London to Tralee via Dublin

[Ian99]

Hi

Planning a long weekend departing 27 February return 3 March. Travelling from London to Tralee via Dublin. Planning to stay in Dublin on the Thursday before going to Tralee the next day.

Staying with a friend on Friday evening in Tralee and wondering if anyone has any ideas on a nice town to stop at before returning to Dublin on the Sunday prior to a Monday morning return to London.

There's also the possibility of not staying in Dublin on the Sunday evening if there's a different place that still enables a return to London on the Monday.

The straight forward combined train/ferry fare to Dublin looks straight forward - unless anyone knows of a cheaper way? Once in Ireland - is it cheaper to buy tickets in advance?

Be interested in anyone's informed thoughts.

Thanks

Ian

 

[CallySleeper]

Ian,

I can get advance tickets for ten euro for 9am or 11am departues from Heuston on Friday 28th. For your outward this is probably the cheapest option. Depending on who your preferred ferry co is, the cheapest advance R&S tickets are £38 to 'DUBLINPORT STENA' or 'DUBLIN FYPT I.F.' Travel on Irish Ferries' Swift (fast craft) is +£5.

Regarding the return, after you've made your plans I'd probably look for advance tickets again. A single from Tralee to Dublin is 66.50 euro, but I don't imagine you'd be able to break your journey if required.

Through tickets from Tralee to London Terms start from £58.50 when booked in advance. However, I'm not sure how lenient they will be regarding breaks of journey, even if you travelled from Tralee on Sunday to sail on Monday. Also, you may not be able to buy this from National Rail, because the ticket originates in Ireland you may well be told to buy it from Irish Rail.

If you can't find advance tickets for your return journey, and you do wish to break your journey, a three/four day pass may be more suitable, more flexible and cheaper for you.

 

[Hadders]

Irish Rail do some really cheap on-line fares if you book more than a week in advance. I recently got tickets from Heuston to Galway for EUR9.99, Galway to Limerick for EUR5.99 and Limerick to Heuston for EUR9.99.

If you can get an on-line fare at a cheap price then it'll be cheaper than the through Sail Rail fare. An online ticket is 'booked train only' but you can change to any other train that day on payment of a EUR10 supplement.

I've purchased Rail Sail tickets in England for journeys starting in Ireland without any problems. I think the issue is more to do with the knowledge of the ticket clerk.

 

[Ian99]

Excellent - thanks very much to both of you for your help