Getting Around Ireland
Irish Rail connects Dublin, Cork, Galway, and most major towns comfortably and cheaply ($20-40 one-way) — genuinely the best option if you're sticking to cities. But the Wild Atlantic Way's real scenery needs a rental car (from about $45-75/day), since public transport along the coast is thin. The one catch every visitor has to adjust to: Ireland drives on the left.
Getting to Ireland
Dublin Airport is Ireland's main international gateway, with direct flights from most major US, UK, and European cities, plus growing connections from further afield. From the US East Coast, expect 6-8 hours (9-11 from the West Coast), with round-trip fares typically $350-800; from most of Europe it's just 1-2 hours and often $150-350 round-trip. From Australia/NZ, expect 20+ hours with at least one connection.
Getting around: the real options
Ireland splits cleanly into two transport modes depending on your itinerary: trains and buses handle the cities well, while a rental car is genuinely necessary if the Wild Atlantic Way's coastal scenery is part of your plan.
- Trains — Irish Rail (Iarnrod Eireann) connects Dublin to Cork (~2.5 hours), Galway (~2.5 hours), and most other major towns comfortably and affordably ($20-40 one-way); genuinely the best option for a Dublin-plus-one-or-two-cities trip that skips the west coast drive.
- Buses — Bus Eireann and private operators (Aircoach, CityLink, GoBus) cover routes trains don't reach, often cheaper than the train and just as comfortable, though slower on longer routes.
- Domestic flights — barely worth considering; Ireland is small enough that trains and driving cover every destination in this guide faster once you include airport time, except perhaps Dublin to Donegal in the far northwest.
- Car rental / driving — essential for the Wild Atlantic Way and the Ring of Kerry, where public transport is thin. Ireland drives on the left, rental cars are manual transmission by default (request automatic ahead of time, at a premium), and rural roads narrow fast with sheep as a genuine hazard.
Getting around inside cities
Dublin's city center is compact and walkable, with Luas trams and Dublin Bus covering the rest for about $2-3 a ride. Cork and Galway are both small enough to walk almost everywhere. FreeNow (formerly mytaxi) is the dominant taxi-hailing app across Dublin, Cork, and Galway — Uber does technically operate in Dublin, but by Irish law it can only dispatch licensed taxi drivers, not private cars, so in practice it functions more like a taxi app than the private-driver Uber you might expect elsewhere.
| Route/option | Typical cost | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Dublin Airport to city center | $8-10 (Aircoach/bus) or $25-35 (taxi/FreeNow) | 30-45 min |
| Dublin to Galway (train) | $20-35 | ~2.5 hours |
| Rental car, per day (compact, basic insurance) | $45-75 | — |
If you're renting a car, request an automatic transmission when you book, not when you arrive — Ireland's rental fleet defaults to manual, automatics are a smaller pool that sells out faster, and switching to the left side of the road is hard enough without also relearning a clutch.
The M50 toll — the one fee rental drivers forget about
If your route touches Dublin at all, you'll almost certainly cross the M50 motorway ring — it's barrier-free, so there's no toll booth to stop and pay at. Instead, you have until 8pm the NEXT day to pay online at eflow.ie, by phone, or at a PayZone/Circle K shop (car rates from 2026 run €2.60–€3.80 depending on how you pay). Miss that window and the fee escalates fast — a late charge the next day, then a much larger fine after about two weeks, and eventually court proceedings for repeat non-payment. Rental cars often bill unpaid tolls straight to your card afterward with their own admin fee on top, so it's cheaper and less hassle to just pay it yourself within the window.
Common transport mistakes
- Assuming you won't need a car because 'Ireland is small' — the cities are well connected by rail, but the Wild Atlantic Way's best stretches have almost no public transport, so a car is the only realistic way to see them.
- Underestimating driving time on rural roads — winding, narrow coastal roads take noticeably longer than the same distance on a motorway; add 30-50% to any GPS estimate.
- Expecting Uber to work like it does elsewhere — in Dublin it only dispatches licensed taxis, and it doesn't operate at all in most of the rest of the country; download FreeNow as your main backup.