How to get around Ireland by bus and train, get around the country in a low cost and fast way, read here.
When it comes to traveling in Ireland, most people organize an itinerary on the road, renting a car and setting off on an adventure in the country lanes. However, not everyone feels safe enough to choose to drive on the left or some simply prefer to enjoy the view from the window without worrying about the road.
Visiting the Emerald Isle by public transport is not always easy and certainly having a car allows greater autonomy and freedom, both in terms of times and places to visit, but do not lose heart! You can also enjoy a trip to Ireland by untangling buses and trains, you just need to know how to do it and how to organize yourself.
A couple of tips first of all: try, if you can, to make the ticket with "return" rate because it often allows you to save a lot and if you are a student, remember your university or school booklets / badges because often the dedicated prices are really low and it is always worthwhile to inquire about them.
Usually the greatest difficulty in traveling by public transport is to reach the smaller locations, while it is extremely easy to move to / from the airports and between major cities such as Dublin, Galway, Cork and Belfast.
The first web address I recommend is GetThere, a page that brings them all together (or almost, but we're close!) the lines of public transport in Ireland, just enter the place of departure, destination and date and a list will appear with the various options of timetables and companies. I have always found this service very useful to extricate myself from the many private companies that cover the island's routes.
On this page there is also a small section dedicated to carpooling, it is not the best of comfort and the proposals are always very few, but you never know, taking a look can not hurt and maybe you will also find something that can do your case!
La main bus company which connects almost all areas is Buseireann: it has a very dense network of routes, the service is good (even if it happens that the buses are late in some cases!) and the prices are usually among the cheapest.
A useful tool on this site is the route map, just to get an idea of which itineraries can be followed. To find the bus or buses that travel on a particular itinerary, just consult the "View Timetables" section and enter the departure and destination places to get the complete timetable, while in the "Fare Finder" section with the same details you can have an overview prices. Obviously on the main page you can do the simple search, which however created some confusing problems for me not a few times, especially the first few times!
Periodically, in the less touristy periods, such as October / November and January / February Buseireann offers tickets at discounted prices starting from € 6 each way, without differentiating between students and other passengers. These tickets must be booked in advance (even until the previous evening!) On the Expressway website and then give the booking code to the driver once on the bus, both digital and paper formats are fine.
The most frequent and easy to find links are those between Dublin and other major cities, these are some of the companies that operate on the routes: Aircoach (Dublin, Cork, Belfast, South Dublin), Citylink (Dublin, Limerick, Galway), GoBus (Dublin, Cork, Galway) and GoBé (Dublin, Cork).
From Dublin it is also possible to reach many other destinations such as Portlaoise, Kildare, Kilkenny, Waterford, Limerick, Ennis, Killarney and Tralee thanks to the Dublin Coach company (with which you also arrive in Cork), Kearns Transport serves the Midlands area, while JJ Kavanagh & Sons has connections with Waterford, Kilkenny, Limerick and Shannon, as well as many intermediate stops along these itineraries. You can reach it Glendalough with St. Kevins Bus Service company, Sligo with The Bus and County Wexford with Wexford Bus.
From Galway it is then possible to move towards Connemara with the aforementioned Citylink, towards Sligo and Co. Donegal with BusFeda, between County Galway and County Mayo with BurkesBus.
WestLink Coaches offers several routes covering the west, including Galway, Limerick, Sligo and Donegal. Also on this coast, in particular in County Claire Claire Bus opera.
In 'northern Ireland you can move very easily by public transport: from Belfast and Derry you can reach Donegal with Patrick Gallager Coaches. The Translink site, however, is the most complete and useful for understanding timetables and routes of public transport, it brings together both buses and trains. The same company offers interesting solutions for travelers like the "iLink" ticket with which you can use both bus and train and whose price varies depending on the areas in which you travel and can last one or more days.
The Irish railway lines aren't particularly extensive - there are a few main lines that connect major cities to Dublin, without many "internal" links. Choosing the train is an excellent move for long journeys, which by bus would take many more hours, but in most cases choosing to travel on wheels is cheaper, with a more frequent and more widespread service. The second negative aspect is that often the journeys are really very expensive in the face, apparently, of a service that is not as good, with often delays (even if the two times I have used the train I have not had any problems!).
One thing to note though is that Irishrail sometimes offers really interesting promotions with tickets at € 15 or € 19 even on very long routes, in this case the quality / price ratio is very good!
From Dublin, however, it is possible to reach some of the villages just outside the city with the DART lines which in about half an hour and with a few euros takes you to Howth, Malahide, Bray and many perfect places to spend a day outdoors and by the sea.
To conclude, trivial but which always works, is to contact the local tourist offices in person or by email before leaving: often there are small transport companies that only deal with one or two routes and in rural areas, so it will be very difficult to find information about it online, but tourist offices are always an infinite source of information useful!
Photography: Canadian Pacific, William Murphy, Beth, Tony Hall, spatialpan,
