How to Get to Dublin: Airport Buses, Holyhead Ferries and Intercity Rail Stations

As an island capital on the western edge of Europe, Dublin receives almost all international visitors through Dublin Airport (DUB) or across the Irish Sea via roll-on, roll-off ferries at Dublin Port. Once on the island, two main intercity railway terminals, Dublin Heuston and Dublin Connolly, link the capital with Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, and Belfast.

Arriving at Dublin Airport (DUB): Terminals 1 and 2

Dublin Airport sits ten kilometres north of O'Connell Bridge in Fingal, just off the M1 and M50 motorways. The airport operates two passenger terminals connected by an indoor walkway:

• Terminal 1: Opened in 1972 alongside Desmond FitzGerald's curved 1940 Old Central Terminal, handling short-haul and European carriers including Ryanair, Lufthansa, Air France, and KLM.
• Terminal 2: Opened in November 2010, serving Aer Lingus and all transatlantic airlines (Delta, United, American Airlines, JetBlue). Terminal 2 houses a dedicated United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Preclearance facility, allowing passengers flying to the United States to clear US immigration, customs, and agriculture checks in Dublin before boarding so they land in the United States as domestic passengers.

Airport to city centre: express coaches vs local TFI buses

Dublin Airport currently has no railway, DART, or Luas tram station. All public transport into the city centre leaves from the coach and bus zones outside Terminal 1 and Terminal 2:

1. Dublin Express (Routes 782 and 784): High-frequency motorway coaches that travel through the 4.5-kilometre Dublin Port Tunnel straight to the Docklands, Custom House Quay, Aston Quay (Temple Bar), College Green, Ushers Quay, and Heuston Station (Route 782), or across the Samuel Beckett Bridge to Merrion Square, St Stephen's Green, and Harcourt Street (Route 784) in roughly twenty-five to thirty-five minutes.
2. Aircoach (Routes 700, 702, and 703): Operating around the clock via the M1 corridor to Drumcondra, O'Connell Street, O'Connell Bridge, Kildare Street, and southside suburbs including Ballsbridge, Greystones, Dún Laoghaire, and Dalkey.
3. Dublin Bus local routes (Routes 16, 41, and 19): Operated under Transport for Ireland (TFI) at the standard city bus fare when using a TFI Leap Card. Route 41 runs 24 hours a day between the airport, Swords Road, and Lower Abbey Street near Connolly Station, while Route 16 runs through Drumcondra, O'Connell Street, and Dame Street to the southside, taking forty-five to sixty minutes depending on traffic.
4. Licensed taxis: Available from the official forecourt ranks outside both terminals; all Dublin taxis are metered by law, issue printed receipts, and accept contactless bank cards.

Irish Ferries and Stena Line operate daily car and foot-passenger crossings across the Irish Sea between Holyhead in North Wales and Dublin Port, taking roughly three hours and fifteen minutes on conventional vessels (plus seasonal fast craft from Holyhead, Steam Packet sailings from the Isle of Man, and overnight ferries from Cherbourg in France). In Great Britain, Rail and Sail integrated tickets connect London Euston, Chester, and Manchester directly with the Holyhead ferry pier. From Dublin Port, Dublin Bus Route 53 and terminal shuttle buses connect foot passengers to Connolly Station and Talbot Street.

If you arrive by train from elsewhere in Ireland, check which station your service uses. Dublin Heuston (opened in 1846 as Kingsbridge Station on the south quays near Phoenix Park) handles Irish Rail trains from Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, and Waterford. Dublin Connolly (opened in 1844 on Amiens Street) serves the cross-border Enterprise train from Belfast Grand Central, intercity trains from Sligo and Rosslare Europort, and the coastal DART line. The Luas Red Line tram connects Heuston and Connolly directly along the north bank of the Liffey.