Leap Card: Which Dublin Card to Get

A Leap card is a prepaid travel card for Dublin's buses, trams and trains. This guide compares the standard card, the Visitor Card and cash, so you can pick before you travel.

Price: standard Leap card vs Leap Visitor Card vs cash

The standard card is usually the cheapest of the three, because a day of travel never costs an adult more than €6.00. An adult 90 Minute Fare is €2.00 and covers Dublin Bus, Luas, DART and commuter rail in Zone 1 for any journey you start within 90 minutes of your first tap. Express and Nitelink buses are not part of it, and cost €2.40 on Leap. The card needs a €5 deposit and a first top-up of at least €5, as Leap's own site explains. The pages read do not say how much credit the card can hold.

The weekly cap is €24.00, and it runs from Monday to Sunday. Both caps count any mix of Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead Ireland, Luas, DART and commuter rail, according to Transport for Ireland's fares page.

The Visitor Card gives unlimited travel on the same services for a fixed time. A 1-day (24 hour) card costs €8, a 3-day card €18 and a 7-day card €24, and the time starts at your first use. The 2026 Dublin Travel Cost Study found that in Dublin the €8 one-day Leap Visitor Card pays off from the fourth ride of the day, against €2 single fares on a standard Leap card.

The study's break-even ignores the daily cap. On a standard card, the €6.00 cap stops your day's fares before the €8 Visitor Card would pay off. So the Visitor Card is not the cheaper choice on price. It is the easier one if you want to hold a card before you arrive.

Cash is the most expensive option for more than one ride. On Dublin Bus the cash fare is €2.00 for a short trip and €2.60 for a long one, and Nitelink is €3.10 in cash against €2.40 on Leap. The fare page does not say whether drivers give change, so bring coins.

Pro Tip If you land at Dublin Airport and want a Visitor Card straight away, the WHSmith shop in Terminal 1 sells the 24-hour card, and the Spar in Terminal 2 also sells Visitor Cards.

If you plan to drive instead, read about parking in Dublin before you hire a car.

Where to buy: standard Leap card vs Leap Visitor Card

You can buy the standard card in over 2,000 places across Ireland, according to Leap's home page. The pages read name no Dublin shops for the standard card. Top it up at any agent, or use the Leap Top-Up app to add money: choose the amount in the app, then pay.

The Visitor Card is sold in far fewer places. Online, it is posted to a home address, so it only helps if you order well before you travel. At selected agents in Dublin, you can buy it at:

• Dublin Airport: WHSmith in Terminal 1 for 24-hour cards, and the Spar in Terminal 2
• Dublin Bus, 59 Upper O'Connell Street
• Spar shops on O'Connell Street, Dame Street and Talbot Street
• Heuston Station newsagent, the GPO and Connolly Station
• Trinity Students' Union

An unused Visitor Card expires 12 months after you buy it. You can top it up with 1, 3 or 7 days at Leap outlets, up to five times.

Key Takeaway For a short Dublin stay, the standard card with its €6.00 daily cap costs less than the €8 Visitor Card. Choose the Visitor Card only if you want a card posted before you fly.

A first day with the standard card runs like this.

Coverage: Leap cards vs hop-on hop-off buses and airport coaches

Neither card covers hop-on hop-off sightseeing buses. The Leap page for visitors says the Visitor Card is not valid on the hop-on hop-off tour, other special tour services or Bus Éireann. The cards also do not pay for private airport coaches. The Leap pages list only Dublin City bus services, Luas, DART and commuter rail in Zone 1, so check before you board a coach such as Aircoach.

You tap differently on each service. On buses you tap on only. On Luas, DART and commuter rail you tap on and tap off, and Luas charges a €100 Standard Fare Notice if you do not validate.

Doing Dublin on your own with a Leap card is enough for everyday travel. A bundle helps if you want one ticket for both sightseeing and transport, and it can stand in for a card. The DoDublin Freedom Card includes a 72-hour pass for Dublin's public transport and a 48-hour hop-on hop-off pass. It is run by DoDublin, costs from €55 per person, is rated 4.3 from 238 reviews and has free cancellation. Its listed meeting point is the ICE Ireland Money Exchange at Dublin Airport, and it does not cover express airport buses. The listing gives no duration or group size.

If you only want the sightseeing bus, the hop-on hop-off bus with live commentary is run by DoDublin and costs from €28.90 per person, rated 4.5 from 3,533 reviews, with free cancellation. It includes live commentary and the listing says entrance fees, food and tips are not included. The listing gives no duration or group size, and the meeting point depends on the option you pick. In Things to Do in Dublin's count of GetYourGuide listings on 25 October 2026, 7 listings sit in the hop-on hop-off category, from €22 to €64.40 per person. The hop-on hop-off bus page compares them. A sightseeing bus is no help for everyday rides. It stops at set places, while a Leap card takes you to any stop on the network.

Public transport is cheapest when you pay the way locals do.

Attractions: Leap card vs the Dublin Pass

A Leap card pays for travel only, so no Leap card covers a ticket to a sight. If you plan to visit several paid attractions, the Dublin Pass may work out cheaper than buying each ticket alone. The Dublin Pass is run by Go City - EMEA and costs from €79 per person, rated 4.3 from 1,924 reviews, with free cancellation. Its GetYourGuide page lists free entry to over 40 attractions and a 1-day hop-on hop-off ticket.

On your own, you pay for each sight. The pass is worth it only if you visit many sights in a short time. The listing gives no meeting point, duration or group size. If you plan one or two attractions, buy single tickets and keep your card for the trip between them. For more on the pass, read about the Dublin Pass for attractions.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 25 October 2026.