Dublin Airport to Temple Bar
About 11 km from the airport; the Dublin Express drops on the quays a minute from Temple Bar, or take Aircoach to O'Connell Street and walk over the river.
Temple Bar, DublinGordon Leggett / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Temple Bar is the cobbled riverside quarter between Dame Street and the Liffey — pubs, live music, galleries and a knot of pedestrian lanes right in the middle of town.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Temple Bar, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €38). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €8) 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 | €8 | €38 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €16 | €38 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €32 | €38 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €8, 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 782 stops at Aston Quay and Wellington Quay, both on Temple Bar's doorstep. Around €8 online. From the quay it's a two-minute walk to the lanes.
Where to catch it: Dublin Express stops outside Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.
Best for solo & budget travellersBus / shuttle
Alight at O'Connell Street and cross the river by the Ha'penny Bridge — about five minutes on foot. Roughly €9, and it runs all night.
Where to catch it: Aircoach 700 bays outside both terminals.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
About €25-35 on the meter. Many of Temple Bar's streets are pedestrian-only, so the driver may leave you on Dame Street or the quays at the edge.
Where to catch it: Taxi rank at arrivals, both terminals.
Best for small groups in a hurryCar rental
From about €35/day. Frankly overkill for Temple Bar itself — parking is scarce and pricey — but sensible if you're driving on elsewhere in Ireland.
Where to catch it: Free shuttle from arrivals to the airport car-hire compound; collect the car there.
Best for travellers who want to explorePrivate transfer
Door-to-door with your bags carried to the car, which matters when your guesthouse sits down one of the narrow lanes a coach can't reach. Fixed at roughly €38-50.
Where to catch it: Driver meets you inside arrivals.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsTemple Bar & 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 Temple Bar
Temple Bar is the reason a lot of weekend groups fly into Dublin in the first place — the cobbled quarter of pubs, trad sessions and pedestrian lanes wedged between Dame Street and the Liffey. The good news for a stag or hen crew landing with wheeled cases and a dinner booking to make: it sits about 11 km from Dublin Airport, and every coach into town stops within a few minutes' walk of the lanes. The only real decision is which drop-off puts you closest to the door of your guesthouse, and whether the group splits a taxi once the buses thin out. Here's how the options stack up for this particular corner of the city.
Dublin Express 782 stops right on Temple Bar's quays
Of the two airport coaches, the 782 is the one that lands you closest. It leaves from outside Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 and takes roughly 32 minutes into town, stopping at Aston Quay and Wellington Quay — both of them a two-minute walk from the pedestrian lanes. You step off the coach, cross the road, and you're already at the edge of Temple Bar with no river to cross and no second leg to figure out. Fares run about €8 booked online, a touch more if you pay the driver, and departures come every 10 to 20 minutes from around 03:30 to 00:30. For a group arriving mid-afternoon with bags, that Wellington Quay stop is hard to beat — you can practically see your hotel from the kerb, and nobody's dragging a case across the whole city centre.
Aircoach 700 runs all night — but you cross the Ha'penny Bridge
The Aircoach 700 is the coach to remember when your flight gets in at some unsociable hour, because it runs 24 hours, every 15 to 20 minutes, and costs around €9. The catch for Temple Bar specifically is the drop-off: it sets you down on O'Connell Street, on the north side of the Liffey, so you cross the river by the Ha'penny Bridge and walk about five minutes to reach the lanes. That's a pleasant enough stroll in daylight with a small bag. With a full group, luggage, and a 2 a.m. arrival, that same five minutes over a pedestrian bridge feels longer — passable, but worth weighing against a taxi. If your inbound flight lands after the 782 has stopped for the night, though, the 700 is often the only coach still turning up, and it'll get you within sight of the pubs.
When the group should just split a taxi
A metered taxi from the arrivals rank runs about €25 to €35 for the 32-minute run, and the maths changes fast once you divide it. Four people splitting €30 pay roughly the same each as two coach fares, and you skip the wait, the walk and the bag-wrangling entirely. That's the case for grabbing a cab, and it's a strong one after midnight when the 782 has finished and the alternative is the O'Connell Street walk with the whole crew. One quirk to plan for: most of Temple Bar's streets are pedestrian-only, so a driver can't pull up outside a pub in the middle of the quarter. Expect to be dropped on Dame Street or on the quays at the edge, then walk the last minute or two in. Rank taxis are plentiful and metered, so there's no need to pre-book — you'll usually be moving within a couple of minutes of clearing the terminal.
Narrow lanes, heavy bags, and the door-pickup case
Car hire exists at the airport from about €35 a day through Hertz, Enterprise and Europcar, collected from the compound after a free shuttle from arrivals — but for a Temple Bar weekend it makes little sense. Parking in the medieval street grid is scarce and expensive, and a car sits idle while you're on foot the whole trip. Keep it in mind only if you're driving on to Galway or the coast afterwards. The option that actually fits this quarter is a pre-booked private transfer, priced at a fixed €38 to €50, because the driver meets you inside arrivals, carries the bags to the car, and knows which lane he can legally reach when your guesthouse is tucked down one a coach or rank taxi can't. For a group whose accommodation is buried in the pedestrian core, that door-to-door handling is the difference between rolling up outside and hauling cases over cobbles. Between the five, most weekend crews land on one of two answers: the 782 to Wellington Quay if you're arriving in daylight and travelling light, or a split taxi if it's late and there are four of you and a pile of bags. Book the coach ticket on your phone before you land, note whether your flight beats the 782's 00:30 cut-off, and you'll be ordering the first round inside half an hour of stepping off the plane.
