Travel cards in Dublin and Northern Ireland
Dublin: Leap Card on buses: The pre-paid Leap Visitor Card is a prepaid pass that allows you to travel on all Dublin Bus, Airlink 747 buses, as well as the Luas and DART for a whole 72 hours (3 days) from its first use. Simply use your card to Touch On Leap Card Validators before or as you board the bus/train/tram; for the train or tram, remember to Touch Off when you alight or leave the station and the journey is registered on your Leap Card. It's that easy.
Being a foreign exchange student is an advantage, too: the Leap Trainee Card is available through your language school and directly from Dublin Bus. You can avail of a 1-week up to 4-week card, meaning you can hop on to the Luas, DART, Iarnród Éireann’s short-hop zone and Dublin Bus at your convenience. The Leap Card isn’t just good for getting around the city: you can use it to explore Dublin far and wide, including coastal villages, suburban towns and everything in between.
Northern Ireland: Use iLink in Northern Ireland. Similar to the Leap Card, iLink is a smartcard that gives you unlimited daily, weekly, and monthly bus and rail travel. The iLink smartcard is available for Metro, NI Railways and Ulsterbus services within 5 zones. You can also top up your card at selected stations. Read this handy user guide for information on full iLink services.
