This Costs a Roadtrip Ireland!
We made a roadtrip through Ireland and Northern Ireland in the spring of 2024 with a rental car. We booked cheap tickets to Dublin in advance, but what costs do you have to consider once your roadtrip has started? In this article you will find all the costs for a roadtrip Ireland.
General
Flight tickets to Ireland (Dublin) do not have to be expensive. With Ryanair you can be there within an hour and a half. We found hotels/hostels to be expensive, but that could also be because we were traveling during the holiday period. Food and drinks are comparable to Dutch prices, although you will of course pay a little more for a good whiskey. This applies to both countries (Ireland and Northern Ireland). So if you plan to visit Ireland alone, you can also use the prices below!
Overview costs roadtrip Ireland and Northern Ireland
In total we spent approximately €1650 (excluding flight tickets), which amounts to approximately €82 per person per day. Below you can see roughly what we spent this on. The 2024 price level applies to this, we did not receive any discounts or other offers.
- Accommodation (21%)
- Food & drinks (36%)
- Transport (11%)
- Activities (19%)
- Other expenses (11%)
Transport Roadtrip Ireland
During our roadtrip Ireland we only used a rental car, so no public transport. The costs for transport are split into car rental and fuel. We paid €395 for our Fiat500, including border crossing to Northern Ireland + various parking costs. We paid €170 for refueling. Petrol prices in Ireland are slightly lower than in the Netherlands.
Costs for Accommodation in Ireland
The overnight stays were more expensive than we had previously thought. We slept 9 nights in Ireland/Northern Ireland, 5 nights of which in a dormitory in a hostel to save costs. We ended up paying €600 for the overnight stay. Our Google Maps travel guide Ireland map contains the overnight stays that we would recommend.
Activities
You can pay for anything if you want to do something in Ireland and Northern Ireland. This is because many walks and nature reserves charge an entrance fee. We notice that we are increasingly looking for a free alternative, so we only paid €100 in total for activities. What we found really worthwhile was the walk to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and the whiskey tasting in Dublin.
Food & drinks
From Irish Stew to Irish coffee, you can taste quite a few local dishes in Ireland! We spent a total of €340 on everything related to food and drinks. The prices for groceries are approximately the same as what you pay for them in the Netherlands.
Other Expenses
The other expenses vary enormously per trip and per person. We spent about €45 on souvenirs for home and other miscellaneous expenses.
