Itinerary
Day 1: Dublin - Cork
Stop At: Blarney Castle & Gardens, Monacnapa, Blarney, Cork T23 Y598 Ireland
On arrival in Cork at 09:35, we transfer to our Railtours Ireland coach to travel through Cork City to Blarney Village and Castle – which is over 600 years old.
Explore the beautiful gardens and you will have time to kiss the famous stone, which is said to bestow the gift of eternal eloquence on those lucky enough to do so. There is also time for shopping and lunch at Blarney Village.
TIP! We recommend that you have lunch there, as this will be the only opportunity during the day to have a substantial meal.
You depart Blarney at 13:30 hrs. Approximately – or as directed by your Host – for Cóbh, via the city centre and a short city tour.
Duration: 3 hours
Stop At: Cobh Cathedral, Cathedral Terrace, Cobh None Ireland
On arrival at Cóbh (pronounced: Cove), we will visit St Colman’s Cathedral. We will then proceed down along the sea front passing the former White Star Line offices en route to the beautifully restored Victorian railway station/transatlantic terminal. This is now the Cóbh Heritage Centre, home to the Queenstown Story to which your entrance is included.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Cobh Heritage Centre The Queenstown Story, Deepwater Quay Lower Road, Cobh P24 CY67 Ireland
When Queen Victoria visited Ireland in 1849 she came to Cóbh and the town was renamed Queenstown in her honour – it was renamed Cóbh after Irish independence in 1922. Cóbh was of course the final port of call of the RMS Titanic and this theme is well expounded.
The centre also houses much information about the Great Famine and the subsequent Irish Emigration.
The Lusitania was torpedoed off the coast of Cork – marking the United States’ entry to the First World War – and the small number of survivors were brought to Cóbh for refuge.
Cóbh is also the headquarters of the Irish Navy and you will most likely see some navy ships.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
No meals included on this day.
Accommodation included: Killarney
Day 2: The Ring of Kerry
Stop At: Ring of Kerry, Ireland
You will be collected from your accommodation at 09:45 (or as directed by our Killarney representative) for your Ring of Kerry tour. There are plenty of stops along the Ring of Kerry for morning tea, lunch and photo stops etc. Ireland’s highest mountains are located in Kerry, and Carrantuohill – which can be seen en route – is the highest, standing at 1041 metres tall.
An essential part of any visit to Ireland, this tour circles the magnificent MacGillycuddy Reeks and runs through its many passes and valleys along the shores of Dingle Bay and Kenmare Bay.
The beautiful nature of the Ring of Kerry provides many photo opportunities, as it passes through the many picturesque villages such as Glenbeigh, Waterville and Sneem. We return via Ladies View, the famous Lakes of Killarney and through the Oakwoods of Killarney's magnificent National Park.
At the end of the tour you will be returned to your accommodation where, again, the evening is free.
Duration: 7 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast: Enjoy breakfast before departing on your tour.
Accommodation included: killarney
Day 3: Limerick - The Cliffs of Moher - The Burren - Galway Bay
Stop At: Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Bunratty Co Clare, Bunratty Ireland
Between 07.00 and 07.15 you will be collected from your accommodation and transferred by road to Limerick City, where you will join the coach for the Cliffs of Moher & Galway Bay tour. We arrive in Limerick shortly after 9am, where we will join our Railtours Ireland tour coach.
After a brief city tour, we head out to Bunratty Castle and admission is included. The castle was completed in 1425 and, after many years of neglect, has been restored to its former glory. There is also a folk park here and many of the buildings – including the village – were dismantled at various locations in the region and rebuilt, brick by brick, at their present location.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Stop At: Cliffs of Moher, Lislorkan North, Liscannor Ireland
There is a lunch stop at O’ Connor’s Pub in Doolin before arriving at the majestic Cliffs of Moher – among the highest sea cliffs in Western Europe. There is plenty of time to visit Ireland’s second most popular tourist attraction and your host will advise you of the departure time.
