Trains in Ireland: tickets, passes and routes

Irish Rail runs the national network, with Dublin's Connolly and Heuston stations as the two main hubs. Heuston serves the south and west: Cork, Galway, Limerick, Tralee and Killarney. Connolly serves the north and north-west: Belfast, Sligo and the DART commuter line along the Dublin coast. Most intercity journeys start and end in Dublin, so a trip that crosses the country without passing through the capital usually means a bus or a car.

Buy online before you travel. Advance single fares on the main routes run about €15–45 (2026 estimate), while a ticket bought at the station on the day costs more. Fares are cheapest when released and rise as the train fills, so book the long legs first. Seat reservations come with many intercity tickets; on busy Friday and Sunday services they matter.

For a rail pass, do the arithmetic before buying. A pass makes sense only if you plan several long intercity trips in a short window; for two or three journeys, advance point-to-point tickets are normally cheaper. Passes aimed at visitors from outside Europe are sold through agents rather than at Irish stations, so check what is included before you commit.

The practical limit is geography. There is no railway along the west coast, so Galway to Killarney or Dingle is a bus or car trip, not a train one. Connemara, the Burren, Donegal and the Ring of Kerry are reached by road. Trains work best as straight runs between Dublin and the cities, with a bus or a hire car for the last stretch.

Book the long legs first and travel midweek if you can: Friday afternoon and Sunday trains fill fastest. If you are heading to the west, buy the train to Galway and arrange the bus or car from there rather than trying to reach Connemara or Kerry by rail.

Dublin has two main stations, and they are not connected by rail. Allow time to cross the city between Heuston and Connolly if your trip changes trains. For the airport, there is no rail link: use the express coaches or city buses.

Rail is the comfortable option on the main intercity corridors, but it does not cover the parts of Ireland most visitors come for. Plan the train as one leg and the road as another. In winter (November–March) some rural services and attractions run reduced hours, so check timetables before you build a day around a connection.

If a delay or cancellation affects a booked trip, keep your ticket and ask staff about your options; travel insurance is worth checking for bigger disruptions. For costs across the whole trip, see the budget page.