We visited Howth in August 2021.
Howth is in the outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes the island of Ireland’s Eye.
Its stunning location surrounded on three sides by the Irish Sea makes it a favourite with tourists.
One of Dublin’s oldest working harbours, Howth has been a fishing village and port since at least the 14th century.
We took the Public transport (Luas) from Saggart to Connolly (Last stop of the red line)
Other Travel Options:
- You can get the 31 number bus that will take you to the Howth Harbour. Or you can take the 31A number bus which goes through Howth Village to Howth Summit. Both buses leave from the same location, Eden Quay (just off O’Connell Street).
- If you are coming from downtown Dublin, follow the R807 road along the coastline. This road will turn into R105 and this will lead you to downtown Howth. It is about 18km and might take about 30 minutes depending on traffic.
Connolly luas (Tram) and the dart (train) stations are quite near to each other.
The Dart station is in the first floor and you can take lift/escalator from the Luas Platform to reach there.
If you are interested, you can use Leap Travel Card. More detail about Leap Visitor card can be found here:
https://about.leapcard.ie/leap-visitor-card
If atall you don’t have leap cards, you can buy it from the shops within or nearby the Luas/Dart stations.
You can touch off your leap card in the machine provided at the entry. Don’t forget to do that at the exit aswell.
Connolly station:
There are around 7 platforms in Connolly (+ 2 Platform for Luas).
The train timing and Platforms are clearly marked in the boards. So you don’t have to panic and there are even sign boards clearly indicating the platform number.
The dart train from Connolly to Howth would take around 30 minutes. Trains are available at regular intervals.
If you are visiting Howth using you own car, there ae plenty of parking space available near to the dart station.
There are multiple trails available in Howth. It’s worth to note that many of these trails get busy over the Weekends / Public holidays.
In the beginning of the cliff paths, there are clear indications of the various paths like Green, Blue, Red, Purple and so on. But there are high chances that you miss the actual path (as colour codes are missing at many places, enroute)
All Trails website will give you a rough idea about the various options.
https://www.alltrails.com/ireland/county-dublin/howth
We had gone with the Cliff walk from the dart Station towards the Howth Summit (Howth head Cliff Walk-lower cliff walk). The distance is around 6 Kms (walking time of 1.5-2 Hours approx)
NOTE: If you have more time, you can try Black Linn Loop Walk that goes through Ben of Howth (highest peak of the peninsula). From the summit, you might get a full 360 degree view overlooking the entire peninsula, Howth Castle, Howth village and so on.
Another option is the Bog of Frogs Loop Walk, which follows the coastline for 12km.
If you are taking the Howth Summit route, the best way is to take Google search option to look for Howth summit (as the destination) . The good thing with that destination is that you can take a Return Bus either to Dublin city centre or back to the ‘Howth’ Dart station.
The beginning of the cliff walk is relatively very steep.
But you have some parking space available at the end of the steep.
Enroute the way to the cliff parking, you can also visit Balscadden Bay Beach.
NOTE: When you walk past the village towards Howth Head, walk up the hill until you reach a little gate, behind which there is a set of quite steep steps, that lead you down to this beach.
Please note that the path is quite narrow there is no fence available throughout the cliff walk. So please be careful if there are small children in your group.
The view throughout the cliff walk is excellent. There are tonnes of photography options throughout the walk.
Near to the Summit, you can also see a path going down to the Baily Lighthouse (the last lighthouse in Ireland to be automated). This cottage-style, 13-metre tall lighthouse sits out on the cliffs with a stunning view over the Irish Sea. Baily (built in 1917) is one of Ireland’s most photographed lighthouses on the eastern coastline.
In this trip, we did not go to the Lighthouse.
NOTE: If you really dont have the energy / time for a 6Km walk, you can drive till the Howth Summit and walk down the Baily lighthouse.
Just check out for sign bus board (near the summit) from where you can get the return bus (H3) back to Howth beach or the Dublin City Centre.
There is also enough Car parking space available near the summit.
Compared to the Main Howth City centre, the summit has relatively less number of restaurants/shops.
After the cliff walk, we took the bus back to the Howth beach (Bus H3, which goes to city center via Howth Beach), got down the bus at Howth beach stop and went to the Ferry / Bay area to take a boat service to Ireland’s Eye.
Currently uninhabited, Ireland’s Eye was once home to a monastery, established around 700 AD.
Ireland’s Eye can be visited every day during the summer months and on weekends / bank holidays only during the rest of the year.
There are different companies that are operating ferries here.
A 45 minutes TO and FRO trip to the Ireland’s eye will cost around 25 Euros/person.
We had taken the service of a company named ‘Howth Cliff Cruises’. (http://howthcliffcruises.ie/)
NOTE: I have read in many places that we can get down at the Ireland’s eye and walk around. You can visit the Martello Tower aswell. Landing on the island is at the discretion of the captain depending on weather conditions. Since we had take a evening ferry, such an option was not available for us.
This is a great boat trip, something that should not missed during your journey to Howth. You will see a lot of birds and probably seals, during this journey.
During the return journey in boat, you would also get a chance to see the Howth Harbour Lighthouse from different angles.
NOTE: There are options available to walk down the Howth Pier to see the Lighthouse at a closer distance.
After the boat trip, we returned back to the Howth Dart station and further to the Dublin city centre.
Howth is a very safe destination. Coast guard security is also present at important points.
If you are looking for some food options, there are multiple options available.
We had tried ‘The Bloody Stream’ and the service/food quality/menu items were really good.
Also there are a few Indian restaurants like ‘Okra Green’ in Howth. Due to a tight schedule with a limited time, Personally I did not try any items from Okra.
You need to spend around 6-7 hours to complete the itinerary/places , that I mentioned here.
NOTES:
1.Please note that there are many other places to see like Howth Castle, St. Mary’s Abbey, Howth Market, Howth Village, National Transport Museum, Hurdy Gurdy Vintage Radio Museum and so on.
2.There are some limited accomodation options available like ‘King Sitric’.