Duration: 2 hours
Stop At: The Burren House Farm County Clare, Ireland Ireland
From the Cliffs of Moher, we take the coast road for much of the way to Galway, with time for photos along The Burren. This is a national park and the word Burren comes from the Irish Language – meaning ‘rocky place’.
Today the Burren is noted for its diverse flora with few parallels elsewhere in Ireland or indeed, Europe. As time permits, we will make a short stop here for photographs.
We continue along the coast road to Black Head, passing the pretty coastal villages of Ballyvaughan and Kinvara before joining the main road to Galway, where we will arrive shortly after 17:00. Ask your host if there is time to explore the streets around Eyre Square.
At the end of the day the coach will set you down at Eyre Square in the centre of Galway City adjacent to your hotel (and the railway station). You will be directed to your hotel by your host and your evening is free in Galway.
Duration: 2 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast: Enjoy breakfast before being transferred to Limerick and the Cliffs of Moher.
Accommodation included: Overnight at your 3*/4* hotel in Galway city centre.
Day 4: Connemara - Galway - Dublin
Stop At: Kylemore Abbey & Victorian Walled Garden, Connemara On the N59 between Clifden and Westport, Kylemore H91 VR90 Ireland
We head out to Connemara – one of Ireland’s Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) regions and visit Kylemore Abbey – an 18th century castle now owned by the Benedictine nuns who run an excellent pottery, gift shop and restaurant here. We stop here for lunch.
Our tour of Connemara heads homewards towards Galway City, along the shores of Galway bay, through the Gaeltacht villages of Inverin and Spiddal. There are splendid views of Galway Bay, and across the bay the Burren and the hills of County Clare can be seen, which you visited on Day Three.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Meals included:
• Breakfast: Enjoy breakfast before your Connemara tour.
No accommodation included on this day.
See Availability.
Dublin Heuston, Heuston Station Saint John's Road West, Saint James, Dublin, Ireland
07:00 AM
4 days(approx.)
Returns to original departure point
PLEASE NOTE: If you are booking a double occupancy room, please specify in 'Special Requirements' whether you prefer a double or a twin-bed room (subject to availability).
Due to operational reasons it may, on occasion, be necessary to alter certain itineraries.
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Children U16 cannot book independently. They must be accompanied by a parent/guardian at all times.
WHEELCHAIR POLICY: Railtours Ireland First Class ltd very successfully offers hosted railtours for the independent traveller. Our tours are a combination of train and luxury coach and include a moderate level of physical activity, such as short walks to meeting points etc. Unfortunately even the most modern luxury coaches (buses) are not wheelchair friendly, thus our tours are not suitable for those with mobility issues, and regretfully walkers, wheelchairs and mobility scooters cannot be accommodated on our tours.
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 53 travelers
Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Posted By : dianemC4133QV
Brian our tour guide for most of our trip was the most informative, friendly and lovely gentleman. We learned so much about the country and totally enjoyed our trip. Andrea and Gerry also deserve high praise because they also were amazing.
RIT made our trip to Ireland magical. Thank you so much. Will highly recommend this company.
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-10-19
Posted By : A5253LMmaggiem
We enjoyed a fantastic tour! Everything was excellent from start to finish. The tour guides (Terrence, Michael, Ian, Shelia and others) truly made the trip - they were incredibly welcoming, knowledgeable, and accommodating. The sights, accommodations, food/beverage stops were all perfect. Thank you Railtours for making our first trip to Ireland so memorable!
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Posted On : 2023-07-22
Posted By : amybY4045RI
I absolutely LOVED my four day tour! The sites, the food, and the commentary made the hole trip! I booked this last minute not knowing what to expect, but Brian, our tour guide, made everything fun and easy! Meeting at the train station was super simple and they had everything planned for us! You do need to pay attention as meet times can change, but they tell you all of this before you leave the bus/train. I’ve wanted to go to Ireland for along time and this trip was absolutely amazing. So glad I did it. No regrets! Will be using rail tours again!
