“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Andre Gide.
We visited Bray and Greystones in July 2021.
Thanks to the Sunny Weather (believe me, it didn’t rain that day in Ireland), it was really a wonderful trip.
We took the Public transport (Luas) from Saggart to Connolly (Last stop of the red line)
Connolly Luas (Tram) and the Dart (Train) stations are quite near to each other.
The Dart station is in the first floor and you can take lift/escalator from the Luas Platform to reach there.
For travel, It is always advisable (not mandatory) to use a Leap card (it saves some money and no confusions taking tickets using the vending machine).
More detail about Leap Visitor card can be found here:
https://about.leapcard.ie/leap-visitor-card
If atall you don’t have leap cards, you can buy it from the shops within or nearby the Luas/Dart stations.
You can touch off your leap card in the machine provided at the entry. Don’t forget to tag off at the exit station aswell.
Connolly station:
It is the biggest train station in Ireland. There are around 7 platforms in Connolly (+ 2 Platform for Luas).
The train timings and Platforms are clearly marked on the boards. So you don’t have to panic and there are even sign boards clearly indicating the platform numbers.
You can get a train to Bray from the Connolly Station. Some trains go beyond Bray station.
(Note: Not all trains stop their journey at Bray. The rail line extends beyond Bray to Grey stones and other destinations. Also, some trains don’t stop at all stops (18 in number) between Connolly and Bray.)
There are departures in 15 min (am not sure) and approximately it takes around 40+ min (18 stops) for the Dart to reach the Bray from Connolly (recommended to take the left side seats for the sea side views).
Bray is relatively a small station.
You can also go to Bray in bus and there is a bus depot aswell, in Bray.
Main Attractions in Bray:
1. Sea Life Aquarium:
We couldn’t visit the aquarium as the entries were restricted with prior booking (due to covid restrictions).
2. Bray Beach:
Bray beach is not a pure white sand beach.
You will see a lot of pebbles here.
There are lots of snack shops (ice creams shops and restaurants) near the beach area.
3. Bray Head to Graystones cliff walk:
You can see more details/photos of this trail walk here:
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/ireland/county-wicklow/bray-to-greystones-cliff
This is one the most scenic cliff walks that we have done here in Ireland.
The Bray to Greystones cliff walk is simply breath-taking with the DART tracks running right below the walk.
Few points to note:
a) There are clear indications through out the walking trail.
b) Remember the Wicklow Litter Code: You wouldn’t see any bins through out the walking trail. You will have to keep the rubbish with you and throw it in the bins at the start or the end point.
c) Some of the paths in the walking trail is very narrow. A one way traffic might have to be followed there.
4. Greystones Beach:
The final destination of this cliff walk is the Greystones Beach.
Compared to the Bray beach, the Greystones beach is less crowded. (You can play/swim here).
The bay area here is really nice.
The Greystones town is small and there are lot of shops in both sides of the road (for light refreshments and so on).
The Greystones dart station is around 1 km / 10-15 min (walking distance) from the beach.
There is a small and nice beach near to the station.
You can take the train from Greystones to Bray (if you have parked your cars in the Bray Parking area).
For those who wants to return back to the Dublin City Center, you can take direct train to Connolly from Greystones station.
For those who wants to explore beyound Greystones, please check out the rail network. There’s a great rail network coverage and you could pick some nice destinations.
There are lot of restaurants and small coffee shops available in both Bray and Greystones.
Some among them are:
PLATFORM Pizza Bar and BOX BURGER (in Bray)
We had tried some of the Indian restaurants (lots of options available) in Greystones and really liked ‘Chakra By Jaipur’ the most.
If you are looking for ice-creams, our personal recommendation would be ‘Gino’s’
Another cool hangout place for Vegetarians in Greystones is ‘The Happy Pear’.
Bray and Greystones is infact a great one day trip from Dublin.
NOTE: We have covered only a few places here in this blog. Our idea was to give you a high level overview of this place. Certainly do a homework and make a proper plan. You can really craft a beautiful one day itinerary for this destination.
Happy Journey!!
