Dublin Bay and Malahide Castle Half-Day Tour

Dublin, Ireland

Got the morning or afternoon free in Dublin? Then explore Dublin Bay just outside the capital on this relaxing 3.5-hour tour. You'll take a wander through the beautiful estate of Malahide Castle and enjoy the fresh sea breeze and breathtaking views of Dublin Bay.

Your visit to Malahide Castle includes a guided tour. There will also be time to unwind with a cup of tea in the pleasant castle surrounds.

Soak in scenes of Irish daily life and feed the native seals as your tour explores the picturesque fishing village of Howth.

2012 dates are still being worked on. Please check back at a later date!

USD $31.81

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Lauren C	December 2011
This castle was awesome and the trip wasn't too long. Disappointed I couldn't feed the seals even though the description said we would be able to.

Review by: Victoria S	December 2011
One of the selling points of this trip to my peers and I were being able to feed the seals - however, once boarding the bus, we were told that the tour has not been able to do that for YEARS. Fortunately, we were still able to see a couple of seals in the harbor. Howth was absolutely beautiful. Definitely try to seafood chowder from the little cart along the harbor! And the castle itself was really quaint and neat. Despite the slight disappointment with the seals, everything turned out to be fantastic. Definitely recommend!

Review by: Tracey M	November 2011
The weather was horrible - raining and very cold but our driver and tour guide, Joe was a gem. In his Extreme Ireland bus he looked after us and provided us with an informative and pleasant experience. His knowledge of the history of Irish politics and internal conflicts was impressive and I came away with a much better understanding of why the island is politically divided. It was great being able to walk through Belfast and Joe also took us to see some of the graffiti evidence of past difficulties. Thank you Joe.

Review by: Anne B	October 2011
This trip was a big disappointment. The bus driver barely said a word on the way to the castle; then, we when we arrived at the castle, we were given a narrated tour by a recording and saw only 5 rooms of the castle. Not a fun trip and not recommended.

Review by: Reka N	October 2011
The trip was cancelled but I could participate free on another one to Glendalough and it was really amazing, our tour guide was really nice and told us lots of information and stories! I can just recommend!

Review by: Jayna B	October 2011
Thank you to Gillian and Noel for a wonderful trip over to Dublin Bay, stopover at Howth and very informative Malahide castle tour with its lovely grounds. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Gillian's knowledge was awesome.

Review by: JPO	October 2011
This tour was just okay. I would have liked to spend more time in Dublin Bay.

Review by: Sacha S	October 2011
This tour is not bad, especially if you only have a few hours to take for a tour. You cannot take photos at the castle, which is disappointing, and there were better castles on other tours, but they are all day tours. So, if you are looking for a half day tour, this one will do, if you have more time, choose one of the longer ones :)

Review by: JAYNE M	October 2011
The tour guide was wonderful and added a great deal to the tour. I was a little disappointed with the castle itself because we could not take pictures. Had I known that I would have probably opted out since other tours I took included other castles.

Review by: viktoria s	October 2011
If you are visiting Dublin, this trip is a great opportunity to see more of Ireland and its countryside. The guide was very helpful and knowledgeable. The overall trip was very interesting and was very well worth its price. Highly recommended.

Review by: Nadia A	October 2011
Nice trip to a beautiful castle! The only thing is that we can't feed the seals in Howth anymore... I was disappointed!

Review by: Margaret M	October 2011
The tour was very enjoyable. This was mainly due to the fantastic weather on that day but also to the tour guide who was very informative and good humored.

Review by: Carole G	October 2011
Fun trip and great scenery. Would like to have had more time to explore the city Knowth. Everything else was well worth seeing.

Review by: Jonathan F	September 2011
The bay was gorgeous and the castle was very nice and worth the trip. But the tour guide was very good and friendly and made it worth the trip.

Review by: Janine W	September 2011
What an amazing tour. We were lucky to have David as our driver and guide in one. He was absolutely hirarious!! He is authorized to give personal tours of the castle so we got a private tour with him without the annoying recordings that they usually use for the tour. He was very animated and informative and this Castle was beautiful. If you are ever lucky enough to get him you will know it as you will be laughing for the whole tour!!

Review by: Karolanne L	September 2011
Je ne m'attendais pas a voir Dublin Bay ce matin là... et c'était tellement beau ! J'aurais préféré avoir plus de temps au port qu'au château finalement. Très belle visite... intéressant de voir le chateau en si bon état

Review by: Michael E	August 2011
This was an enjoyable tour with a fabulous tour guide, Declan. He was nice, very, very knowledgeable and informed and extremely friendly. The tour was as described in the literature.

Review by: Francine B	August 2011
Great tour.

Review by: Marlene	July 2011
Loved this tour! Very informative, excellent guide. Beautiful castle and wonderful experience!

Review by: Mr L	July 2011
The guide was very knowledgeable about Malahide Castle. The photo's on the website are all there is to see really.

