The Dublin Bus Coast & Castle operates daily from the City Centre taking in many views & historic sites on the northside of the Capital.
The tour has recently been upgraded to include an afternoon tour, following the South Coast Tour now only operating once a day due to longer excursion.
The Coast & Castle tour takes in the leafy Griffith Avenue, view of the Casino at Marino, rural Kinsealy, then a stop for refreshment & tour of the former Talbot family residence of Malahide Castle, also home to the Fry Model Railway exhibition. While the tour does not include admission or time to the railway exhibition, its well worth a re visit ( route 42 from the City Centre operates close to the main entrance to Malahide Castle ). After one hours rest at Malahide Castle, the tour continues to the fishing village of Howth, with a scenic trip around the Howth Peninsula offering spectacular views of Dublin Bay & City. Finally, on the return home, panoramic views of Dublin Bay & the settled suburbs of Dollymount & Clontarf before arriving back in the City Centre.
Tours operated 7 days a week
From O'Connell Street @ 10 am & 2 pm
Advance booking is recommended, especially during the peak season.
Donnybrook based Volvo B7TL, AV 257 is 1 of 3 specially livered double decker's in " Coastal Tours livery. The Coastal livery was recently updated from the traditional Green & Cream colours & AV 257 joined the Coastal Tours fleet in June 2004, formerly just a standard Cityswift livered example.
AV 257 is seen above on an afternoon tour at Malahide Castle, the passengers enjoying a tour of the Castle itself.
Rear view of AV 257 heading for the coach park in the Castle grounds.
This highly detailed " Coastal Tour " livery is part of the standard " City Tour " livery which has already been revamped.
When not required for the Coast and Castle or the South Coast & Garden tour, these buses can been seen operating standard Dublin Bus services.
Coast & Castle Tour
Coast & Castle Tour
UPDATE 2008
Following closely behind on RA 219 into the new livery, AV 398 joined the tour fleet in January 2008. Previously in standard Dublin Bus core livery, usually allocated to cross city route 746 ( Dun Laoghaire - City Centre - Dublin Airport ), seen here at Malahide Castle on Sunday 20th January 2008. The luggage racks were removed from 398 & fitted to 395
( AV 396-398 usually allocated to the 746 ).
AV 398 is the first AV into active service with the new Coastal Tour two tone green livery ).
AV 257 seen on " Hotel Shuttle " route 705 on O' Connell Street 27th January 2007.
The hotel shuttle operates to pick up passengers from various hotels around Dublin to link up with the various sightseeing tours.
The shuttle operates from The Four Seasons/ Bewleys in Ballsbridge, via Landsdowne Road, Pembroke Road, Mespil Road, Upper Leeson Street & Suffolk Street, presently there are 6 services from 8.45 am until 1.15 pm.
Update July 2008
AV 257 was cascaded down to standard Dublin Bus core colours, leaving the tours fleet. There was no direct replacement & AV 398 remains the only closed top AV in the new two tone green livery, along with open toppers AV 22-24.
