Hello Linda,
What a wonderful plan - to explore our wee island by train! You'll get to enjoy the landscapes as they roll by or read a book, without a care in the world. I'll be very happy to help you with some handy resources to plan your rail journey around the island of Ireland.
There is a useful thread on our Community forum where the different public transport passes are outlined - for you, the
Explorer Travel Ticket might be a good option. It gives you 5 days of train travel within a 15-day timeframe in the Republic of Ireland.
You could perhaps combine this with an Northern Ireland three-day Flexi Ticket or an Interrail Pass if you'd like to take in the sights of Northern Ireland - these options you can find in the same thread. Some of the most
beautiful stretches of railway can be found in Northern Ireland - the journey along the coast between Derry~Londonderry and Coleraine is absolutely stunning.
Depending on which pass(es) you choose you could do a full loop around our island - for instance, from
Dublin to
Belfast, onwards to Derry~Londonderry via Coleraine and return to the Republic of Ireland to explore further.
Galway and
Cork are pretty and lively cities on the Wild Atlantic Way, for instance.
More general information and a lot of useful links about traveling around the Emerald Isle
by rail can also be found on our website. As journeys are rarely over two hours it is possible to travel in the morning and enjoy a large part of the day sightseeing at your destination for the day. In this article you can find inspiration for
things to see and do across the island.
I hope this is helpful for planning your railway trip. We'd love to hear all about it! In the meantime, if you have any questions, please let us know.
Enjoy the preparations for your trip, have a lovely day,
Vera