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Luxury Tour Of Waterford Crystal & Kilkenny City Tour
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From €195 per person
This full-day trip from Dublin takes you southeast to two of Ireland’s most rewarding historic destinations - Waterford, Ireland’s oldest city with its Viking origins, and Kilkenny, the medieval capital. You travel by air-conditioned minivan with a driver/guide and get a proper look at both places rather than a rushed stop at each.
House of Waterford Crystal (120 min) - Waterford Crystal has been made in this city for over two hundred years, and the tour of the House of Waterford gives you a genuine sense of why it’s famous. You’ll watch craftsmen work at furnaces running at 1,400°C, shaping molten crystal by hand into pieces of real elegance. The contrast of heat, noise, and precision is something you won’t forget quickly. After the tour, you can have a light lunch in Waterford or browse the 12,000 square foot retail store on-site.
Kilkenny City Walking Tour (120 min) - Kilkenny is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Ireland, and a private walking tour puts it all in context. You’ll see Kilkenny Castle, which has stood above the River Nore since the 13th century and been expanded and altered over eight hundred years. The tour also takes in the historic laneways, medieval townhouses, and Smithwick’s - Ireland’s oldest operating brewery. Your guide will point out Kyteler’s Inn, famous in Irish history as the site of Ireland’s only witch burning, which took place in 1324.
The tour departs at 8:00 AM from Nassau Street, Dublin 2, opposite The Kilkenny store.
Maximum group size is 16 travellers. Service animals are welcome, public transport options are available nearby, and children must be accompanied by an adult. Suitable for all fitness levels. Conducted in English.
At Waterford, the Crystal tour is only part of the Viking Triangle. The House of Waterford Crystal sits on the Mall, a short walk from Reginald’s Tower - a round tower built by the Vikings in 914 and the oldest urban building in Ireland still standing. The Medieval Museum and the Bishop’s Palace are within a hundred paces of each other on the same street. If your lunch time in Waterford allows a 15-minute walk, the Viking Triangle is the most concentrated stretch of authentic urban heritage on the island.
Try to get a Waterford blaa before you leave the city. It’s a soft white flour-dusted bread roll - the kind of thing that sounds modest until you eat one warm from Walsh’s Bakehouse near the Crystal centre. The blaa has EU protected status (PGI since 2013) and you can only get the real thing in Waterford. It’s the best €1.50 you’ll spend all day.
In Kilkenny, the Medieval Mile walk costs nothing. Kilkenny Castle to St Canice’s Cathedral is 1.5 km of medieval laneways, the Tholsel, Rothe House, the Black Abbey and the Butter Slip - all of it free to walk, all of it on the way. The walking tour your guide takes you on covers this ground, but it’s useful to know that the round tower at St Canice’s is climbable (100 steps, 9th-century stone, not for anyone with a bad hip) and the views from the top put the whole layout of Kilkenny in context.
Tynan’s Bridge House is the locals’ choice for a pint. If you have a free moment in Kilkenny before departure, Tynan’s on John’s Bridge has a tiled floor, a mahogany bar, and a stout that most of the town reckons is the best in Kilkenny. No food, no music, no screens. Just the room.