Walks By Bus – Sutton to Clontarf Seafront Walk

Sutton to Clontarf Seafront Walk

Distance: 6.5km  / 4.0 miles

Time (average person): 90 minutes

Wheelchair Accessible – Yes

Terrain: Flat, surfaced walkway.

Suitable for all ages.

 

This is a lovely seafront walk, not too taxing, and easily accessible by public transport. It can be done in either direction, my personal preference is from the Sutton end inwards (with the sea on you left and the road on your right) as you get a more varies view in this direction, of sea, city and mountains.

I have recorded this walk as Sutton to Clontarf (Bus Depot) – however when you reach this point you can continue on if you like, for several more km as far as Fairview.

Directions:

Take Dublin Bus services 31, 31B from Abbey Street. These run about every 20 mins most of the day, or 30 mins on Sundays. It will take about 25-35 minutes for you to reach the point where the Howth Road joins the seafront road at Blackbanks.  Stay on the bus as it runs along by the sea, and alight at the point where the sea starts to curve away from the road – the best stop to get off at is the one at St. Fintans School, this is exactly at the start of the seafront walk.

From here you will have a level walk directly along the seafront, on a pathway that is segregated from the road for the majority of the walk.

Start of the walk at Sutton, opp. St. Fintans School

Good quality segregated walkway, suitable for all ages and wheelchairs.

View of Dublin Bay as you walk is superb.

After about 4km you come to a causeway on your left, leading out to Dollymount Strand – I will be documenting a longer version of the walk using this at a later date. At this point you will have St. Anne’s Park on the other side of the road, so for the next km or so there are few buildings to spoil the scenery.

Here is a video showing the walk and view, taken just before the causeway (at the point where the red “V” is on the map).

The video starts by looking back the way we have come, and pans 360 degrees to show you the general area.

After the causeway, the walk moves from being in a dedicated space to a normal footpath on the side of the road, with a low wall between us and the sea.

After another km (at about the 5km mark) we leave St. Anne’s Park behind, and once we have passed this, the road is served by bus 130 which runs every 15-20 minutes, and will taken you back to town.

We continue on for another km and a half, passing the wooden bridge which is the second access point onto Bull Island and once again we are on a dedicated walkway away from the road.

I’ve chosen to the the walk at Clontarf Bus Depot (where you will also find an Esso Service Station and cafe) but you can continue along the seafront walk for several more km if you wish, passing Clontarf village, and ending at Fairview.

Our bus back to town is the 130, which will take you back to Marlborough Street, close to O’Connell Street.