Dublin Bus have been handing out and delivering flyers about the launch of a new route between Dublin Airport and the City Centre which is expected to start in June 2016.
This new route will be the first Dublin Bus operated route from the airport to service this part of the city and this will connect to Dublin’s light rail system (called Luas) near the Harcourt Street stop.
I thought this was a prime opportunity to go through the options to get to and from Dublin Airport. You’ll note that all of these are road based as Dublin Airport does not have any kind of rail link at this time. It takes about 30-40 minutes to get from the airport to the city and vice versa.
Dublin Bus Airlink 747
This is the standard Route 747 that has been operated for many years running from the airport and north side of the city, across the river to College Green and then down the quays by the River Liffey to Heuston Station where you can get trains to the rest of Ireland. The cost is €6.00 one way or €10.00 return.
The only down side of this service is that it uses a regular Dublin bus with minimal modifications. You bring your luggage on board yourself and store it on a luggage rack on the lower floor near the other passengers. This is still a cost effective way into the city and probably the most popular. More information is contained on the Airlink web site.
Dublin Bus Route 16
You can get a local bus from Dublin Airport to the City. This is the cheapest option at €3.30 each way from the Airport to Camden Street for example. When boarding a local bus in Dublin, it is customary to ask for your ticket by fare. In this instance, you would ask the driver for a “three thirty, please!”. Dublin Bus has an online fare calculator which you can use to find your fare and of course if you tell the driver your destination you should be charged correctly.
This bus takes a good hour or more to get to the city centre and it stops at all the local stops on the way as it is not a dedicated airport service. This means there is no luggage storage at all. I’d recommend this option for people on a seriously tight budget only!
Aircoach
The Aircoach is a private company owned by First Group that services the airport. They use proper coaches with luggage storage underneath the bus and fares depend on distance. From the Airport to the City Centre it is €7.00 one way or €12.00 return and going a little further is €8.00 one way or €14.00 return.
The great thing about Aircoach is they also run services from Belfast to Dublin Airport (£13.00/€16.00 one way and £19.00/€23.00 return) and also Cork to Dublin Airport (€20.00 one way, €30.00 return). You can also use their service from Cork and Belfast to Dublin City Centre as the coaches stop at both the airport and the city.
More information including timetables is on their web site.
Taxi
The other option is to take a taxi from the airport. All taxi’s in Dublin are metered and you can expect a taxi to cost between €25.00 and €30.00 for a journey to the city centre in regular traffic. There are taxi ranks at the airport and this is a cost effective option if there are a few of you travelling together.
I hope you found this information useful and if you have any questions please leave them in the comments.
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Thank you 🙂