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Luxury Shore Excursion: Glendalough & Dublin Highlights
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From €109 per person
If your cruise ship docks in Dublin, this seven-hour excursion is one of the best ways to make the most of the day. You’re picked up directly from the Dublin Port Cruise Terminal in a small group tour van and taken south into County Wicklow - known as the Garden of Ireland, and the name makes sense the moment you start moving through it. Rolling hills, river glens, and dramatic landscapes that have caught the eye of Hollywood too: both P.S. I Love You and Braveheart were filmed here.
The first main stop is Glendalough, the Valley of Two Lakes. St Kevin’s Monastery here dates back to the 6th century and includes Ireland’s finest round tower. Local legend says that if you can get your hands around St Kevin’s Cross, you’ll be married within a year. On the return journey to the city, you’ll pass through some of Wicklow’s finest mountain scenery - lakes, turf hills, and the kind of views that explain why Ireland’s landscapes have stayed in people’s imaginations for generations.
After a lunch or refreshment stop, you’ll take in the sights of Dublin before being returned to your cruise ship.
The round tower’s doorway is three and a half metres off the ground. That wasn’t an architectural flourish - it’s where the monks pulled the ladder up when Vikings came up the valley looking for monastery silver. The conical roof on top was rebuilt from the original stones in 1876 after a lightning strike took it off. Stand underneath and look up.
The two lakes are not the same place. The Green Road from the visitor centre follows the Lower Lake, passing nine of the major monastic ruins on the way to the Upper Lake. On a seven-hour excursion you’ll get a taste of the valley - but if you find yourself wishing for more time, the Lower Lake to Upper Lake walk is just 3 km return and takes about an hour. The Upper Lake is the quieter, wilder one.
Arrive at Glendalough as early in the morning as the tour allows. The coach traffic from Dublin arrives around half ten and fills the car parks by eleven. The valley is a different place before the day trippers arrive. Your guide will know the timing.
The actual village is Laragh, 1.5 km east of the monastic site. Glendalough itself has a visitor centre, a hotel, and the ruins. If there’s any flexibility in the lunch stop, spend the afternoon at Glendalough and eat in Laragh at Lynham’s or Trinity Mountain Bothy - both are run by people who live in the valley and both are considerably better than the visitor centre café.