Dublin Newgrange tour: Day Tours Unplugged vs Mary Gibbons

We have read about the tours to Newgrange and Tara hill and they sound very interesting.

I have found 2 companies that provide this tour, Mary Gibbons http://newgrangetours.com/ and Day Tours Unplugged.

Has anyone done this? Is it as interesting as it sounds? And which company did you go with?

Thanks for your help.

We did the Mary Gibbons tour in July 2017 and had a great time.

We are all very interested in history, therefore, this tour from Dublin was one of the highlights of our Ireland vacation. But I must add that we had quite a good idea of what we would (or would not) be seeing during the day. If your a not an history buff you might want to have a look at some youtube videos before signing up for the tour. While in the chamber of the passage tomb in Newgrange the guide turned off the light and with his electric torch made a simulation of what happens in the tomb during the winter solstice: this made our day!

Our guide during the day was Mary's younger brother who is an historian (medievalist if I recall correctly). He gave us a lot of background information while on the bus and then accompanied us on our first stop at the Hill of Tara and gave us some further explanations there. We found his commentaries very interesting. He answered our questions and helped my teenage boy choose a book on Ireland mythology at the bookshop at Newgrange Visitor Center. He did no accompany us into the Newgrange site as the guided tour from Newgrange is given by the site's own guides.

The tour was on a big i.e. standard size bus which was almost full. However, we did not think that this had a negativ impact on our experience. The only time we had to "wait" longer because we were a large group was at Newgrange. There our group had to split into two smaller groups as the number of people entering the tomb at the same time is restricted. We were in the first group to enter the tomb and than had time to walk around the tomb and enjoy the site, we did not experience it as a "lost of time". Actually, I tried to organize a private tour but ended up booking with Mary Gibbons because the private tour operators I contacted could not book a slot for us in advance for the Newgrange site. With Mary Gibbons we had the comfort of having a slot reserved at Newgrange and, therefore the guarantee of entering.

We did this Newgrange tour as part of a land-based vacation, therefore, the timing during the day was not of the essence but as far as recall it correctly, we got back in Dublin in time, i.e around the time specified on their webpage. Several convenient pick-up places are arrange in central Dublin. I am not sure that we would risk this tour as a shore excursion on a cruise.

The booking process was very simple: e-mail to Mary with request for a specific day, e-mail back confirming. On the day of the tour the guide had a list with the people booked on the tour, he checked his list, we paid and boarded the bus.

I hope this can be of any help. If you have any further question I would be happy to try and answer.

We did the Mary Gibbons tour in July 2017 and had a great time.

 

We are all very interested in history, therefore, this tour from Dublin was one of the highlights of our Ireland vacation. But I must add that we had quite a good idea of what we would (or would not) be seeing during the day. If your a not an history buff you might want to have a look at some youtube videos before signing up for the tour. While in the chamber of the passage tomb in Newgrange the guide turned off the light and with his electric torch made a simulation of what happens in the tomb during the winter solstice: this made our day!

 

Our guide during the day was Mary's younger brother who is an historian (medievalist if I recall correctly). He gave us a lot of background information while on the bus and then accompanied us on our first stop at the Hill of Tara and gave us some further explanations there. We found his commentaries very interesting. He answered our questions and helped my teenage boy choose a book on Ireland mythology at the bookshop at Newgrange Visitor Center. He did no accompany us into the Newgrange site as the guided tour from Newgrange is given by the site's own guides.

The tour was on a big i.e. standard size bus which was almost full. However, we did not think that this had a negativ impact on our experience. The only time we had to "wait" longer because we were a large group was at Newgrange. There our group had to split into two smaller groups as the number of people entering the tomb at the same time is restricted. We were in the first group to enter the tomb and than had time to walk around the tomb and enjoy the site, we did not experience it as a "lost of time". Actually, I tried to organize a private tour but ended up booking with Mary Gibbons because the private tour operators I contacted could not book a slot for us in advance for the Newgrange site. With Mary Gibbons we had the comfort of having a slot reserved at Newgrange and, therefore the guarantee of entering.

 

We did this Newgrange tour as part of a land-based vacation, therefore, the timing during the day was not of the essence but as far as recall it correctly, we got back in Dublin in time, i.e around the time specified on their webpage. Several convenient pick-up places are arrange in central Dublin. I am not sure that we would risk this tour as a shore excursion on a cruise.

 

The booking process was very simple: e-mail to Mary with request for a specific day, e-mail back confirming. On the day of the tour the guide had a list with the people booked on the tour, he checked his list, we paid and boarded the bus.

 

I hope this can be of any help. If you have any further question I would be happy to try and answer.

Thanks for the information.