← All Wicklow tours via partner · From €55 · 5 hours 
From Dublin: Wild Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough Tour
The difference between this Wicklow tour and the others is the vehicle. A smaller coach means the driver can take narrow back roads into valleys and viewpoints that the big 50-seater tour buses physically cannot reach. The result is a more intimate, off-the-beaten-path experience of mountains that are only an hour from Dublin but feel completely wild.
The guides are local, and that makes all the difference. Rather than reading from a script, they tell stories about the landscape, the people, and the history with the ease of someone who has lived it. The route takes you through the Sally Gap mountain pass, with a stop at Lough Tay - the dark mountain lake known as the Guinness Lake because the dark water against its white sand beach looks like a pint of the black stuff. This photo stop alone justifies the price difference over budget alternatives.
Glendalough is the main event, and you get a solid two hours here. That is enough to see the monastic ruins, walk the lower lake path, and make it to the upper lake if you move at a reasonable pace. The 6th-century settlement founded by Saint Kevin still has its round tower standing, along with stone churches, high crosses, and a graveyard that has been in continuous use for over a thousand years. The tour wraps up with a tasting of Glendalough Whiskey, a local distillery that draws its water from the Wicklow Mountains, which feels like a fitting way to end a day spent in its landscape.