The closest starting point for a trip to Newgrange would be the town of Drogheda, an hour north of Dublin. As my X1 bus from Belfast had dropped me off in Dublin naturally I had to get myself to Drogheda first before I could get to Newgrange itself.
During the planning stages, I discovered that a train ride straight to Drogheda from Belfast wasn’t favourable for an onward connection to Bus Éireann route 163, due to both the timing and the distance of the train station from the bus station in Drogheda. On Sundays the first Enterprise service departs Belfast at 09:00 am and reaches Drogheda at 10:40am, whereas the Bus Éireann 163 service to Newgrange departs Drogheda Bus Station at 11:15am, which would leave me with a 35 minute transfer window.
As the walk is at least 20 minutes, and I wasn’t familiar with the layout of Drogheda, I decided to not risk it and decided on taking the Expressway 100x bus servive to Drogheda bus station from Dublin instead. Plus, the bus ticket was cheaper than the Enterprise ticket. which helped weigh my decision in favour of the bus.
First posted 12 July 2017. Updated 12 March 2023.
Departure from Dublin Custom House Quay
Expressway service 100x to Dundalk does not use Busáras in Dublin, instead picking passengers up from a stop outside the Custom House. The monumental building is a quick walk from Busáras and Dublin Connolly station and is hard to miss.
The stop is marked by a pole that also lists the Bus Éireann routes that serves it. 100x is marked on the pole, though its timetable was missing from the panel mounted on the pole.
The bus pulled into the stop on time, and all 3 of us waiting at the stop boarded. Yes there were only 2 others waiting at the stop before me, which made for a very light load out of Dublin. A substantial crowd did board at Dublin Airport, however, no doubt heading for Dundalk.
Buying my tickets
I bought my tickets from the Bus Éireann website. The website unfortunately doesn’t work well if connecting from out of Europe, so you can try the Expressway website instead.
The driver handed me a ticket slip when boarding the bus as proof of purchase. This one way trip to Drogheda on a Student Single fare cost me €8.00.
Cabin & Onboard Amenities
Expressway’s seats are better than Translink’s. As Bus Éireann’s long distance express bus brand, Expressway buses feature slightly more comfortable seats with better headrests. There was also more legroom than on the Translink Goldline X1 bus that brought me from Dublin, which made for a more comfortable ride.
Arrival at Drogheda Bus Station
As it was a Sunday morning the highway was clear with light traffic. This made our ride easier and faster. The end result was that we arrived at Drogheda 5 minutes earlier than scheduled.
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