Getting to Carlow, and what you need a car for

Carlow is one of the easier county towns in Ireland to reach without a car, and one of the easier ones to get around once you arrive. The catch is the two things just outside it that are worth the trip, which do need wheels. Here is how it all fits together.

The train from Heuston

Carlow is on the Dublin Heuston to Waterford line. Its Irish Rail code is CRLOW and it is a through-station, so most trains carry on south through Muine Bheag, Kilkenny and Thomastown to Waterford. Two weekday trains from Dublin, one in the morning and one around lunchtime, finish at Carlow, which matters only if you are going further.

On the timetable valid from 14 December 2025, ten trains leave Heuston for Carlow on a Monday to Thursday and eleven on a Friday, with eight on Saturday and five on Sunday. Going the other way there are eleven up to Dublin from Monday to Thursday, twelve on a Friday, nine on Saturday and five on Sunday. The journey takes between about an hour and five minutes and an hour and twenty, depending on how many stops the train makes. The first weekday train to Dublin leaves Carlow at 06:30 and is in Heuston at 07:44; the last from Heuston, Monday to Saturday, leaves at 20:20 and gets to Carlow at 21:40. Kilkenny is about forty minutes further on and Waterford about an hour and twenty.

Two practical things. Trains to Carlow leave from Heuston, not Connolly, and Heuston is on the Luas Red Line if you are coming across the city. And the gaps between trains are uneven, anything from under an hour to over two, so look up the time rather than turning up and hoping.

From the station into town

The station is on Railway Road on the north-east side of the centre. It is about 750 metres to the Potato Market, and VISUAL, the arts centre, is about five minutes on foot: VISUAL's own directions send you straight ahead past St Mary's Academy and round to the left past St Leo's to its gate on the Old Dublin Road. The Seven Oaks Hotel on the Athy Road is close by too. Nothing about the walk in needs a taxi unless you have heavy bags.

By coach

The coach to know is JJ Kavanagh's route 736, which runs between Waterford and Dublin Airport by way of Carlow and Dublin city. It is the one way to get from arrivals at Dublin Airport to Carlow without changing, and the operator is clear that you need to book a seat in advance on its journey planner to be sure of one. Coaches use the bus park off Barrack Street, ten minutes' walk from College Street. Wexford Bus route 376 goes the other way, south-east through Ballon, Bunclody and Enniscorthy to Wexford.

Local buses are a different matter. Bus Éireann runs town routes, and TFI Local Link Carlow Kilkenny Wicklow covers the villages, but rural timetables are built around school and shopping hours. They will not get you to Brownshill on a Sunday afternoon.

By car

Carlow sits just off the M9, the Dublin to Waterford motorway, at junction 4. Once you are in, park once: the castle, Tullow Street and College Street are all within about ten minutes' walk of one another, and the town-centre car park beside the Potato Market is in the middle of all three. VISUAL also has council pay parking inside its gate on the Old Dublin Road, free for evening events after half six, though spaces are limited.

What you do need a car for

Two of the best things in the Carlow area are outside the town. Brownshill Dolmen is a little over three kilometres east on the R726 Hacketstown road, with a small council car park that is easy to drive past. Duckett's Grove is about eight kilometres north-east as the crow flies, signposted from junction 4 of the M9 towards Castledermot, and has its own car park. Neither has a bus that suits a visitor. If you have no car, a taxi to each is short, and for Duckett's Grove book the return when you book the trip out.

The Barrow Way is the exception: you can walk out of town along the towpath from Graiguecullen Bridge to Milford, about seven kilometres, and back again, without going near a road.

Flying in

Dublin Airport is the airport for Carlow. Take the JJ Kavanagh 736 directly, or go into the city and catch the train from Heuston. If you are hiring a car, the M9 branches off the M7 in Co. Kildare and runs south towards Waterford, and Carlow is off its junction 4.

A note on the county line

The Barrow is the old boundary between Co. Carlow and Co. Laois. The town itself is all in Co. Carlow, but parts of Graiguecullen across the bridge are in Co. Laois, and the Talbot Hotel on the Portlaoise Road describes itself as on the border. It makes no difference to getting about, but it explains why the odd satnav search turns up a Laois address for somewhere you thought was in Carlow.