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Private Newgrange and Monasterboice Tour with Expert Guide
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From €675 per person
Newgrange is older than the Egyptian pyramids - we’re talking 5,200 years of history sitting right here in County Meath. This private tour takes you there with a fully qualified expert guide, then on to Monasterboice, one of Ireland’s finest early Christian monastic sites. You travel in a private, air-conditioned vehicle throughout, and the whole day moves at your pace.
Your guide brings both sites to life with the myths, archaeology, and remarkable craftsmanship that shaped early Ireland. Newgrange in particular rewards having someone who knows the site well - the megalithic art and the story of the solstice alignment don’t fully land without context.
A light lunch is included, and the tour suits all ages and fitness levels.
Newgrange and Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre
Newgrange is one of the most important Neolithic sites in the world - built over 5,000 years ago, predating both the Great Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge. You’ll explore the passageway and inner burial chamber and see the largest collection of megalithic art in Europe. The Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre has excellent interactive exhibits, detailed models, and information displays on the Neolithic period. Travel time from your pickup is included in the 180-minute allocation for this stop.
Note: Admission tickets are not included in the tour price. The cost is €18 per person, covering both Newgrange and Knowth passage tombs.
Monasterboice
Located in County Louth, this early Christian monastic site was founded in the late 5th century by St. Buithe, a disciple of St. Patrick. It thrived as a centre of religion and learning until Mellifont Abbey was established nearby in 1142. Monasterboice is best known for its stunning high crosses - Muiredach’s High Cross in particular is considered one of the finest examples of Celtic stone carving in Ireland. There’s also a round tower that once served as a refuge during Viking raids. Travel time back to your hotel is included in the 120-minute allocation for this stop.
Book Newgrange early. Entry to the passage tomb itself is by timed ticket, and slots fill up weeks ahead in summer. The €18 admission covers both Newgrange and Knowth - your guide can advise on timing, but it’s worth confirming ticket availability before your tour date, since the visitor centre operates independently.
Arrive at Monasterboice with time to look slowly. The site is free, open, and often quiet compared with Newgrange. Muiredach’s High Cross rewards a few minutes of close reading - the carved biblical panels wrap around all four faces and the detail only shows itself when you stop and look. The round tower alongside it is one of the best-preserved in Ireland.
The Boyne Valley holds more than one day. If you’re based nearby, the area is dense with Neolithic and early Christian monuments. Mellifont Abbey, the first Cistercian monastery founded in Ireland in 1142, is a short drive from Monasterboice - the same Cistercian wave that would later found Bective Abbey further down the Boyne Valley.
Dress for the site, not the vehicle. Newgrange’s outer kerb and the passage approach are on open ground in exposed countryside. The vehicle is air-conditioned and comfortable, but the sites themselves are outdoors and the Boyne Valley can be brisk even in summer.
Slane is 13km from Newgrange and sits right on the Boyne Valley road. The village is four matched Georgian houses at a crossroads - built in the 1700s to impress, and they still do. The Hill of Slane above it is where Saint Patrick is said to have lit the Paschal fire in 433 AD in defiance of the High King. The Slane Whiskey Distillery, in the old stable yards of Slane Castle, does tours and tastings. If your guide is flexible on the route back, it’s a fifteen-minute detour worth knowing about.
Drogheda is fifteen minutes south of Monasterboice. The town is the natural base for anyone doing the Boyne Valley over more than one day - Newgrange is fifteen minutes west, Monasterboice is a short drive north, and Drogheda itself has the shrine of Oliver Plunkett on West Street (the head of the Archbishop of Armagh, hanged at Tyburn in 1681, in a brass and glass case inside the church - free entry), the intact medieval town gate at St Laurence’s, and Scholars Townhouse on King Street for dinner.
Collon sits four kilometres from the first Cistercian abbey in Ireland. Old Mellifont - founded in 1142, the mother house of every Cistercian foundation on the island - is eight minutes south of the village on the R168, and Monasterboice is eight kilometres south-east from there. The two abbeys and the high crosses are a natural afternoon pairing from this Georgian estate village. Stanley’s Bar on Main Street has been pouring pints since 1896, which is a different kind of old than a passage tomb but honest in its own way.