Fun in Bull Island – Dublin

Bull island is a nice little island at the north side of Dublin city with having a length of 5 kilometer and width 800 meter. It takes around 15 minutes by public bus from the city. Being so close to the city it attracts many visitors for a wide range of activities such as flying kites, kayaking, surfing, bird watching, jogging, family picnic, and sight seeing. This island is the national nature reserve and a bird sanctuary too. It is also known as North Bull Island.

This Bull island is ideal for afternoon sight seeing during summer when the day is very long, or at weekends during shorter day lengths. During the summer the water is still very cold, but lot of ehnthusiastics go there to have a swim at the ocean. There are several bath shelters (separate for male and female, and also combined) according to the choice of the visitors.

I usually go to Bull island when I don’t have anything to do during weekend, and feels like to see ocean. Also I go there for bird watching. Although I didn’t see a wide ranged collection of birds there. The island is a nice place to watch the Light bellied brent goose, Curlew, Redshank, and few more. Northern part of the island is suitable for these birds compare to the southern part (as more tourists here).

I usually leave the bus at Dollymount (where the wooden bridge is located). From there I use to walk over the wooden bridge (that connects the island with the mainland). Before going into the island you can have a walk beside the main road. The walking path is very wide there, and during the high tide the scenery is very beautiful there.

The wooden bridge is very nice. The water level gets nearly closer to the bridge during high tide. Although that part is not very deep, but the water looks very deep there. The area on the left side is a nice place for the kayakers. I always see them practicing kayaking there. The bridge is not that much long, but walking over a wooden bridge during this modern era is a nice feeling from my understanding.

It takes around good 10-15 minutes of walk to reach at the beach from the bridge. But during the walk you’d see several bath shelters there. If you are planning to have a swim in ocean then those places are for you. I use to do this thing during summer. Besides the stairs near the shelter area is also a nice place for sitting. Also beside the road there are plenty of benches so that a visitor can sit there and watch the bay. Instead of going to the beach I prefer to sit on those benches or stairs. Cause I don’t wanna get my shoes sandy from beach. Watching the beach from far should do for me.

There are always some activities around the beach. People do some kiting during a good windy day. Those kites are in different sizes and shapes. I’ve seen one guy playing his violin at the beach. People do surfing at the water, although the current is very polite at the beach. During the high tide the beach looks more beautiful compare to low tide. Cause during low tide the water is very far from the main beach, one need to walk a mile to reach at a foot depth water.

The Bull island is not a place that can beat other tourists attractions, rather it is a place when you don’t have anything to do but have few hours to spend. That’s why international tourists use to visit here during afternoon (at summer). Otherwise most of the people are here local from Dublin. There are good few restaurants at the Dollymount. I like the one named Kinara, an Asian restaurant.

How to go to Bull island:

The bus 130 from Abbey street runes in ever 20 minutes. You can take that bus which should drop you at Dolloymount seaview point by 15 minutes. Last five minutes the bus goes beside the shoreline. If you are visiting there during high tide then don’t forget to seat at the upper deck of the bus. It will help you to enjoy the view of coastline.

Bull Island,
County: Dublin,
Ireland,
GPS coordinate (53°21’30.8″N, 6°10’38.7″W),
List of Hotels from Dublin.

This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icwow.blogspot.com/