Wicklow Mountains Private Day Tour including Glendalough

About

Wicklow is called the “Garden of Ireland” for good reason, and this 8-hour private day tour gives you the time and space to understand why. Starting with a pick-up at your chosen Dublin location, your guide will share stories and local folklore along the way - the kind of context that makes the landscape make sense.

The first stop is Avoca Handweavers, the oldest wool mill in Ireland, where you can pick up high-quality Irish handcrafts and have a morning coffee before heading into the mountains.

From there, the route climbs into Wicklow Mountains National Park. You’ll make scenic stops at the Sally Gap, with sweeping views over Lough Tay and the Guinness family estate - this stretch of landscape is so striking that it was used as the backdrop for the Vikings series and scenes from Braveheart. Along the way, the guide points out the South Dublin coastline towns of Dún Laoghaire, Sandycove, and Dalkey.

After lunch at a traditional Irish pub - where you can try some local specialities - the tour continues to Glendalough. This 6th-century monastic settlement, founded by St. Kevin, is one of the most evocative sites in Ireland. The round tower alone is worth the trip. A guided hour-long hike takes you from the lower lake to the upper lake, with views across the glacial valley and some of the quieter mountain trails off the main path.

The return to Dublin city centre takes an alternate route through the National Park, giving you a different perspective on the landscape on the way home.

Good to Know

Duration is approximately 8 hours. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended for the Glendalough hike. Pick-up and drop-off are at your chosen Dublin location.

Local Tips

Time your Glendalough arrival well. The coaches tend to hit the car park around half ten. If the tour gets you there earlier or later than that window, you’ll have the round tower and the Lower Lake path to yourself. The guided hike from the Lower Lake to the Upper Lake is about 3km return and takes a comfortable hour - flat the whole way on the Green Road, past nine of the major monastic ruins.

Avoca is worth more than a coffee stop. The mill at Avoca has been weaving on this site since 1723 - it was set up to clothe the local copper miners, and the looms are still running. If you’re browsing the throws and tweeds, the café inside the mill is a decent breakfast or mid-morning stop, and the Vale of Avoca river walk begins just outside if there’s time.

Lunch in Laragh, not the visitor centre. The actual village serving Glendalough is Laragh, 1.5km east of the monastic site, where three mountain roads meet. Lynhams of Laragh is a pub that has been on this site since the 1770s - turf fire, timber, the works. The Wicklow Heather next door is the smarter option if your guide is happy with a sit-down lunch. Both are better than the visitor centre café.

On the return route, ask about the Sally Gap. The R115 north from Laragh through the Sally Gap is one of the most dramatic drives in Ireland - open blanket bog, sweeping mountain views, and Dublin Bay visible on a clear day. It adds time but the landscape is completely different from the M11 route south.

Nearby on IrelandMe

• Glendalough - a 6th-century monastic city at the foot of two glacial lakes; the round tower’s doorway is three and a half metres off the ground, which tells you everything about what it was used for
• Avoca - Ireland’s oldest working woollen mill since 1723, a Thomas Moore poem, and Fitzgerald’s pub, which was the Fountain Bar before Ballykissangel took the name and kept it
• Laragh - the crossroads village where the Military Road ends and the mountain pubs begin; Lynhams has been pouring pints here since before the road was built