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Dublin to Powerscourt, Wicklow, Glendalough Private Guided Tour
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From €580 per person
This is your day - designed around you. On this private tour of County Wicklow, you get to choose which places to visit, how long to linger, and what kind of day you want. If you’d rather spend an extra hour by the lakes at Glendalough than rush through a checklist of sights, that’s exactly what you’ll do.
Wicklow is called the “Garden of Ireland” for good reason. It’s a county of sweeping green valleys, heather-clad hills, and some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country. Powerscourt House and Garden is one of the great estates of Ireland - the gardens alone are worth a morning. Then there’s the Sally Gap, where the road crosses open bogland with wide views you won’t easily forget. Along the way, Lough Tay - the “Guinness Lake” - sits in a dramatic hollow and has stood in for locations in both Braveheart and Vikings.
Glendalough is the kind of place that stops you in your tracks. The 6th-century monastic site founded by St Kevin sits among two glacial lakes, and the round tower rising above the ruins has been standing for over a thousand years. You can take a guided walk through the site, or head up to the upper lake if you fancy a longer wander.
Your local qualified guide picks you up in Dublin and is with you throughout the day.
Use the flexibility of this private tour to time Enniskerry right. The Powerscourt Gardens open at 9.30am; if you can arrange pickup early enough to arrive by then, you’ll have the 47 acres of terraces, the Triton Lake and the walled garden largely to yourself before the coach traffic arrives around eleven. National Geographic ranked these gardens third in the world - that reputation has consequences for parking and crowds. Your guide will know the timing.
For lunch, tell your guide you want a rural pub rather than an estate café. Poppies on the square in Enniskerry has been open since 1982, does honest soup and sandwiches, and is better than anything in the estate itself. If your group wants a longer sit-down, ask your guide about options in the Wicklow Mountains - there are rural pubs along the Sally Gap road that don’t appear in most guidebooks.
At Glendalough, take the optional upper lake walk. The flat Green Road from the monastic site to the Upper Lake is only about 1.5 km each way and passes through the valley’s best landscape. With 30 minutes at the guided site and 60 minutes for the upper lake walk, you’ll cover the round tower, the cathedral, the seven churches and the lake shore - without feeling rushed. The Spinc boardwalk above the Upper Lake is a more serious climb (4 hours) and is better suited to a full day dedicated to Glendalough.
Plan your return via the Sally Gap road if the weather allows. The R115 Military Road from Glendalough north through Sally Gap is one of the finest drives in Ireland - open bogland, mountain streams, wide skies, and the Guinness Lake visible from a pull-in at the top. It adds time to the Dublin return but is worth building in. Your guide on a private tour can adjust the route; it’s worth asking.