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From Dublin: Wicklow, Powerscourt, and Glendalough Day Tour
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From €65 per person
This day trip from Dublin takes you through the heart of County Wicklow, mixing formal gardens, open mountain roads, and ancient monastic history into one well-balanced day.
The first stop is Powerscourt House and Gardens, a Palladian estate with 47 acres of grounds at the foot of Great Sugar Loaf Mountain. After that, the route heads into the mountains, stopping at the P.S. I Love You Bridge (made famous by the 2007 film) and then up through the Sally Gap to Lough Tay - the mountain lake known as Guinness Lake, set within the Guinness Estate. Then it’s on to Glendalough, where St Kevin established his monastery in the 6th century. Two lakes, walking trails, ruined churches, and a round tower set in a glacial valley - it’s one of those places that earns its reputation.
From €65 per person. The tour runs approximately 8 hours from Dublin city centre. Lunch in Enniskerry is at your own expense. Entry to Powerscourt House is also at your own expense.
The lunch stop in Enniskerry is well timed. Poppies on the village square has been open since 1982 and does proper soup, sandwiches, and home baking - the kind of place that has outlasted every food trend by ignoring them. It opens at 8.30am, so you’ll be there before the midday rush if the morning schedule runs as planned.
At Powerscourt, the house entry is a separate ticket from the gardens and is at your own expense. The gardens are the main reason to be here - National Geographic ranked them third in the world, behind Versailles and Kew. Allow at least ninety minutes to cover the terraces, the Triton Lake, and the walled garden properly. The Great Sugar Loaf frames the southern view from the terrace and on a clear day the perspective is worth pausing over.
One local note on the gardens: the Palladian house behind you was gutted by fire in November 1974 - the week after a long restoration was completed - and has been a stabilised shell since 1996. The café inside is fine for a break mid-visit, but Poppies in the village is a better lunch option.
At Glendalough, the walk from the visitor centre along the Green Road to the Upper Lake is 3 km return and takes about an hour on the flat. It covers most of the major ruins - the round tower, the cathedral, and the smaller stone churches - on the way to the quieter Upper Lake. The Upper Lake is where the valley opens up and the crowds thin. If time is short, even walking as far as the Lower Lake boardwalk (fifteen minutes each way) gives you the best of the site.