Are you coming to UCD and not sure how to get around? Want to know the cheapest and best ways to get around town? And how to get to Galway on a budget?
Ok so first thing’s first, you want to be able to get to UCD from the airport when you land. Let’s get into that first.
Dublin Airport - UCD.
You have several options here, we want to make sure when you land for your Exchange in Dublin that you can get to UCD easy. The best option here is the AirCoach. Aircoach operates a direct service from Dublin Airport with a stop at UCD. It runs pretty much every 20 minutes, and is the best cost/benefit trade off from these options. There is a couple of these in operation, so you will be looking for Route 700. You can ask the driver if its the one to UCD if you’re not sure, they’re usually pretty friendly (warning: not all Dublin Bus drivers are!) It usually costs about €15 for a one way trip, but its definitely worth it! Especially if you have lots of bags. I wouldn’t recommend getting the public buses, although they are cheaper they’re more hassle and you have to get two of them to get to UCD. Finally, if you want to be extra safe you can take a taxi. There is a lot of them outside the airport and they usually cost around €30 during peak times to get to UCD. However, my suggestion would be the AirCoach!
Photo Credit: DiscoverIreland.ie
Around Dublin when you’re set up.
Ok so when you get set up in UCD, you’re probably going to want to go to town to see the sights (or get drunk, but either way you’ll want to go to town!). Your best friend here is going to be the bus. UCD is too far from town to walk, so you will be relying on the bus a lot. I would recommend getting a Leap Card early on your Erasmus, as it makes the bus cheaper for you. This will cost you €20 per week maximum, so they are the cheapest way to get around Dublin. You just scan them in when you get on any buses/Luas anywhere in the city. You can apply for them easily online, or else go to the UCD student centre and they can help you apply for one. To top them up, you can go to the Student’s Union (otherwise known as the ‘SU’) and the clerk behind the counter can do this for you.
Photo Credit: LeapCard.ie
When it comes to what buses to get, the 145 and 39a will be the ones to watch out for. They come regularly to the stop outside the front entrance to UCD, and they go straight into the city centre. The Dublin Bus app is usually pretty handy for this, as you can see what times the buses will be running at so definitely check it out. There is other buses you can get, but these are the most common for students in UCD. Normal services run from around 5.00 am - 12 pm (midnight). The only time you won’t get the bus is coming home from nights out, but we can move on to that in a few minutes. For Erasmus students, usually that is about as much as they travel within Dublin to town and back to UCD, so that should do the trick.
Photo Credit: HiveMiner.com
Nights out.
Now on to the important stuff. For nights out, usually people get the bus into town. This can be fun if your with a big group, and also allows you to finish any drinks you have left before you get to town. However, you have to be careful that there is usually other people on the bus so you can’t go too wild on it. Again, the 145 or 39A will bring you close to Harcourt street which is where nearly all of the nightclubs are. Sometimes people get taxis into town, by either putting your hand out and catching one in UCD outside Centra or else hailing one on one the taxi apps. The most common of these in Ireland is called ‘Free Now’ or Uber now works in Ireland too. To get home from a night, people usually get a taxi outside the nightclub on the night. There is usually plenty of them, so this should be no problem.
Photo Credit: Independant.ie
Travel around Ireland.
After a couple of weeks you may tire of Dublin and want to explore elsewhere in Ireland for a weekend. The most common locations for this is Galway.
Galway
There are two options here which are both reasonable. You can either take the bus or the train to Galway. Both methods of transport take around 2.5 hours, so there is no faster option. If you want to compare the various methods, you should defiantly check out GetThere.ie. The user friendly interface makes it easy for you to find the most suitable route for you. Once in Galway, you will most likely stay somewhere in the city centre so you will be able to walk wherever you need to go. You will be sure to have a good time in ‘The City of Tribes’ as the music and nightlife scene is always impressive to new visitors.
Photo Credit: IrishCentral.ie
There is lots of other ways to get around in Dublin, including DublinBikes and old-fashioned walking! However above is a few methods that will help you on your way. I hope you take in all Ireland has to offer, and find it easy to move around in the process.
Sláinte!
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