Dublin hop on hop off with Guinness

[tobyt]

Hello, hoping someone knows this answer I can’t quite figure out the timing and availability on the sites. It appears that the green line hop on hop off has a combo ticket to include Guinness. Has anyone purchased ahead of time the bus, Dart transfer to get from Dun laoghaire and the Guiness experience with a set time? Is it safe to say 12 for a timed Guiness entry with tender, dart time and onto the hop on off bus. Would it be better to just buy Dart and the Guiness tickets and skip hop on hop off? If smokehouse takes a couple of hours, with tender back and forth and Dart time not certain that hop on hop off is worthwhile. 
We did a driving Ireland vacation a couple of years ago and went to Kilomann goal and saw a very small portion of the city so this cruise is opportunity to see something new. Open to thoughts if anyone has other suggestions.

We are in town Friday 9/27 approx 7-6 Princess has been adjusting the time so want to be flexible and of course tender port….

[princeton123211]

17 hours ago, tobyt said:

Would it be better to just buy Dart and the Guiness tickets and skip hop on hop off?

The last time we did the Hop on Hop Off in Dublin (was pressed for time with some folks who had never been to the city before) it worked fine until mid morning and then just got hopelessly mired in traffic to the point that it wasn't really even worth it. 

 

Personally I would go right to St James' Gate and tour Guinness and then head into town to walk around and see the sights without the bus. Sure, you might miss out on a drive by of Phoenix Park thats further afield, but any of the places on the loop in the city core you can easily cover on foot without the traffic. 

[VMax1700]

Another option - buy a Visitor Leap Card for €8 for 1 day.  It will cover DART to City Centre and return, LUAS tram (use it to get to Storehouse) or Dublin Bus.

It is a physical card so will be snail mailed to your home address, but it is quick!

https://about.leapcard.ie/leap-visitor-card

[tomcherv]

We had Hop On Hop Off tickets, but relied more heavily on LUAS to get around - easy, clean, and convenient.  We also walked quite a bit as well - we found Dublin to be very walkable.

 

Agree about the buses getting stuck in traffic, one of the reasons we stopped using the HOHO.  If I were to return to Dublin, I would not rely on the HOHO but use LUAS instead.

 

The Guiness Storehouse was a great tour - I booked those tickets directly from Guiness.