If you live in North America or anywhere else in the world, getting to Ireland by air is obviously the fastest way to reach your destination.
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If you live in the U.K. or mainland Europe, you have additional options in the form of ferry services.
Here are the options available to you whether getting to Ireland by air or sea as of October 2024.
From the United States
There are several ways to get to Ireland from the U.S. They include the following:
Aer Lingus
Ireland’s national airline flies from several U.S. cities to Ireland.
They include Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Hartford, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City (JFK), Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma, and Washington, D.C. (Dulles).
Aer Lingus flies to Shannon from Boston and New York.
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American Airlines
The airline flies from Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, and New York to Dublin.
Delta
The airline flies to Ireland from Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis/St. Paul and New York (JFK). Delta flies to Shannon from New York.
Icelandair
Icelandair flies to Dublin from Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Halifax, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh/Durham, and Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver.
All flights stop in Reykjavík before carrying on to Dublin.
Jet Blue
Jet Blue flies to Dublin from Boston and New York.
Play
Play is a low-cost Icelandic airline that flies from Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, NY, as well as Baltimore, Boston, and Washington, D.C. (Dulles).
United
The airline flies to Dublin from Chicago, Newark and Washington D.C. (Dulles). It flies to Shannon from Chicago and Newark.
Download this handy one-pager on all of the airlines that fly from North America to Ireland
From the United Kingdom
There are several flights going into Ireland from the U.K. They include the following:
Aer Lingus
The airline flies from Birmingham, London’s Gatwick and Heathrow airports, as well as Manchester and Southampton. You can get flights to Belfast, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Kerry, and Shannon.
Other airlines flying into Ireland from the U.K. include British Airways, Cityjet, Flybe, Loganair, and Ryanair.
You can also easily get to Ireland from the U.K. by ferry. Here are your options:
There are three ferry companies that go between the U.K. and Ireland. They include Irish Ferries, P&O Ferries, and the Stena Line, providing close to 30 sailings per week.
P&O Irish Sea operates from Liverpool to Dublin. The Stena Line operates four routes from the U.K. to the island of Ireland. They include the Cairnryan to Belfast, Liverpool to Belfast, Holyhead (Wales) to Dublin, and Fishguard (Wales) to Rosslare routes.
All of these options are ideal for British tourists who want to take their cars to Ireland on the ferry.
With the ratification of Brexit in 2020, there are some travel changes that apply to passengers entering Ireland from the U.K. Please keep the following information in mind as you make your travel plans to Ireland from the United Kingdom.
Passports
When it comes to producing appropriate identification upon arrival in Ireland, the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements have been protected.
This means that you can show any of the following pieces of ID when entering Ireland: a valid passport, a driver’s license with a photo, an international student car, a government-issued photographic ID car, a health insurance/social security photographic ID card, a bus or train pass with photo, a work photo ID, and a birth certificate for passengers under 18 who do not have any of the above photo IDs.
Driving Requirements
Passengers arriving by sea to Ireland from the U.K. with a U.K.-registered vehicle must have a “green card” as evidence of insurance as they are no longer protected under the EU’s third-party insurance coverage.
You can get a green card from your insurance provider. Be sure to ask for it at least a month in advance of travel.
From Mainland Europe by Air
There are several airlines flying into Ireland from mainland Europe. One of the most popular is Ryanair.
Others include Air France, KLM, Iberia, Lufthansa, Finn Air, Tap Air Portugal, Scandinavian Air, and more.
From Mainland Europe by Sea
There are three ferry routes operating between France and Ireland, providing a total of eight sailings per week.
They include Irish Ferries, Brittany Ferries, and the Stena Line.
The Irish Ferries route goes from Cherbourg, France to Dublin and runs three times weekly. The Brittany Ferries service goes from Roscoff to Cork and runs twice weekly. The Stena Line
operates the Cherbourg to Rosslare three times a week.
How to Get to Ireland from Canada
From Canada, travelers have a couple of different options, including the following:
Aer Lingus – the airline operates a direct service from Toronto to Dublin. Passengers in other cities, including Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Vancouver, must get connecting flights to Ireland.
Air Canada operates flights from Toronto, Vancouver, and Windsor.
How to Get to Ireland from Australia
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.
How to Get to Ireland From Asia
Flights from Beijing are available on Hainan Airlines and from Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific.
