Best day trips from Dublin: The Ultimate 1 day Kilkenny itinerary

Are you planning a trip to Ireland want to know the best day trips from Dublin?

If you are planning a visit to Dublin and want to go on a day trip you’re in luck. Within 2 hours in any direction, you can easily reach some of Ireland’s best locations for a day trip. In this guide, we will take you through one of our favourite Irish day trips – Kilkenny.

Just an hour and a half drive from Dublin you will find the medieval city of Kilkenny. Renowned for its beautiful 12th Century castle, cobbled streets and musical nightlife, Kilkenny is a perfect option for a day trip from Dublin.

In this guide, we will break down everything you need to know for a day in Kilkenny, including how to get there, guided tour options, where to eat & drink and the best hotels in Kilkenny.

How to get From Dublin to Kilkenny

Car

You can rent a car to travel from Dublin to Kilkenny and the drive is almost entirely by motorway, taking around 1.5 hours. If you would like to rent a car, we would recommend using Discover Cars to help you find the best deal.

Public Transport:

There are two main options to get from Dublin to Kilkenny by public transport – bus & train. The bus from Dublin to Kilkenny operates every two hours and takes under 2 hours at a cost of €12.

The train from Dublin to Kilkenny goes from Dublin Heuston to Kilkenny station and takes around an hour and 40 minutes and tickets cost around €12.

Guided Tour

If you do not have access to a car or would just like to take the stress out of your day trip from Dublin, we would recommend this guided tour. The added bonus with this particular tour is that it also includes time in one of our favourite places in Ireland – Glendalough.

Best hotels in Kilkenny

If you plan to extend your day trip from Dublin to an overnight stay in Kilkenny, there are some great hotel options around the city.

We would recommend staying at Mount Juliet for anyone looking to enjoy a luxury stay in Kilkenny, particularly for golf fans.

Is a day in Kilkenny enough time?

You could easily spend 2-3 days in Kilkenny and the surrounding area, particularly if you visit during the Spring/Summer. As far as value for time for a day trip from Dublin, Kilkenny is probably the best option given that it is relatively close.

Alternative day trip options from Dublin such as Galway, Cork and Belfast take slightly longer to get to from Dublin and the compact layout of Kilkenny means it is very suitable for a day trip.

A day in Kilkenny will give you enough time to enjoy the castle, take a tour and relax in an Irish pub with some traditional music without feeling like you are in a huge rush.

As you will likely be visiting Kilkenny as part of a longer trip to Dublin, we would recommend reading this in conjunction with our 1 and 2 day Dublin itineraries.

Day trips from Dublin – A day in Kilkenny itinerary

Morning – Aran Bakery & Kilkenny Castle

When you arrive in Kilkenny in the morning, the first thing we would recommend is to grab something to eat. When we asked locals for the top recommendation for a cafe/bakery etc. the place that kept coming up was Aran.

After stocking up on some pastries it’s time to enjoy Kilkenny’s most renowned attraction – Kilkenny Castle. You can walk to the castle from Aran in around 10 minutes. The exterior of the castle is equally as enjoyable as the inside with beautiful walled gardens and a fountain framing the facade of the castle.

On a nice day would recommend getting a pastry and coffee to go from Aran and grabbing a seat in the castle gardens to enjoy your breakfast against the backdrop of the striking castle building. Kilkenny Castle is open every day from between 9am -5:30pm depending on the time of the year, with tickets costing €8 for an adult ticket or €4 for children between 12 and 17 years old.

Afternoon – Smithwicks Experience & Guided Walking Tour

Heading in to the afternoon, grab some lunch at before enjoying a lovely guided walking tour of the city with Shenanigan Tours. This tour is a great way to explore the city, particularly as it is led by a magician and an acclaimed storyteller. On this tour you will be able to learn all about the history of Kilkenny, take in the sights and enjoy some light hearted entertainment throughout the day.

The tour lasts around an hour and a half in total and takes you along Kilkenny’s medieval mile, exploring sights including a stop at the castle, learning some lesser known facts about the history of the city and taking in Grace’s Old Castle, Black Abbey, Rothe House & Garden and Kytelers Inn.

After enjoying this tour we would actually recommend another tour style experience – the Smithwicks experience. This tour takes place about a 10 minute walk from the castle and takes you through the brewing process of this Irish ale dating back to the 1700’s.

This tour is a great addition to a day in Kilkenny as it only lasts an hour so it won’t eat into your day too much. During the tour you will learn about the monks who first started brewing their in the 13th Century, some of the history behind the Smithwick family themselves and of course, sample the ale itself.

Evening – Dinner at Butcher & Traditional Irish Music

For your evening in Kilkenny you will focus on two of Ireland’s greatest cultural exports – beef and music. You will start your evening with dinner at Butcher, an award winning steakhouse that focuses on locally produced beef and some great cocktails. The owner has been supplying beef to restaurants all over Ireland and now you can enjoy a meal directly from the source.

Kilkenny is renowned for having some of Ireland’s best nightlife with numerous bars offering traditional Irish music every night. There are a number of pubs in Kilkenny that we would recommend visiting, with the most renowned being Langtons (which is also a hotel if you need somewhere to stay).

We would also recommend trying out either Lenihans, John Cleere or Tynans for a drink as well on your tour of the Kilkenny nightlife.

Other things to do in Kilkenny

If you visit Kilkenny during Spring/Summer and have access to a car, we would highly recommend taking the short drive to the picturesque village of Inistioge. This village is just outside of Kilkenny centre and is locally renowned for its wisteria covered houses.

Similarly, Kilkenny is known for being steeped in the history of one of Ireland’s traditional Gaelic Games – hurling. This is an amateur Irish sport where players represent their local area in national championships and hurling is the fastest field sport in the World.

If you happen to visit Kilkenny when a match is a due to take place then we would highly recommend seeing this spectacle in person.

The final thing we would recommend adding to a Kilkenny itinerary if you have enough time is a trip to Dunmore Cave.

Final Thoughts

We hope you found our suggestion of a day trip from Dublin to Kilkenny useful. If you have any feedback we would love you to drop a comment below. We have lived and worked in Dublin for many years so if you need help planning your trip to Ireland don’t hesitate to reach out for advice.