Near Dublin - Ireland 2014 - page 177

The region is a joy by car, because all of the described sights are within a 30-minute
drive of one another. If you eat your Weetabix and get an early start, you could see the en-
tire region in a day. Though the sights are on tiny roads, they're well-marked with brown,
tourist-friendly road signs. You'll navigate best using an Ordnance Survey atlas.
As you plan your Ireland itinerary, if you're flying into or out of Dublin but want to
avoid the intensity and expense of that big city, consider using Trim as an overnight base
(45-minute drive from airport; accommodations listed on here ) and tour these North of
Dublin sights from there.
Tours of the Valley of the Boyne
If you lack a car and like tours, consider a round-trip excursion from Dublin. Mary Gib-
bon's Tours visitsBrúnaBóinne(includinginsidetheNewgrangetomb),theHillofTara,
and the Hill of Slane in a seven-hour trip (€35, Mon-Fri only, 9:30 pickup at Mespil Hotel
at 50-60 Mespil Road, 10:15 pickup at Dublin TI on Suffolk Street, 10:25 pickup at AIB
Bank at 37-38 Upper O'Connell Street, home by 16:30, book direct rather than through
TI, mobile [phone], www.newgrangetours.com , [e-mail] ) .
Brú na Bóinne
ThefamousarchaeologicalsiteofBrúnaBóinne—“dwellingplaceoftheBoyne”—isalso
commonly called “Newgrange,” after its star attraction. Here you can visit two ▲▲▲ ,
5,000-year-old passage tombs— Newgrange and Knowth (rhymes with “south”). These
are massive grass-covered burial mounds built atop a hill, with a chamber inside reached
by a narrow stone passage. Mysterious, thought-provoking, and mind-bogglingly old,
these tombs can give you chills.
Planning Your Visit: There are three sights to see at Brú na Bóinne: Newgrange,
Knowth, and the state-of-the-art visitors center with its excellent museum. You start at the
visitors center—no one is allowed to visit the tombs on their own. From here, you buy
your ticket and catch the next available shuttle bus to the tombs, where a guide gives a
30-minute tour.
Each tomb site takes about 1.5 hours to visit (30-minute round-trip bus ride plus
30-minute guided tour plus 30 minutes of free time). The museum at the visitors center is
well worth an additional 30-60 minutes. If you add in waiting time for the next available
shuttle bus, you're looking at a minimum of 2.5 hours to do one of the tombs (along with
the museum), or 4 hours to do both tombs (and museum).