School Tours & Trips to Ireland and Northern Ireland
From Giant's Causeway to Dublin's historic streets
Ireland and Northern Ireland offer students the chance to explore compelling history, dramatic landscapes, and vibrant culture, all within easy reach of the UK.
From the Giant's Causeway and Whiterocks Beach to Kilmainham Gaol, Dáil Éireann and the Museum of Free Derry, students can explore the landscapes, events and people that continue to shape Ireland today.
What to expect on a school trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland
Students can explore world-famous geological features, investigate key moments in Irish history, and gain a deeper understanding of the political and cultural identities that have shaped the island.
It's a destination where geography, history, and politics are never far apart, making it a popular choice for a cross-curriculum school trip.
What are the highlights of a school trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland?
Ireland combines spectacular landscapes with stories that continue to shape the nation today.
Highlights include:
- Exploring the Giant's Causeway and its unique volcanic landscape.
- Investigating coastal processes at Whiterocks Beach.
- Visiting Kilmainham Gaol to learn about Ireland's journey to independence.
- Touring Dáil Éireann and exploring Irish political history.
- Discovering the story of civil rights and Bloody Sunday at the Museum of Free Derry.
- Experiencing Belfast's Titanic Museum.
Why book your Ireland & Northern Ireland school trip with NST?
Great trips don't happen by chance.
They start with the right advice, careful planning, and a team that understands what teachers need. That's exactly what you'll get with NST.
From smart online tools and responsive support to financial protection and risk assessment advice, we'll make the process feel simple from start to finish.
Browse our most popular Ireland school trips
Why choose NST?
Here's why thousands of teachers choose NST each year...
- Unrivalled school trip knowledge
Your dedicated Tour Co-ordinator will use their trip planning knowledge and expertise to create a tailor-made, curriculum-linked itinerary to meet your group’s exact needs.
- Making it easier for you
Your own trip organiser, travel app, free classroom packs and trip promo resources.
- Free group leader inspection visits
Visit your chosen destination free of charge and plan with confidence.
- Value for money, always
We work hard to make every penny count.
- Over 55 years’ experience
With NST you can rest assured that your group is in safe hands.
- Aligned to your learning outcomes
Every trip can be built around your specific goals — from the latest GCSE and A level curriculum requirements to particular themes, interests or visits you want to focus on.
- Risk assessment guidance
Clear, practical support to help you manage group safety including our free guide.
- Offsetting carbon emissions
Through our partnership with Carbon Footprint, we're committed to offset one tonne of CO2 emissions, and plant a tree on school grounds in the UK, for every trip booked.
Our groups love
Museum of Free Derry
Visit will include a guided tour of the exhibition, which outlines the people’s story of government oppression, the struggle for civil rights, the Battle of the Bogside, internment, Free Derry and Bloody Sunday.
Giant's Causeway
Students will take a short walk down to the Causeway to marvel at the 400,000 interlocking basalt stone columns left by volcanic eruptions over 60 million years ago. Here, groups can immerse themselves in the geology of the area: investigating intrusive and extrusive volcanic features, coastal processes and landforms, and also consider the human impact of the site. Students can then explore the state of the art visitor centre where they can engage with the interactive exhibition.
Whiterocks Beach
Whiterocks Beach enjoys a stunning coastal location. The soft, sedimentary rocks have been carved through centuries into a labyrinth of caves and arches allowing for the investigation of landforms such as sea stacks and arches.
Titanic Museum
Visit the world’s largest Titanic visitor experience at this fascinating museum in Belfast. Students don’t just learn, they become enthralled by full scale replicas and visually stunning displays through nine interactive galleries.
Kilmainham Gaol
One of the largest unoccupied gaols (jails) in Europe covering some of the most heroic and tragic events in Ireland’s emergence as a modern nation from 1780s to the 1920s. Attractions include a major exhibition detailing the political and penal history of the prison and its restoration.
Dáil Eireann
Take a guided tour of the Houses of the Oireachtas where the guides will relay their historical and educational knowledge of both the building itself and the workings of the two houses.
Glasnevin Cemetry
The tour visits the final resting place of Daniel O’Connell, Michael Collins, Eamon DeValera, Charles Stewart Parnell, Countess Marcievicz and many of the other men and women who have shaped Ireland’s history. A new state of the art museum will complement the tour.
