Landing at Dublin Airport

What DUB is like

Dublin is Ireland's largest airport and the starting point for most drives around the island. It has two terminals joined by an indoor walkway, so unlike several London airports there is no shuttle to catch between them. Travellers from Thailand usually reach it on a connection from elsewhere in Europe. The thing worth knowing before you land is that Ireland is not in the Schengen area, so arriving from the continent still means clearing a border here.

On arrival

Bring the line up at landing and note whether you are in Terminal 1 or Terminal 2, because each has its own set of bus stands out front even though you can walk between the buildings. The border has both automated gates and staffed desks, and which lanes are open changes through the day, so read the signs in front of you. Morning banks can put several aircraft into the queue at once. After the belt, arrivals leads straight outside to the stands, only a short walk. If you are picking up a hire car, check the paperwork for whether the lot is on site or reached by a shuttle.

How far the airport Wi-Fi gets you

The airport Wi-Fi is free and covers both terminals reasonably well. What catches people out is that some bus tickets are bought in an app or on a website, which means needing a connection at exactly the moment you are standing at the terminal door. Outdoor stands are not where Wi-Fi does its best work, and the morning crush slows it further. The other pinch point is travelling on out of the city the same day, which wants a map and a timetable you can trust rather than a fresh sign-in at every stop.

Getting into town

There is no railway into Dublin Airport, so the trip into the city runs on buses: express services straight to the centre in about half an hour, and cheaper local routes that stop more often. Taxis queue in an orderly rank out front and make sense with a group or after a late arrival. A good number of arrivals never enter Dublin at all, boarding a coach to another town on the island from the same stands. The data you spend here goes on a map, a ticket in an app and checking which stop to use. If the continent follows Ireland on your itinerary, confirm that the coverage you arranged includes both, since Ireland and the mainland countries are not always counted together.

What people ask about this airport

• Ireland is not in Schengen — Even arriving from a continental country you still clear a border here, so leave a wider margin on a connection.
• The terminals are walkable — An indoor walkway links them so there is no shuttle to wait for, though each terminal has its own bus stands.
• Buy the bus ticket indoors — Some routes sell through an app, and tapping through it inside beats doing it at a windy stand.