Dublin to Wicklow Mountains Glendalough Private Luxury Day Tour

About This Tour

County Wicklow sits right on Dublin’s doorstep, but it feels like a world away. This private full-day tour takes you out of the city and into some of Ireland’s most rewarding countryside - with a local expert guide who knows the stories behind every hill and ruin.

The day moves at your pace. You’ve got the vehicle to yourselves, a knowledgeable guide, and a route that takes in a genuinely impressive spread: coastal views, one of the world’s most celebrated gardens, a dramatic waterfall, a lake that looks like it was designed for a painting, and Ireland’s most visited early-Christian monastic site.

What’s Included

• Private transportation
• WiFi on board
• Bottled water
• Air-conditioned vehicle
• Tour Guide

What’s Not Included

• Lunch
• Gratuities

Itinerary

1. You leave Dublin on a scenic drive along Dublin Bay, taking in views of the Irish coastline before the city gives way to the Wicklow hills.
2. Your first stop is Powerscourt Gardens - rated the third most beautiful garden in the world by National Geographic. Allow around 2 hours to explore the terraced grounds and formal planting. (120 min)
3. A short drive brings you to Powerscourt Waterfall, at 121 metres the tallest waterfall in Ireland. It plunges over rocky cliffs into a wooded valley - worth the walk in. (30 min)
4. Next up is Lough Tay, locally known as Guinness Lake. The dark water against the pale sandy beach is a striking combination, and the surrounding mountains make it one of the most photographed spots in Wicklow. (20 min)
5. The tour finishes at Glendalough, where St. Kevin founded a monastery in the 6th century. You can walk the ruins at your own pace - the round tower, the stone churches, the two glacial lakes. It’s a genuinely atmospheric place. (60 min)
6. Lunch at Wicklow Heather Restaurant. (45 min)

Good to Know

• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• Infants can ride in a pram or stroller; infants must sit on an adult’s lap during travel
• Public transport is available nearby
• This is a private tour - just your group, no strangers added
• Conducted in English

Local Tips

Arrive at Glendalough with enough time to walk between the lakes. The itinerary gives you 60 minutes at the monastic site, which is enough for the ruins and a look at the Lower Lake. If your group wants more, it’s worth asking your guide about timing flexibility - the flat Green Road from the visitor centre to the Upper Lake takes about 25 minutes each way and the change in atmosphere between the two lakes is worth the extra steps.

Lunch at the Wicklow Heather is a highlight in itself. The restaurant doubles as the Writers’ Room bar, with walls lined in signed first editions of Joyce, Yeats, and Heaney that the owners actually bought. It’s more restaurant than pub, but the food is serious - Wicklow lamb and game in season. The same team also runs the hotel bar at Glendalough Hotel, ten paces from the round tower car park, if you want a quieter drink while the valley settles.

On the drive back, your guide can take the Sally Gap route via the R115. The Military Road across the bog adds about 20 minutes but is one of the great mountain roads in Leinster - treeless, long views, and a completely different landscape from the valley you’ve just left. Worth asking about, especially in good light.

The round tower doorway at Glendalough is three and a half metres off the ground - the monks pulled the ladder up when the Vikings came. Your guide will know the story, but it’s the detail that sticks. The conical roof was rebuilt from original stones in 1876 after a lightning strike; the walls themselves are 10th or 11th-century mica-slate and granite.

Powerscourt Gardens are in Enniskerry village, a small estate village laid out in the 1760s to house the Powerscourt workers. The village square has Poppies café - open since 1982, proper soup and home baking - which makes a better stop than the estate café in the restored house shell. If your group wants the waterfall too, it’s a separate 6km drive from the gardens, a separate entry fee, and a different experience - louder, wilder, 121 metres over granite. Worth asking your guide about timing if you want both.

Nearby on IrelandMe

• Glendalough - a 6th-century monastic city at the bottom of two glacial lakes, with a round tower, seven churches, and the highest walk in Wicklow above the Upper Lake
• Enniskerry - the estate village below Powerscourt; National Geographic ranked the gardens third in the world; the waterfall 6km away is 121 metres over granite and worth the extra drive
• Roundwood - Ireland’s highest village at 238m, 15 minutes north on the R755, with a 17th-century inn known for Wicklow lamb and Hungarian goulash that has been on the menu since the 1980s