Updated November 2024–If you’re based in Great Britain, you could get to Ireland in just two hours. If you’re in the United States, the journey is longer, but for those on the East Coast, it’s a quick 5 or so hours.
This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.
Whether you’re in London, New York, or as far away as Australia, there is a way to get to the Emerald Isle.
Note that the majority of the airline routes mentioned in this post are direct flights to Ireland except for Icelandair from New York and additional airlines from Canada to Ireland.
Traveling from Great Britain to Ireland by Air
From Great Britain (which includes England, Scotland, and Wales), you have the choice of getting to Ireland by plane or by ferry.
There are 7 airports on the island of Ireland that a visitor from Great Britain can fly to.
They include Belfast, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Dublin, Kerry, and Ireland West Airport in County Mayo.
So whatever part of Ireland you want to explore, there’s a convenient airport close to it.
If you are a British national, you won’t need to show your passport when you arrive in Ireland, but you should have some form of ID ready for customs.
The most popular airlines from Great Britain to Ireland include Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Ryan Air.
If you are interested in flying to Belfast before exploring the remainder of the island of Ireland, Easy Jet has a regular service from the U.K. to Northern Ireland's largest city.
Feel free to do your own research using flight search engines like Google Flights, Kayak, Kiwi, Momondo, Priceline, and others.
Traveling from Great Britain to Ireland by Ferry
Three ferry routes operate from Great Britain to Ireland.
If you are bringing your car with you to Ireland, be sure to have your motor insurance documents with you. A green insurance card for driving in Ireland (previously required for U.K. residents) is no longer necessary.
P&O Ferries
P&O Ferries operates a ferry service from Cairnryan, Scotland, to Larne in Northern Ireland six times per day.
That journey takes only two hours and is suitable for those traveling to the island of Ireland with or without a car. The average fare is around £278 for two people and includes a vehicle.
Stena Line
Stena Line runs a service from Holyhead (Wales) to Dublin (Dun Laoghaire), providing seven weekly sailings in about five hours.
Round-trip fares are an average £396 (includes two passengers and one car).
From Scotland, you can get to the island of Ireland on its Cairnryan to Belfast route.
Crossings take place six times a day and can be completed in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Round-trip fares are an average of £276 for two passengers and one car.
In addition, the Stena Line offers a Liverpool to Belfast service twice daily.
Roundtrip fares are an average £294.96 for two passengers and one car.
The Stena Line also offers the shortest travel time from South Wales to Ireland on its Fishguard to Rosslare route.
The twice-daily journey takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Roundtrip fares average £364 for two passengers and one car.
Irish Ferries
If you are interested in getting across the Irish Sea in a much faster time, Irish Ferries offers up to four crossings a day.
Those crossings include the Holyhead to Dublin service and the Pembroke to Rosslare service, with travel times between 2 and 3.5 hours.
If you’re traveling from Holyhead, you could travel in style on the Ulysses ferry, which contains two cinema screens, bars, shopping, and dining.
The W.B. Yeats ferry includes comfortable cabins and luxury suites, in addition to the Innisfree Club lounge and the Maud Gonne lounge and bar.
Other ships on this route include the Epsilon and the Dublin Swift ferries.
Fares with Irish Ferries range average about £432 round-trip during the high season (for two adults and one car).
Irish Ferries offer a number of package deals for visitors coming to Ireland by ferry from Britain.
Traveling from Europe (Including the Schengen Area) to Ireland by Air
Getting to Ireland from mainland Europe and the Schengen area (which includes several of the EU States as well as Scandinavian countries and Iceland) is quite easy as there are several airlines that fly into the country.
The most popular airlines from Europe to Ireland are Aer Lingus and Ryan Air.
Others include Air France, Finn Air, Iberia, Icelandair, KLM, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Tap Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines, Wilderoe Airlines and more.
Discover Dublin on a Big Bus Tour
Traveling from Europe to Ireland by Ferry
If you are based in Northern France and you want to bring your car with you, getting to Ireland is accessible by ferry.
There are three ferry routes between France and Ireland, providing a total of eight sailings per week. They include Irish Ferries, Brittany Ferries, and the Stena Line.
Irish Ferries
This ferry route goes from Cherbourg, France to Dublin and runs four times per week.
The journey takes about 19 hours and 15 minutes. An economy round-trip fare during the high season will cost around €1,000 or so (for two adults and one car).
Brittany Ferries
This ferry service operates three routes from France to Ireland, one from Cherbourg to Rosslare (17 hours, 42 minutes), another from Le Havre to Rosslare, and the other from Roscoff to Cork (15 hours, 44 minutes).
It also operates a service from Spain that includes Bilbao to Rosslare (29 hours, 9 minutes) and Santander to Rosslare (27 hours, 30 minutes).
The Cherbourg to Rosslare, the Roscoff to Cork and the Bilbao to Rosslare ferries all run twice-weekly. The Le Havre to Rosslare service and the Santander to Rosslare ferry runs once a week.
Check on the Brittany Ferries website for average fares.
Stena Line
The Stena Line operates a service from Cherbourg to Rosslare three times a week on the Stena Horizon.
The average round-trip fare for two people and a car is around is €580. The journey takes about 17 hours.
Traveling from North America to Ireland by Air
From the U.S. and Canada
From the United States, there are several options available to passengers. They include Aer Lingus, Ireland’s national airline, American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue, Icelandair, PLAY, and United.
From Canada, travelers have a couple of different options, including flying with Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air Transat, and WestJet.
You can find a complete 1-page guide to all of the airlines that fly from North America here.
From Mexico
If you live in Mexico, you'll need to fly to the U.S. and then take a connecting flight to Ireland.
Traveling from Australia and New Zealand to Ireland by Air
Qantas, Australia’s official airline, operates flights to Dublin from Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Other airlines going into Ireland from Australia include Virgin Australia, Emirates, Delta, British Airways, Etihad Airways, and Air Canada.
From New Zealand, you can get to Dublin on Air New Zealand.
Traveling from Asia and the Middle East to Ireland by Air
The only direct flight from the Middle East to Ireland is on Emirates from Dubai to Dublin 14 times per week, which means that traveling from this part of the world to Ireland from other cities may be more difficult since you will need to get a connecting flight.
Your best bet will be to search for flights into London and then make a connection to Dublin.
Traveling from Central America & South America by Air
Since most American airlines fly in and out of Central and South America, it is best to research your options, including layovers.
Getting to Ireland on a Cruise Ship
There are several cruise companies that include Ireland on their European or British Isles cruise itineraries.
They include Celebrity Cruises, which has a plethora of itineraries that stop in Cobh, Waterford and Belfast.
You can choose from a mix of British Isles and Ireland & Iceland cruises.
Shore excursions can be booked through the cruise company or separately through booking websites like Get Your Guide, TripAdvisor or Viator, or through local tour providers in each area.
Holland America also offers cruises to Ireland.
They include a variety of options that mostly stop at Belfast, Cobh and Dublin.
Princess Cruises also offers a variety of British Isles experiences that include Ireland. They range from 10 to 12 days.
Dublin, Belfast and Cobh are among the ports that are included in all of them.
The Norwegian Cruise Line includes stops in Dingle, Galway, Killybegs, County Donegal, Waterford and Cork.
If you’re interested in booking a cruise, be sure to reach out to Conversational Traveler and tell them that Ireland on a Budget referred you.
Are you curious about how to get to Ireland in 2025? If so, let me know in the comments below.
