Shore Excursion from Dublin: Including Dublin highlights and Glendalough

The tour provided two different perspectives of Dublin - the serene and luscious countryside and the metropolitan busy city. Our guide had a very strong Irish accent in addition to issues with the microphone so we were not able to capture and appreciate the information he was trying to provide, which was dispensed in a rather incoherent form. Unlike other tour groups, he did not accompany us to tour the lake so we followed other guides and listened to their descriptions.

Glendalough is very pretty and a nice little walk through the woods to the lake. We than had about 2 hours to walk around Dublin.

The visit to the monastic cemetery where my great, great, great grandfather is buried. Did not find his gravestone but just knowing that was where he was buried was super.

Great tour guide.
Beautiful Glendalough.
Would have enjoyed another stop in Dublin. Maybe a cathedral or some famous site?
But we’re glad we booked it.

We did a Paddywagon tour in Dublin and we loved it. Our tour guide/bus driver was Alex was fantastic. Funny, helpful, informative, and the best accent of anybody on our entire 15 day cruise! We highly recommend Paddywagon!

The countryside was nice, but it was a long ride with not much to see. We waites an hour for some people that never came. The tour was already short due to the time the ship was in port. Waiting for people who can't follow instructions made it even shorter. Way too expensive for what we received.

This tour was wonderful and beautiful. We had Alex as our tour guide for Dublin and Cobh. He is wonderful, kind and really makes you feel like a friend and local. Taught us everything we needed to know and was also funny. Would definitely book with him again.

We loved the Glendalough and the pub high in the mountains was awesome. Tour guide very good. Driver was very good. Time was allowed for plenty of time on our own.

I booked a shore excursion for all day to Wicklow but I was at Dun Langoshire port not Dublin Port but they didnt specify which port and I didn't know there were 2 Dublin Ports and didn't see a bus when I got off and was told there were 2 ports. So thats okay, I took the train to the Dublin downtown office and a nice guy offered me 1 ticket for the afternoon to Wicklow if it wasn’t sold out. He said he would check and then he said it was sold out. Just then, 2 people from my same cruise walked in and said they were cancelling the exact trip leaving in 30 minutes on the Wicklow tour I wanted and of course they knew they wouldn’t get a refund and offered to give me the ticket. They said "give it to her in front of the staff" The tour was leaving in 30 minutes so I said, I’ll take their ticket since 2 cancelled and it’s $33 and mine was originally $75, its all good. Then the employee named Trupal said I’m overbooked and you can’t have it. I said “they just cancelled and it’s leaving now” and she said I can’t let you on. So basically Paddywagon kept their money and my money. I would blame the ship and my not knowing there was 2 ports but when she couldn’t let me in a tour leaving in 30 minutes when 2 people cancelled right in front of me and said I could have it, it seemed this Trupal lady was just being mean and my dream to do to Wicklow dashed and I tried hard to go and she seemed to be happy to see how hurt I was by denying my the tour. There was no reason, she was just mean and the rest of the staff looked on at her as Im in tears. When the lady on the trip said “you can have ours” I said I just need one and Trupal and other employees watched as she refused to let me use my fellow passenger cruise ticket. That was just to steal their money and my money at that point. Very bad business. I won’t let this go. No reason I couldn’t 1 of their 2 tickets, they bought, and said I could have. I hope Paddywagon sold their tickets for a tour leaving in 30 minutes to get double the money and it’s worth the $74 I lost for my all day tour and think its worth it. Screwing people out of money for no reason. Maybe just refund my money since your office was super inflexible, for no reason. I was in the office and the tour was pulling up any minute. I would have rather went in the trip, not the $74 since I can't go now, I was leaving the next day. Really bad staff at the downtown Dublin office. In the future use Wild Atlantic Tours or Galway Tour Company, there were great and even dropped us back off at the ship though meeting place was 15 minute walk into town since half of us were from the cruise. Paddywagon isnt that caring or flexible.

This is one of three tours we did with Paddywagon on our British Isles cruise in June/July. We enjoyed them all, but this was our favorite. Paul was an exceptional driver/guide and it was a nice balance visiting the National park and downtown Dublin.

Amazing scenery. Knowledgeable guide. Bus is clean & in good condition. Battlefield tour was great. Plenty of time to explore was given

The tour was great value for money. The driver was very informative with a great sense of humour. Pick up and drop off was exactly as stated. Back to the ship in plenty of time. Will definitely use this company again

Be advised that this tour involves considerable walking. Glendaloch is walking trails between two lakes and some ruins. The scenery is beautiful. It is very popular with tour groups. There is a cafe with food service and an ample number of restrooms. On our walk the weather alternated between sun and rain. We were a small group of 10 on a small bus. The driver unfortunately arrived late to pick us up, having been given the wrong pick up time ('I thought I was 40 minutes early, but found I was 20 minutes late,' he quipped), but made up for it with excellent driving and a great sense of humor. We made several photo op stops. We were dropped at a pub for lunch and later in central Dublin for shopping in a pedestrian area near a park. The return to the ship was timely.

Bus picked us up from Dun Laoghaire where the cruise ships are now docking. We arrived at Glendalough before the crowds and had plenty of time to explore the ruins and to hike around the upper lake. Dublin City visit allowed ample time for exploring or shopping.

Visit to Glendalough & Lake Guinness. Wished there were more commentaries - expecting a professional tour guide

Eating lunch at Johnny Foxes.
Tour of Dublin with driver commentary.
Keltic Cross story of putting your arms around for good luck.

Paul, our tour guide was my favourite part of the tour! He is so passionate about Ireland, and did a wonderful job of explaining the history of the area. He made efforts to make the trip more accessible for those with limited mobility. Our tour might have been slightly different, we went through the Wicklow mountains and stopped for an amazing view of Guiness Lake. We then continued onto Glendalough. Paul explained the history of St. Kevin and the attacks on the monastery by the Vikings and eventually the Normans. The walk around the lower and upper lake is not too difficult and is worth the time. Paul even took us up to an old Mining Camp on Braveheart Road, before continuing onto Dublin for lunch and some sightseeing.

We did this tour rather than those offered by our cruise ship, and are glad we did. One thing to keep in mind, is that we had to ride tenders to the shore. Make sure you are ready to go first thing and get to shore with the first few groups.