Belfast day trip from Dublin: the Enterprise train in 2 hours 8 minutes, the coaches from €12, Titanic Belfast at £24.95 and the UK ETA

💡 The Short Version: Belfast is 2 hours 8 minutes from Dublin Connolly on the Enterprise train, hourly, to Belfast Grand Central: the first weekday train leaves at 05:50 and the last train back leaves Belfast at 21:00, reaching Dublin at 23:13. The coaches take 2 hours 20 or more: Dublin Express 785 from €15.50 and Aircoach 705X from €12 each way. Titanic Belfast is £24.95 online and £26.95 on the day, and the ticket includes SS Nomadic. Northern Ireland is in the UK: US, Canadian, Australian and EU visitors need a UK ETA, £20 a person, before they travel, and a Dublin hotel does not count as living in Ireland. Or book a tour: Belfast (Titanic or Taxi), Dunluce & Causewayad is from €85 for 14 hours (1,087 reviews), and Giant’s Causeway & Belfast Titanic with Ticketad is from €95 with the Titanic ticket listed as included; a tour puts Belfast and the Causeway into one day (GetYourGuide).

Getting there

All three routes end at Belfast Grand Central, the station for trains and coaches, a short walk from the city centre.

Belfast City Hall and its green dome from the grounds in Donegall Square. Photo: Simon Burchell, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Enterprise train

The Enterprise is run by Irish Rail and Translink and calls at Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry and Portadown. On a weekday the first train leaves Connolly at 05:50 (Belfast 07:58), then 06:50, 07:40 and 08:50 and hourly to 20:50, which arrives at 22:58. From Belfast it runs hourly Monday to Saturday from 06:00 to 21:00, and the 21:00 reaches Connolly at 23:13. On Sundays the first train from Dublin leaves at 08:50. Translink sells online fares from Belfast at £14.99 (low), £15.99 (semi-flexible) and £16.99 (flexible) for a single, and £29.98 for a low return; tickets can be bought up to 80 minutes before departure and collected from a ticket machine. The fare from Dublin is on irishrail.ie. Irish Rail’s new national timetable starts on 13 December 2026.

The coaches

Dublin Express 785 and Aircoach 705X both stop at Belfast Grand Central. Dublin Express sells Belfast tickets online or at its desk in Terminal 1, and the driver does not sell them; a standard ticket cannot be changed or refunded, and a refundable ticket can be cancelled up to 24 hours before. Aircoach runs the 705X 364 days a year and goes on from Belfast to Belfast International Airport and Derry. The coaches suit a reader who starts from Dublin Airport or from O’Connell Street.

Tours

Every Dublin tour that stops in Belfast is a Causeway day, so Belfast is one stop on a long coach day. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult, in euros for tours that leave Dublin.

Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce Castle & Belfastad is from €60 for 12.5 hours and reaches Belfast just after 3:00pm for a free 60-minute guided walk past City Hall, St George’s Market and Victoria Square. For a day spent in Belfast itself, two products start in the city and are priced in pounds. Belfast: Political Conflict 3-Hour Walking Tourad is from £26 (2,758 reviews) and is guided by Republican and Loyalist former political prisoners, who walk their own neighbourhoods and tell their own stories. City Sightseeing Belfast HOHO Bus Tourad is a 2-day open-top bus ticket from £19 (2,055 reviews) that lists Titanic Belfast and the Peace Wall among its stops.

Titanic Belfast

Titanic Belfast is in Titanic Quarter, a short walk from the city centre. The Titanic Experience is a self-guided walk through themed interactive galleries, and the ticket includes admission to SS Nomadic, the last remaining White Star Line vessel. Opening hours are seasonal, and last admission to the Titanic Experience is 1 hour 40 minutes before closing.

Titanic Belfast in Titanic Quarter. Photo: Paul Hermans, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

A hand-held multimedia guide is £5. The prices are at titanicbelfast.com, and the online price is the lower one.

SS Nomadic in its dry dock beside Titanic Belfast. Photo: Horep, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The UK ETA

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, so the UK’s electronic travel authorisation applies even on a day trip from Dublin. There is no border post, but the UK’s entry rules apply.

• Who needs one. US, Canadian, Australian and EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, except Irish citizens. EU visitors need a passport: a national ID card does not work for a holiday. British and Irish citizens need none.
• The cost. £20 a person, babies and children included, valid for 2 years or until the passport expires, whichever is sooner.
• Apply in the UK ETA app or at gov.uk/eta. A decision usually arrives by email within a day and can take up to 3 working days. Other websites charge more.
• A Dublin hotel is not residence. The exemption is for people who live in Ireland, and it asks for Irish proof of residence, such as an Irish driving licence.
• More. The sister site London Travel Geek has a UK ETA guide.

The Giant’s Causeway page has the same rules with the Causeway tours.

Before you go

• The last train. The 21:00 from Belfast is the last Enterprise of the day from Monday to Saturday.
• Tickets. Dublin Express does not sell Belfast tickets on the coach.
• Passport. Carry it on the day.
• Currency. Belfast prices are in pounds; the coach fares from Dublin are in euros.
• Timetables. Aircoach’s 705X timetable runs to 23 December 2026, and the Irish Rail timetable changes on 13 December 2026.

Belfast is one of the day trips from Dublin. The coast beyond it is the Giant’s Causeway. What to book before you go to Dublin has the city tickets and the entry rules for Ireland, Dublin Airport to the city covers the other end of the coaches, and 3 days in Dublin shows where a day out fits.