Dublin Airport to Howth
About 17 km east of DUB along the coast; there's no direct coach, so it's the 102 bus to the DART at Sutton then a short hop, or a taxi straight to the harbour.
Howth, Dublin瑞丽江的河水 / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Howth is a fishing village and headland on the north side of Dublin Bay — a working harbour, seafood restaurants, cliff walks and the ruins of St Mary's Abbey above the pier.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Howth, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €42). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €3) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €3 | €42 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €6 | €42 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €12 | €42 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €3, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Bus / shuttle
The 102 runs to Sutton, where the DART (one stop) or a local bus finishes the trip to Howth. Both legs on a Leap Card come to about €3-5 total.
Where to catch it: Route 102 from the airport bus zones, signposted from arrivals.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
About €30-42 by day. Since public transport to Howth means a change, a taxi is genuinely the easier option straight to the harbour or a cliff-walk trailhead.
Where to catch it: Taxi rank at arrivals, both terminals.
Best for small groups in a hurryCar rental
From roughly €35/day. Howth has pay-and-display parking at the harbour and the summit, making a car a comfortable way to explore the headland.
Where to catch it: Shuttle from arrivals to the car-hire compound, then drive the coast road.
Best for travellers who want to explorePrivate transfer
The fare is the same whatever the hour, so a red-eye landing for an early boat trip costs no more than a midday one. Booked at around €42-58.
Where to catch it: Driver waits inside arrivals.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsHowth & Dublin in photos
Buying tickets in Dublin
There is no train or tram to Dublin Airport, so you travel by bus. A Leap Visitor Card (about €8 for one day, €19 for three) covers the Airlink 747 into the city plus all Dublin buses, Luas trams and DART, and is sold at the airport information desks and convenience shops. The faster private coaches, Dublin Express (from around €9) and Aircoach (from around €6 online), do not accept Leap — pay those by contactless card or app instead. Book the coaches online for the lowest fare.
Taxi scams & safety in Dublin
Dublin taxis are regulated and metered, and the official rank sits right outside the arrivals hall — join the queue there rather than accepting any offer from someone inside the terminal. Apps like FreeNow, Bolt and Uber all work here, though in Ireland "Uber" simply dispatches a normal licensed taxi at the metered rate, not a private car. Ask for an estimate or watch the meter, keep to the marked rank or app pickup point, and you will avoid the rare overcharge.
Getting from DUB to Howth
Howth is closer to Dublin Airport than most people expect — a fishing village and headland about 17 km east along the coast, roughly 45 minutes by road. That closeness is the catch, though. There's no airport coach that runs to the pier, so the direct options are the ones you pay for: a taxi or a pre-booked car straight to the harbour. Do it on public transport and you accept a change of vehicle. The version tourists picture — riding the DART all the way from the city — is a genuine detour, out to the centre and back out again. The smarter public route skips that, but it still involves a hop from bus to train. So the real question for a cliff-walk-and-seafood day is simple: pay for the door-to-door run, or take the connection and save the money.
The 102 bus to Sutton, then one stop on the DART
This is the public-transport answer, and it's cheaper than almost anyone guesses: about €3 to €5 all in on a Leap Card. Route 102, run by Go-Ahead, leaves from the airport bus zones signposted straight out of arrivals and runs roughly every 30 minutes. You ride it to Sutton, on the neck of the Howth peninsula, and there you switch to the DART — the coastal train — for a single stop up to Howth station, a two-minute walk from the harbour. A local bus covers that last leg too if the train timing doesn't suit. DART trains come every 15 to 20 minutes, so the change rarely costs you long. The honest downside is the transfer itself: two vehicles, a short wait, and a Leap Card you'll want to buy at the airport shops before you start rather than hunting for one in Sutton. For a walker with a daypack and no flight to catch, it's a small price for the fare you save.
A metered taxi to the harbour wall
If you'd rather step out of arrivals and be at the pier without thinking, the taxi rank outside both terminals is the plain choice. Dublin taxis run on a regulated meter — no app, no surge, no haggling — and the run to Howth comes to roughly €30 to €42 in daylight, taking about 35 minutes with clear roads. Because the public route means a change, a taxi is genuinely the easier way here, not just the lazy one. Give the driver the harbour and you're set down by the seafood restaurants and the boats; name a trailhead instead and you can start the cliff loop straight from the car door, skipping the walk out from the station. For two or three people splitting it against two or three Leap Card fares plus the faff of a connection, the meter reading stops looking steep.
Hiring a car for the summit and the coast road
Renting makes sense when Howth is one stop on a wider north-coast plan rather than the whole day. Enterprise, Hertz and Sixt all sit at the airport; you take the shuttle from arrivals to the car-hire compound and drive out along the coast, about 35 minutes. Rates open around €35 a day, climbing with the season and the car. The reason a car suits this headland in particular is the parking: Howth has pay-and-display both down at the harbour and up at the summit car park, so you can drive to the top for the Baily lighthouse view, then reposition down to the pier for lunch instead of walking the whole gradient twice. Pair it with Malahide Castle or the beach at Portmarnock and the day fills itself out.
A pre-booked driver when the tide sets the clock
The case for a private transfer to Howth is timing you can't move. Seal-watching trips, the ferry out to Ireland's Eye and the morning fishing boats all leave on their own schedule, and a booked car gets you to the harbour at a fixed hour with the driver already waiting in arrivals — no rank queue, no connection to miss. Firms like Welcome Pickups and local Dublin operators quote around €42 to €58, and the number holds whatever time you land: a pre-dawn arrival for an early sailing is charged the same as a midday one, which a taxi meter won't promise you. It's the priciest way to the pier, so it earns its keep when the boat won't wait, less so for an open-ended wander.
For most day-trippers it comes down to two honest paths. Counting euros and happy to change at Sutton? Buy a Leap Card at the airport, take the 102, and hop the DART one stop — reckon on €3 to €5 and about 55 minutes. Carrying gear, chasing a boat, or splitting the cost between a few of you? Walk to the taxi rank the moment you clear the doors and give the driver "Howth harbour." Either way you're eating chowder within the hour.