Review by: Stacey M	June 2011
So many of the sites outside of Dublin are 14-16 hr days so this was a good option for a short stay in Dublin. It took about 4 hrs. Mary, our guide, was the best. She had great stories and history of Dublin to share. We stopped once for some pics on the an overlook of the ocean. Then stopped at a marina for a few minutes to view the seals. The castle probably was low on the list of all Ireland castles, but we were told that on advance, plus it was just meant to be a quick trip. Still, it was a castle. Don't see those much in the US.

Review by: cathy s	June 2011
Guide Jeff was so knowledgable - very interesting tour.

Review by: Arkady M	June 2011
impressive

Review by: Giancarlo C	June 2011
Lovely, interesting tour. The children were disappointed that we weren't allowed to feed the seals.

Review by: Karyne A	June 2011
Very nice 1/2 day trip. The castle is amazing and I really enjoyed the stop in Howth. The guide was really good and had very interesting comments.

Review by: kyrangel	May 2011
The locations were lovely, however there was not much time at each place to look around - it felt very rushed.

Review by: Emilie	May 2011
There was nothing too spectacular about this castle, but it's a castle none-the-less. It was neat to be on the coast checking out the bay, but there is no more feeding of the seals. Lies.

Review by: Kristina A	May 2011
I was disappointed with the fishing village stop that we went to. I thought for 3.5 hours I could have seen much nicer places. However, the tour guide was good.

Review by: Alex I	May 2011
Not the same scale as castles in central europe but a great intro to Ireland's history and way of life

Review by: Lochlan A	May 2011
very good tour with a very knowledgeable tour guide.

Review by: Gregory Y	April 2011
It was a waist of time. The only thing worth seeing was Malahide castle if you want to see it just go yourself and skip the waist of time at the bay.

Review by: A.P.M. H	April 2011
We loved the tour, nice driver and good guide. We would book a tour with you again anytime we are back in Dublin.

Review by: Dan	April 2011
Great tour of the castle. Howth was nice, however, one can longer feed the seals. (They were getting too fat, so a law was passed!) Would definitely recommend!

Review by: DONALD C	March 2011
Enjoyed the tour in getting to see outskirts of the city and the Malahide Castle. Dublin Bay was interesting as stores displayed the fresh fish caught in the area.

Review by: Kylie J	March 2011
A friend and I took this tour on a Sunday afternoon. It was fantastic! Driving through Dublin to get to Howth and Malahide castle. The seals were cute, you can get a bucket of fish to throw to them - definately do it! Malahide castle and grounds are just beautiful, and we had a personal guided tour rather than just read signs etc. Definitely recommend.

Review by: Aidan D	January 2011
Very informative tour. You get to see most of the castle and the rooms are explained in good detail.

Review by: Kathleen K	December 2010
worth an afternoon if you have one to spare

Review by: Azza	December 2010
Must do! Seal feeding no longer available due to overfeeding but Malahide castle is wonderful!

Review by: Mandy N	November 2010
Our tour guide Jillian was fantastic! The scenery and castle were very beautiful. This trip could be an hour longer with more time in Howth and maybe a stop down by the water on the way to Malahide. I really enjoyed the tour and recommend it for all.

Review by: Tim T	November 2010
Beautiful and interesting! I enjoyed it a lot.

Review by: Lorraine S	November 2010
Perfect half day tour!

Review by: Daruoosh A	November 2010
The tour was fantastic. it was very interesting and knowlegeable. The gide was really the person who shares his passion for Ireland with tourists.

Review by: Karen P, United States of America	July 2010
Great day! I enjoyed feeding the sea lions and seeing the castle. The guide was very informative about both sites.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	July 2010
Very fun! We had a great guide and wonderful day. Only problem was the pickup at the hotel as they had advertised.

Review by: William R, United States of America	June 2010
It was a very nice pace. Comfortable coach. Easy 12 day tour. It mentioned a photo op in Hoth, which I took to mean 30min or so to walk around and maybe feed the seals. But it was literally a 3 min stop on the side of the road for an overlook of the bay. I wish it had been longer in Hoth.

Review by: Lisa J, United States of America	June 2010
Beautiful castle and grounds.

Review by: Ana d, United States of America	June 2010
This tour was a very enjoyable way to spend my last afternoon in Dublin.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	May 2010
Nice half day trip to get out of the city a little bit.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	May 2010
A really nice day trip! Great Photo ops and the Tour guide bus driver was very charming. The only problem was that this tour company works with the RED Hop on Hop off tour company in Dublin had we known that we would have gotten a discount when booking both tours....Viator does not explain this at all.

Review by: Brett M, United States of America	April 2010
Wonderful few hours getting out of the city. Was a rainy, foggy day so the driving views were limited but still enjoyable. Went on a quite weekday so the Castle was peaceful. Understand it can be very full during the summer months.