Hill Country Bus Services in Éire
Rural bus services are not offer in Éire on the same scale as they are in the U.K. and, given the current state of the Irish economy, I cannot see that changing. Nevertheless, here are a collection that allow you to get from Dublin into the hills on its doorstep. This is by no means an exhaustive list but I hope that it helps. If you need to look further afield, please take a look at my public transport blog or the Irish travel directory included in the Miscellany. I will endeavour to keep this list as up to date as I can (the prospect of changes to services is heightened following the onset of the downturn) and may even add to it in time. If there are any oversights, please do send me a message and I'll be happy to rectify things.
16 Santry-Dublin-Ballinteer
Marley Park, the northern end of the Wicklow Way, is near the Ballinteer end of this route and that's why it is getting a mention here. From there, it's a short hop over the M50 into the Dublin Mountains for some walking and the chance to continue all of the way south along the Wicklow Way is an option too. In fact, using a bus is probably a better way to start out on the waymarked way because you'll have no car to worry about along the way.
44 Dublin-Enniskerry
This next to hourly service from Townsend Street in the heart of Dublin lands you out near Powerscourt, a heritage property nestling in some fine hill country. You can skip Powerscourt and head directly for the hills and the Wicklow Way if you want but there's no need to bring your car with this travel option.
65 Dublin-Blessington/Ballymore
Blessington finds itself right beside the Poulaphuca Reservoir (otherwise known as the Blessington Lakes) and beyond those lie the Wicklow Mountains. That makes the sixty minute journey using this bus service worthwhile and there's so much to explore that you might never run out of places to savour.
145 Dublin-Bray-Kilmacanogue
The location of the Great Sugarloaf next to Kilmacanogue makes it a great hill to explore when you've only got a few hours to spare and its being at the end of a bus route with a decent frequency helps too. The whole bus journey from Mountjoy Square in the heart of Dublin city is scheduled to take 85 minutes so a ride on the DART might be an idea if you want to shorten travel time so long as the walk from Bray's train station to its main street doesn't take up too much of your time.
419/421 Galway-Clifden(-Westport)
If there is one criticism that can be levelled at Bus Éireann, it's that they seemed to overdesign their timetables. Something more standardised might be in order rather than what is on offer. You do get to wondering if easier to understand timetables would attract greater ridership because the equivalent Irish Citylink offering (see below) is more likely to see my patronage.
Galway-Clifden-Cleggan-Letterfrack
This one does not have a route number but the timings are useful and there are those valuable extensions to Letterfrack and/or Cleggan too. The Irish Citylink service not only offers a useful way to reach Connemara with connections to Inishbofin possible too. Then, there's the matter of the timetable being more standardised than its Bus Éireann counterpart.
