I am traveling with my parents who are 70+ years old and decided to take them on a rail tour since many buses don't have restrooms. I'm so glad I paid the additional cost for rail instead of the bus! While it was an early start (07:00 departure) the train ride was quite comfortable and the directions to check in were very clear. One thing to note is that breakfast isn't really available on the train. The cafe car is quite busy so unless you make a reservation ahead of time, the only thing available is the cart that goes up and down the train aisles that offers a very modest selection of pre-packaged baked goods, coffee, tea, and sandwiches. The Heuston train station itself has a decent selection of coffee/tea, deli, and a fast food place where you can purchase food ahead of time if you don't have breakfast included in your tour package.
Onto the tour! Our tour guide, David, was very knowledgeable and attentive throughout the entire day, which was quite long since we returned to Dublin at the end of the tour. It was well paced with a great lead-up to the headliner, the Cliffs of Moher. Bunratty Castle was a delightful surprise with an entire medieval village on its campus. The castle itself was quite impressive on the inside and the quick tour we're given provides great context before you're given time to explore.
Then there's the ride up the coast to Galway. We visited in the middle of January when the sun goes down around 16:45 so we had a nice view for the beginning of the ride and a dusk view (which certainly wasn't bad) for the remainder. There were opportunities to quickly hop off of the bus for photo opps at scenic points along the way.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience. I highly recommend this tour!
Our group of 10 had an incredible experience on this train tour with our guide, Jonathan. He was knowledgeable and entertaining. The sights were amazing! The fog lifted just enough for us to see the Cliff of Moher in all its glory. As well, our family loved the Burren and Bunratty Castle. I recommend this tour, and Jonathan, highly.
My friend and I had a great experience on this tour. Everyone we worked with was very helpful and friendly. Our bus driver Patrick was totally great, and the folks at the Railtours were also great! We did this tour upon arriving in Ireland and I was nice to know we didn't have to plan or do much more than just show up on time. Hotel accommodations were great as well. I would recommend this tour hands down!
3 Day Cork City,Blarney, Ring of Kerry and Cliffs of Moher tour
My husband and I were making our first trip to Ireland and wanted to see the most popular sites in the shortest period of time. Railtours of Ireland seemed to fit with multi day tours via train as well as coach. From the first phone call to book the tour,to the final day, I cannot say enough great things about Railtours. We arrived in Dublin on Wed and were given a complementary Hop on/Off bus ticket allowing us to see the Dublin sights.The following day we were met at the train station by David our tour guide who handed us our travel information and accompanied us on our 1st days journey to the Blarney Castle .The seats on the train were reserved and David spent the time getting to know each person on the trip.By the time we arrived in Cork, we felt like we were friends. The rest of the group had done the tour as a day trip so at the end of the day David was returning with them to Dublin. We however, were heading to Killarney to pick up the Ring of Kerry tour the following day. If I had reviewed the trip at this point it would have been 5*****, with David being an amazing historian and guide.I had no idea that it was just the beginning of great things to come.
As were nearing the end of the day, David informed us that when we got to the train station we would be met by a woman named Margaret, who also worked for the company. She would be responsible for coordinating our trip the remainder of the way to Killarney. We met Margaret who was as wonderful as David.Again we had reserved seats on the train. She facilitated our transfer from one train to another and came with maps of Killarney and several recommendations for shops and restaurants for our two night stay there. On arrival to Killarney station we were handed off to Dennis who drove us to the hotel and got us settled. We truly felt like VIP’s having a “handler” assuring that everything went smoothly.The following day we walked around the corner from the hotel and met up with The tour group going to Ring of Kerry.Ray was the outstanding tour guide, and we returned to our hotel with some great knowledge and pictures. The final day was the Cliffs of Mohar tour meeting up with David again coming from Dublin. Their driver, Batt ,picked us up at our hotel and provided car service to the meeting point an hour away. He waited with us until the coach arrived assuring that we were in the hands of Railtours before departing. Once again we had a great day with David with lots of amazing photos of the cliffs. We hope to bring our family with us next time and without a doubt will utilize This company for the group. The combination of sights and fantastic people of Railtours showed us the true beauty of Ireland
BOOK THIS GREAT TOUR HERE
My mom and sisters and I went on this over Christmas break and it was awesome.
We had Terry as our guide and he was the absolute best. We did everything we expected to do on the tour and more. If he is able to let you see something cool and the bus is on time then he will do it. Terry took care of everything and called the restaurant ahead of time at Cliffs of Moher so our food was out quickly and then we got to go to the cool chocolate shop. The tour itself was amazing and the views were incredible. We had enough time to look at everything plus more to walk around and shop as well. Terry gave us recommendations and then let us go do our own thing if we wanted. We loved his little intro and tours he gave because they were very informative but then we got to go look around on our own too. The end of the tour we did a toast on the train and it was so cool! We love Ireland and our awesome tour guide Terry! We hope to return again soon.
Brendan was an excellent tour guide.
He gave us background knowledge of places we were going to
see.
He was engaged with all of us.
He greatly increased our knowledge and appreciation of Irish
history and culture.
I highly recommend this tour!
Just finished the 6 day tour! It was amazing and so was our tour guide Andy Garrity!
Full of knowledge about Ireland and can sing!
We had so much fun!
So glad we did this! David was our tour guide, and definitely a true joy. It is not only a cool way to see the country, but it packs a TON in. We definitely know if we come back, where else we’d want to spend more time. To top it off, we loved being in Galway in November—tons of Christmas events and just a cute little town.
Bunratty, Galway, Cliffs of Moher - AMAZING!
This day trip was truly wonderful. We had the most amazing guide, John Todd, who made the day so memorable. John made sure we were well-informed about all of the sights we were seeing, as well as making it so much fun. While I think the trip would have been special no matter what, John was really the cherry on top! This tour definitely exceeded my expectations and was one of my favorite parts of my trip to Ireland.
Well organized and a great day
TripAdvisor review: Railtours Ireland First Class - Day Tours
We did the one day trip by rail to/from the Cliffs of Moher with Bunratty castle and a couple other stops along the way. Overall the day was very pleasant and a great time.
Our guide was John Todd, and he was just spectacular. We thoroughly enjoyed his commentary throughout the day and chatting with him on the train back to Dublin.
The Bunratty Castle and grounds were nice. After being in Dublin and miles of concrete for a few days, being in the green of this site was very appealing. It was quite cool in the morning and the grounds and castle were quiet, it was perfect.
onto lunch and a great pub in Dooling and then onto the cliffs, they were amazing and not crowded.
Meeting John in his yellow jacket at the train station was easy, the ticketing and overall instructions throughout the day were very good. We've been on many guided tours and this was a well thought out and easily navigated day. I think our group of 13 did a good job of staying on time, which helps.
I would highly recommend this trip and I would hope you are lucky enough to get John Todd as your guide.
View our Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle, Burren & Galway Bay tour HERE