We had a terrific time, despite some rainy weather, on this tour. The family really enjoyed the horseback riding (outfit was wonderful with kids from 9-14 and varying riding experience), and our guide Richard was very knowledgeable regarding the area and history. Great trip. Only drawback was we did not get much time to explore in Glendalough. Definitely recommend this tour group.
We had an absolutely amazing experience on the day tour with Robert. He was such a nice guy and very knowledgeable/helpful. Definitely would recommend this to everyone.
Beautiful ride up with a friendly and knowledgeable tour guide (Johnny). Lots of stops along the way for photos of the Wicklow mountains and filming areas of the Vikings series, ps, I love you, and leap year. I suggest you try to make it to the "big lake" (second lake) for the short hiking stop in Wicklow. The sight is worthwhile. Poppies was the stop for lunch right outside of Glendalough. Delicious food and filming area of a scene in leap year. Plenty of time to eat a full sit down meal before horse back riding. The riding was a good experience, even for non riders. The tutorial on riding is very quick but we did go slow for the 2 hour riding tour. If you're uncomfortable with horses, I suggest the walking tour and not the riding tour. Be careful... lots of low hanging branches so hoods and jackets and not recommended (my partner got caught on a branch by the hood and fell off the horse). Bring some boots with a heal or else you'll have to wear someone else's! Eating and drinking is permitted on the tour van!
Enjoyed pony trekking in this beautiful area. Excellent for beginners as every care taken with matching horse to riders ability
I booked the Celts and Castles tour online using getyourguide.com. The cost for an adult is €35 which is reasonable and the meeting point (AIB O'Connell St) was easily accessible.
The day did not get off to a good start. I arrived and gave the tour guide Darragh my name and he informed me that he had to take payment. I told him that I had paid online and showed my e-ticket. He replied that they hadn't taken it off my card yet (they had) but let me onto the bus.
Another passenger of the same first name arrived and when he asked about payment she said that she had paid a deposit. So clearly she was the passenger on his list who owed payment. However, he let her on to the bus and asked me to step off the bus and again tried to say that I had not paid in full and owed money. I logged on to my banking online to show him the transaction and again he replied that they hadn't taken it off my card yet.
He proceeded to call his Head Office and said "how can I explain this to her because she's saying she doesn't owe money" (which I found extremely condescending) and then passed the phone over to me. The person on the phone proceeded to explain how "I" had booked in Temple Bar and only paid a deposit so owed €28. Immediately I handed the phone back to Darragh and said that's not me, I didn't book in Temple Bar, I booked and paid online, the payment is owed by the other passenger (with the same name). His response after ending the call was to say "Now that that's sorted...". There was no apology for the mix-up (which I felt was pure lack of common sense to be honest).
Surely he would have realised that the passenger owing money was the passenger who said she'd paid a deposit, NOT the customer who said she booked and paid online and showed her ticket?? I was very annoyed about the incident and the lack of apology.
The tour itself is average. The tour is not as advertised. We did not visit Fourknocks passage tomb, Monasterboice Monastery or Knowth. The areas we did visit were Newgrange, Slane Castle (viewed from the entrance gate for a quick 5 minute photo op), Trim Castle, Slane Abbey and The Hill of Tara.
As a Dublin native and a History teacher I was not going on this tour as a typical tourist. I wanted to learn about the history of these places. However, at Trim Castle we were left for 30 minutes to wander the grounds whereas I would have liked to do the tour of the Keep (which is €5 as opposed to grounds only which is €2).
There was a of travelling between places and while the guide Darragh filled much of it with Irish history and theories about the real purpose of Newgrange (hint: energy), there were also unusual biased comments such as referring to Ireland as a satellite state for the EU rather than a Republic.
The highlights of the whole tour were Newgrange and lunch. As the Newgrange visitor centre is closed for renovations there is free entry into the Newgrange tomb which is fantastic. However, this was at the start of the tour so it went pretty downhill from there. Lunch in Hugo's in Slane village was lovely and reasonable (€10 for ful bowl of soup, sandwich and can of diet coke).
Overall, I would not recommend this tour. It would be more enjoyable to visit the locations by yourself by car.
