Day trip by ferry

Careful_now!

I'd like to do a day trip by ferry with the family this summer and I'm just trying to figure out the best destination to go to.
Would it be better to go from Dublin to Holyhead, or Rosslare to Fishguard.

Which one has a few things to do and is only a short bus or train journey from a town? It's mainly the spin on the ferry we want, we just don't want to be bored at our destination for 8 hours with nothing to do when we get there.


Any suggestions ðŸ˜႒

cdeb

Holyhead is a dump and I don't know if Fishguard is much better. Ports were never the most salubrious of places.

But you could take in the Menai Bridge and Conwy Castle near to Holyhead. You'd get a sail rail ticket reasonably cheaply, but you'd need a car to take in the Menai Bridge better.

Careful_now!

I know ports aren't great, but the likes of Dun Laoighre would be a nice spot for somebody visiting, or Dublin Port has a shuttle bus into town, I just want to see if the ports accross the water have things to do

coylemj

Careful_now! wrote: »

I know ports aren't great, but the likes of Dun Laoighre would be a nice spot for somebody visiting, or Dublin Port has a shuttle bus into town, I just want to see if the ports accross the water have things to do

Sounds like reasonable logic but Dublin is a capital city and it's been linked to Dun Laoghaire since they built the first railway in Ireland. Holyhead and Fishguard are ports and pretty much nothing else, they are not destinations in themselves so there's virtually nothing there for day trippers other than grotty pubs and greasy spoons.

Without a car you could consider getting a train to Bangor. Further down the track, Chester is a lovely town for a day trip but it's 1h 45m by train from Holyhead so the round trip would consume 3.5 hours and would rule it out for practical purposes.

Look at the Irish Ferries timetable and work out what time you would have off the boat, do that first before considering what you can do with the time.

Alun

Whilst it is true that the town of Holyhead itself is a bit of a dump, if you're into walking you could walk around the coast counter clockwise visiting Holyhead Mountain, South Stack Lighthouse and the nearby RSPB station. This all depends on the weather of course. It's a pity Holyhead is so bad, as the rest of Anglesey, especially the coast is pretty scenic. You can walk around it, all 200km of it, you want (and I have!)

scudzilla

This is a post i made on another thread, a few boardsies did this trip and had a great day

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99084558

scudzilla wrote: »

Suggestion here for ya, i'm from North Wales so know the area like the back of my hand

Get off the ferry and get the train to Conwy, leaves Holyhead at 13:07 and gets into Conwy at 1415

Spend the afternoon in Conwy, visit the castle, go the the smallest house in Great Britain, have a fish and chip dinner on the harbour, then get the 18:25 train back from Conwy, getting into Holyhead at 19:15

Train fare is 15quid return and Conwy really is a beautiful little town, less than 20quid for a day out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc9IwTp9lGU