What's the cheapest way to travel from Belfast to Dublin? Translink Goldline X1 service via airport.

Booking and info on the Translink X1 service can be found here:

https://www.translink.co.uk/Using%20T...

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We arrive at the bus station in Belfast’s Great Victoria St in the early in the morning to take the X1 Service from Belfast to Dublin. Our bus is the X1 Goldliner leaving at 8am. At 7.52 the bus pulled up outside to allow boarding. It’s described as an express service, which I suppose it is, although it does stop off at another 4 stops before we arrive in Dublin City centre as you’ll see.

You can book your tickets in advance online at the Translink site translink.co.uk, on buy on the day, but these buses often fill up, so I wouldn’t advise that. I’ll leave that web address in the description.
The seats, upholstered in leather, are quite comfortable. There’s a small space above the seat to but your bag or coat, while luggage needs to be stowed in the luggage space under the bus. The seats even have a USB charger, which is very handy.

At 8am we leave Belfast on the first leg of our journey. Some minutes later our first stop to pick up passengers is Sprucefield just outside Lisburn. After that we arrive in Banbridge to do the same. Our 3rd pickup point, still in N. Ireland, is in the town of Newry and this is where the bus tends to be at full capacity as our next stop in the route is Dublin Airport.

If you are buying your bus ticket cash then you’ll need to get your ticket 60 mins before departure time. In any case, what they call the Websaver ticket is cheaper and obviously guarantees you a seat in advance.

The online single fare starts at £8.50, (although sometimes rises to £10.99 depending on when you travel I guess, whereas you’ll pay £15.70 or more if you buy with cash on the day, so quite a difference there. Similarly, a websaver return ticket starts at £17 as opposed to £23 when bought with cash. Obviously these costs will rise, but that’s the cost now in Jan 2023.

This is the cheapest way to travel by public transport between the two cities and, while this may lack a bit of the comfort of the train, it’s actually quite a convenient way to travel intercity.

The service runs around the clock, although with less frequency in the early hours of the morning. This is particularly useful when you need to travel to the second last stop, Dublin Airport. Obviously flights may leave in the early hours and if you need to be at the airport a couple of hours in advance, this bus could be the answer. Most travellers will get off at the airport.

On heading into central Dublin from the airport, the bus takes advantage of the Dublin Port Tunnel, check out my separate film on this engineering feat. As we emerge from the tunnel we’re heading towards Dublin’s docklands, but the bus veers inwards towards the final stop in central Dublin.

Finally we see the interesting Busaras station designed in the International Modern style influenced by Le Corbusier with its clam shaped concrete canope overhanging the concourse.