. It’s a short walk from the medieval centre, no food, no music - just a tiled floor, a mahogany bar, and a proper glass.

The Left Bank Bar lunch stop is in a beautifully restored Victorian banking hall. If the weather is fine, ask whether there’s outdoor seating - the terrace is the place to sit if it’s available.

The return drive to Dublin on the M9 is about 90 minutes. It’s the easiest motorway run in the country, which leaves room for a longer afternoon at the Design Centre or in the castle parkland before you head back.

Nearby on IrelandMe

• Kilkenny - smallest city in Ireland, with a Norman castle, the Medieval Mile, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and a hurling county that won’t let you forget it