What is the cheapest way to travel when visiting in Ireland? Train, rental, bus etc.?

Question

I am planning for a trip in the winter, and I am having trouble finding out the average prices for the various forms of travel. keep in mind I am wanting to travel from city to city not just from place to place within a city.

Answer 1

I would say car rental.. i visted ireland a while ago and renting  a car is so  much easier becasue you can go where you want to go when you want to go

Answer 2

Renting a car is the most convenient way to get around Ireland, but you will pay for the convenience.

Car hire can be expensive, especially if you are under 21.  Some companies you have to be 23.  Keep in mind the petrol (or "gas") is about £1/litre, which is $8 per gallon.  Nevertheless, average cars in the UK and Ireland get good miles per gallon.  Be prepared to drive a standard transmission, drive on the right side of the car, on the left side of the road, and handle roundabouts, large roundabouts!  You can rent an automatic, but you will have to pay extra (if there are even any- automatics are more common on mainland Great Britain).

Buses are infrequent and impossible sometimes for rural travel.  Bus travel is great from city to city(like what you have in mind), e.g. Dublin to Belfast or Limerick, but anything in between you might want to rent a car.  Trains are the same, just more expensive.  Trains are quicker because the traffic can be bad in some spots, especially tring to get out of Dublin city on a Friday afternoon.  Keep in mind when you are in Dublin there are 2 major train stations on the opposite side of the city. Heuston Station (west Dublin) trains go to the west of Ireland and Connally station (north downtown) goes to Northern Ireland and south of Dublin (Wicklow, Wexford, etc.).  The Luas (light rail)now connects the 2 stations.  Some areas of Ireland are inaccessible by train (Donegal and western parts of Northern Ireland)

In sum (sorry to ramble), take the bus. You can go almost anywhere via bus in Ireland. The Dublin bus station (Busaras)is in the city centre (next to the Custom House on the northside of the Liffey).  The city to city busses run frequently and very early and very late as needed (keep in mind Sunday schedules are different).  Plus, if you are going in the winter, you won't have to worry about driving a rental car in the ice and snow or rain.  Plus, it gets dark at 4pm in the winter, so it's a pain to drive if you don't know your way around.  

Here's an example of fares from Dublin (adult round-trip):

BUS-

Limerick €18.00

Cork €16.20  

Belfast €20 (??) not completely sure, but its £13.80

from Belfast to Dublin rountrip

Galway €16.20

Donegal €24.30  

TRAIN (approximate)

Limerick €55

Cork €65

Belfast €40

Galway €50

Donegal N/A

Answer 3

You could check out the passes for both buses and trains. They have travel passes for 1 day or more. A sort of go anywhere, or away day pass. The buses are probably the cheapest option. Try the Irish Tourist Board. www.buseieann.i.e. for Southern Ireland. Ulsterbus and Translink for Northern Ireland. Don't miss The Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, Co. Antrim. There is nothing in the world like it.

Answer 4

Depends on how quickly you want to get to where your going. If you are travelling from dublin to galway you can take a 30 min flight for about 40 euro, saves you about 3 hours and if you had a rental car how much would the fuel cost???

Trains are a little more expensive, but a good view of the country . Ah s**t i am to hungover to keep writing this ...........................................