Dublin's Ha'Penny Bridge
The oldest and most famous bridge across the River Liffey - actually pronounce like 'heypney'.
Flying into Dublin? Get to know it better with our post on arriving into Dublin Airport.
Car hire in Dublin Airport
Car hire companies with desks and on-site parking at Dublin Airport include Budget, Hertz, Europcar, Avis and Irish company, Dooley Rentals. Although these companies do have some on-site cars available, they also operate a larger car park a short drive away and if your car needs to be picked up from there, each has a shuttle service to take you there.
Other car hire companies with desks at the airport are Dollar Thrifty, Enterprise and Sixt – however to book with these companies you will have to book them in advance.
Better deals booking in advance!
Remember though – although you are able to book your Dublin Airport car hire directly at the airport with the former companies, to get the best deals, it’s always best to book your car hire in advance! CarJet has great deals on Ireland car hire – get a quote on a low-cost Dublin Airport car hire here.
Collecting your car hire at T1 | Collecting your car hire at T2
Car hire at Terminal 1
In Terminal 1, you’ll find car hire desks in the arrivals hall. After leaving the baggage reclaim area, and entering the arrivals hall, walk towards your right and you’ll find the following companies against the wall with the exit doors to the airport:
Hertz and Budget
First up, you'll find Hertz and Budget
Avis and Europcar
Just to the right of them are Avis and Europcar
Dooley's car hire
Then you have Dooley's car rentals - also beside the former home of the Europcar desk... will another company take this place?
more this way...
Just beyond the Bagel Factory and Bank of Ireland, which are located to the right of the old Europcar desk, you'll find more car hire companies this way.
For Dollar Thrifty, Enterprise and Sixt, just keep walking past the above car hire companies, the Bagel Factory and the Bank of Ireland and you’ll find these desks tucked away in a corner.
Dollar Thrifty, Enterprise and Sixt
You’ll notice these aren’t quite well branded as the earlier ones you walked past! From left to right, they are Dollar Thrifty, Enterprise and Sixt. Sixt is at least trying a little bit - the small bright orange light is theirs...
Car hire parked at the airport?
If your car hire can be located at the on-site car park, after collecting your keys and sorting out all your paperwork, head out of the airport – use the doors right by the car hire desks just located to the left of them and cross over the road.
Inbetween terminals
You’ll enter a sort of mini mall building which has eateries and a few shops – as well as an ATM if you still need to take out money.
This way to car hires
Walk towards your left pretty much as soon as you walk into the building and follow the signs to Block C.
Block C parking
You’ll walk across the car park to Block C. The entrance to the car hire parking is clearly signed.
Car hire parked elsewhere?
Although the two terminals are within walking distance to each other, perhaps the car parks available at the airport aren’t quite enough as most of the car hire companies have cars parked a wee drive away. However, they all do offer a regular shuttle service to take you there so it’s still easy peasy to pick yours up!
sign to courtesy shuttles
Once you’ve collected your keys, head out of the airport using the doors located to the left of the car hire desks. Walk towards your right past the taxi rank and you’ll see a sign to cross over for shuttle services to your left.
Cross over here
The shuttle services pick passengers up at an island in the middle of the road. It should just be a short wait for your shuttle service to your Dublin Airport car hire.
car hire shuttles
Car hire at Terminal 2
Newer Terminal 2 is lots brighter, more spacious and just that much sexier! If you're arriving into Dublin Airport's T2, here's a quick run-through for picking up your car hire...
Yellow art at T2
Once you've entered the arrivals hall after leaving baggage reclaim, you'll see a yellow scuplture ahead of you and doors ahead of that which lead to car hire.
Oak Cafe Bar
If however, you're feeling peckish and want to satisfy your hunger before leaving the airport, walk towards your right before the yellow sculpture and you'll find the fancy looking Oak Cafe Bar. Fancy something altogether more Asian inspired for food, walk towards your left and you'll find Diep Le Shaker.
Car hire help
Already at hand to show off their Irish charm, there was a nice young man towards my right (after entering the arrivals hall from baggage reclaim) available for information on car hire at the Airport. But as you're reading this - you'll already be clued up so unless you fancy a chat, keep walking straight ahead for car hire!
This way to car hire
Once through these double doors, keep walking through the short glass corridor you'll find yourself in.
If you've got a car hire booked with Dollar Thrifty, Enterprise or Sixt, at the end of the short corridor, you'll see signs to go straight ahead as well as one to go left to Terminal 1 for these car hire companies and see above to see where these are.
If your car hire's booked with Budget, Hertz, Europcar, Avis or Dooleys / Payless, they have desks in T2 so you just need to go straight ahead and then turn left. You'll find signs to these car hire desks clearly marked too and that you've been led to the car park. I know, handy!
T2 car hire
T2 is home to Hertz, Budget, Avis, Europcar and Dooleys/Payless rentals
And once you've got your keys and sorted out your paperwork, walk out the doors opposite Europcar and take the lift down to level 0. You'll see signs from each of the car hire companies telling you where you need to go for the shuttle bus if your car hire is a little further away - it's literally a 20 second walk left and left out of the car park where shuttle buses stop to pick customers up.
However, if you don't need a shuttle bus because your car hire is in this car park, well then, you've found it!
Dublin's city centre is just 20 minutes drive south. All there is to do now is to enjoy the craic!