Airport Transfers in Dublin

From the airport into the city

The coach leaves the airport heading south on the M1. For the Docklands, Spencer Dock, the 3Arena and the hotels around Grand Canal Dock, drivers often use the Dublin Port Tunnel, which is untolled for coaches seating over 25 passengers. For O’Connell Street, Parnell Square or St Stephen’s Green, the surface roads through Drumcondra are frequently just as quick. Citywest, out in the south-west, is usually reached on the M50, and that line crosses the tolled stretch from Junction 6 to Junction 7. Nothing halts the coach there; the toll is cleared afterwards through a toll tag or an eFlow account, or paid online before 8pm on the following day. Tell the operator the exact hotel or venue, because the right way into town depends on it.

Arrivals: the walk to Zone 16

Dublin Airport keeps the bus stops outside its terminals for scheduled services that won them by tender. Every other coach or minibus, hired ones included, must collect from Zone 16, a coach park with signs from each terminal. Terminal 1 arrivals walk across to the short-term car park and through its ground floor. Terminal 2 arrivals use the covered bridge out of the arrivals hall, ride the escalator down and follow the covered walkway. Send that route to the group leader before the flight leaves, so nobody stands waiting at a kerb. Coaches cannot park in the set-down areas and must switch their engines off once parked. If a driver has to hold for longer, the airport’s Express Red Coach Layover facility takes coaches for up to three hours.

Getting to the hotel door

Plenty of city-centre hotels have no room for a coach outside. The driver stops at a signed city coach stop, such as Nassau Street, or at the nearest legal kerb, and guests cover the last stretch on foot with their cases. Dublin City Council’s on-street coach bays, at places like Western Way, Cardiff Lane and Merrion Square South, are for parking of up to two hours and are not loading points. Daily bus gates from 7am to 7pm on Bachelors Walk and on Aston Quay, and College Green’s 24-hour gate, have changed how traffic crosses the centre. The operator plans the approach around them once it has the hotel names and addresses, so include any second hotel when you book.

Conferences, matches and cruise calls

Delegates heading for Citywest, the RDS in Ballsbridge or the Convention Centre on Spencer Dock often land across a whole morning, so list each flight with its headcount; the operator can then choose between one collection and several. Match and concert days need more care. For the 2026 All-Ireland finals, Gardaí allowed no coach set-down, collection or parking close to Croke Park, and coaches were directed to the NTA’s 50-bay Docklands Coach Park, whose entrance is on Park Lane, off North Wall Quay. Groups linking a flight with a cruise from Dublin Port have about 10 km between airport and ship, around 15 to 30 minutes. Send the ship’s sailing time along with the flight times; the plan then works back from the ship.

Going back out to the terminals

Coaches may not drive on the Terminal 1 departures road. The drop for any coach operator is the T2 Departures Road Inner, right in front of the Terminal 2 check-in hall, and the coach must pull away as soon as the hold is empty. Passengers flying from Terminal 1 walk across, which takes a few minutes and longer with a loaded trolley. Work the hotel pickup back from the airline’s bag-drop cut-off rather than the departure time, and allow for weekday morning traffic in the city or at the tunnel approach. A group spending the night before an early flight in one of the airport hotels still needs a booked transfer for the short hop; send the hotel name with the flight.

How long does the airport run to a city hotel take?

About 20 minutes when the roads are clear and up to 45 minutes in the morning or evening peak. Docklands hotels are often quickest by the Port Tunnel; Ballsbridge and Citywest take longer. The operator times the pickup from your flight details and the hotel address.

What happens if the flight lands early or late?

Give the operator the flight number when you book. The collection is planned around the real landing time on the day, and the driver waits in the airport coach facilities rather than at the terminal. Any limit on waiting, and the terms that go with it, appears in the quote.

Can the coach go straight from the airport to a conference venue?

Yes. Many delegate groups go directly to the Convention Centre, the RDS or Citywest and check in to the hotel later. Say what should happen to the luggage: if it stays in the hold during the day, the operator needs to know where the coach will wait.

Get a quote

Send the date, the passenger count and any timed entries you already hold. We come back with a fixed price for airport transfers in Dublin.

Request a quote online, or call +353 1 265 9152 and we will price it on the spot.

Pick-up points we cover in Dublin

• Dublin Docklands and the Convention Centre
• St Stephen's Green and Grafton Street
• Temple Bar
• Ballsbridge and the RDS