← All Wicklow tours via Viator · From €650 · 7-8 hours 
Day Tour from Dublin to Wicklow: Cliffs, Heritage, Wildlife, Gaol
Free cancellation 7 traveller reviews Booked securely via Viator
Check availability & prices →
From €650 per person
This private day tour swaps the city for Wicklow’s dramatic coastline and the atmospheric streets of Wicklow Town. It runs for 7-8 hours and combines a rugged cliff walk with time in one of Ireland’s most historically layered county towns.
The coastal section takes you along the cliffs above the Irish Sea, where grey seals and various bird species are often spotted in their natural habitat. Along the route you’ll see St Bridget’s Well - the most easterly holy well in Ireland - the beach where a scene from the film Excalibur was filmed, the remains of a lime kiln and an old church ruin, a rock shelter where prehistoric flints were discovered, and all three lighthouses on Wicklow Head. After the walk, you’ll stop for a picnic of tea or coffee with fresh pastry and treats.
In the afternoon, you move into Wicklow Town itself, a 9th-century Viking settlement with a lot of history packed in. You’ll look out over the beach where St Patrick is said to have landed, visit the ruins of the Norman Black Castle, and hear the stories of one of Ireland’s main prisons. Wicklow Gaol is not included in the tour price but is on the route.
At the Black Castle, do the full 3km loop rather than just the ruins. The headland walk - south along the seafront from the town centre, around the Norman ruins on the rocks, back via the Silver Strand road - takes about an hour and the views north and south from the headland are the reward. The Black Castle was built in 1176 by Maurice Fitzgerald and burned three separate times by the O’Byrne clan. What stands is mostly Tudor-era masonry, open to the wind and free to walk around at any hour.
For lunch in Wicklow town, the Bridge Tavern on Bridge Street earns its context. It’s the pub where Captain Robert Halpin’s family ran their business - Halpin was born in the rooms above in 1836 and went on to lay 26,000 miles of undersea telegraph cable, including the first transatlantic line. A practical lunch spot with proper local history attached. The Lighthouse restaurant on South Quay is the better option if you want seafood from the boats outside, but book ahead at weekends.
Check Wicklow Gaol’s status before the tour. The Gaol on Market Hill was closed for major renovation from September 2025. If it has reopened by your visit, the stories are worth the admission - United Irishmen held after 1798, convicts transported to Australia, a military prison until 1924. Confirm at wicklowshistoricgaol.com before making it a centrepiece plan.
The octagonal lighthouse at Wicklow Head takes self-catering bookings through the Irish Landmark Trust if anyone in your group wants to extend the trip - you sleep in an 18th-century lighthouse tower above the sea. That’s a different kind of Wicklow trip, but worth knowing about.