I'm pretty sure that you are looking for guided day tours outside of Dublin City. However, don't overlook what is available IN Dublin. We especially enjoyed the Historical Walking Tour of Dublin available at the gates of Trinity College, the "mummy tour" down in the crypt of St. Michans, the guided tour of Dublin Castle, and the on-going commentary by the bus drivers on the Hop-on-hop-off busses (green busses) where you will get lots of information about the 24 stops on their route, as well as numerous places in between.

A couple of Not-to-miss day trips outside of Dublin would be:  (1)  Newgrange  (2) Glendaloch

Dan

-- Edited by murphy on Wednesday 16th of January 2013 09:26:46 AM

In my opinion, Mary Gibbons has the best Newgrange tour . She makes it come alive and, for me at least, transports you back in time.

Wild Wicklow Tours is another of my favorites. That would give you a full day tour of the sites and surroundings of Glendalough. THey do both small groups and private. 

Paddywagon Tours and Extreme Ireland offer day-tours that are different from the norm

 

You can also grab a train to Kilkenny and explore the historic city on your own. Corey provides a wonderfully comprehensive walking tour of Kilkenny.

You might also consider grabbing the train up to Belfast for the day and once there, grab one of the Black Taxi tours 

Yay! Glad I read this. I just booked a 1/2 day trip to Wicklow mountains! Unfortunately I didn't see one to see Powerscourt. The one we're doing does stop at Glendalough... Wicklow was the first area we visited in 2008 (once we finished with Dublin and picked up our rental)...it was the most stressful part of the drive so we didn't stop at Powerscourt. If our tour doesn't stop there how simple would it be to see it on our own?

Perfect! I'll take a look at their tours! TY Michele!