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Posted On : 2023-07-05
Posted By : bpowell888
A lot of bus travel covering some of the most beautiful scenery in the country and stops in lovely villagescto get a feel of real Ireland.
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Posted On : 2023-06-13
Posted By : alya_l
Too many transfers, people, constantly changing buses, drivers, guides, people continually on and off the bus. No congruency, reservations messed up, didn’t have tickets or rooms ready for extremely expensive single supplement I paid $2k for for our daughter. It was a mess, disjointed and boring with really long bus rides that weren’t worth the drive or time.
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Posted On : 2023-06-04
Posted By : jeannefreeman
Viatour puts the tour together for you, which is convenient. If I had to do it over, I would book directly with the tour operators and skip the Viatour layer. The experience was fantastic. However, a viatour limitation (which I didn't notice at the time- my fault) is they don't allow you to select single supplement when you are booking a group. Our family of 3 traveled together, I always book two rooms. I somehow missed that piece on the Viator site and they automatically default to a triple accommodation. Luckily we were traveling during the low season and so the hotels could get us a single room in addition to the preassigned triple. Viator could fix this by putting that into the booking at the start (like hotels do). Their offices were always closed when we checked in and so each stop we had to fix it, pay the extra, etc. etc. Not a huge problem, but pretty unnecessary. They booked us with a company called Railtours Ireland. That company is excellent, our guide was hilarious (Brian. and his coworkers call him MadBrian". We had a lot of fun. The railtour company makes it super easy to see the highlights. I would skip Viatour and just book your tours separately.
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Posted On : 2023-04-02
Posted By : 752karlieg
My experience with Rail Tours was absolutely amazing. I was so impressed with the amount of care and knowledge each tour guide had. As a first time solo traveler this experience was perfect for me and I felt so well taken care of each step of the way. All of the tour guides were so kind! John Todd really helped me out by taking pictures for me at the Cliffs of Moher so now I have great photos that captured the experience. I would highly recommend Rail Tours for people who want to experience as much of Ireland in a short time as they possibly can!
Rating :
Posted On : 2023-02-02
Posted By : JanetM1838
We had a fantastic time on our four day tour. Brian was informative, interesting and funny. He shared great tips and recommendations each day. It's a busy few days but we appreciated the organized itinerary. Yes, be prepared to move your luggage each day so pack accordingly. It's obvious. Chosen hotels and lunch stops were great. No complaints at all. We love Ireland and its people. Five star all the way.
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Posted On : 2022-10-30
Posted By : 75shelleyc
This tour was so well organized and the tour guides were knowledgeable. This was my first tour and I enjoyed every minute. The sights were beautiful and we had lots of opportunities for pictures. Everyone was so helpful. I left my phone on the last tour bus in Galway and had to return to Dublin without it. John Todd and Tony were great and calmed me down, assured me they would find it which they did and it was returned to me the next day. I hope to return to Ireland in the future and would definitely book with Railtours Ireland again.
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Posted On : 2022-09-30
Posted By : Inspire00871523886
We're reviewing the actual rail your company, not the trains or other companies used. As for Rail Tours and Brian/Norman, I found the actual company to be doing the absolute best they could under challenging employment shortages.
When you're far from home and you book a tour like this, you want knowledgeable people to be in control and the Rail Tours guys are good at keeping things orderly and together.
I can imagine your guides finding it tough to connect with a new batch of people constantly, but both Brian and Norman were affable and clearly cared about making sure our time in Ireland was fun.
As for the buses and their use of other companies, you cannot expect them to have large enough groups at all times. Ireland has tiny, windy, bumpy side roads that will challenge any bus driver.
The structured nature of times attractions certainly helps you see many things in Ireland, but I'd probably strike out on my own if I visited again to really get into the back country for hiking.
Rating :
Posted On : 2022-07-02
