Getting to Monaghan
Monaghan sits on the N2 about fifteen kilometres from the border, which is the single fact that explains most of how you get here. It is on the main Dublin to Derry road, it is well served by bus, and it has no railway.
By car
From Dublin, take the M1 and then the N2 through Ashbourne, Slane and Carrickmacross, or stay on the M2 and N2 the whole way. It is roughly 130 kilometres and about two hours, depending on how you fare getting out of the city.
From Belfast, the usual route is the M1 to Portadown and then the A3 and N12 through Armagh. Around an hour and a quarter for 130 kilometres.
From Derry, take the A5 south through Omagh and Aughnacloy and cross at Emyvale. About an hour and a half.
From Dublin Airport, join the M1 north and pick up the N2. Under two hours, and there is a direct bus, which is usually easier.
Distances worth knowing: Armagh is 25 kilometres, Clones is 20, Castleblayney is 20, Cavan is 55, Enniskillen is 60, Dundalk is 55.
By bus
Bus Éireann route 32 is the main service. It runs from Dublin Busáras via Dublin Airport to Monaghan and on to Letterkenny, roughly hourly, seven days a week. Monaghan to Dublin is about an hour and fifty minutes, and to the airport a little less. This is the route most people use, and it is genuinely frequent.
Translink route 70 connects Monaghan Bus Station with Armagh Buscentre, which is the way north into the Northern Ireland network. For Belfast you usually change at Armagh.
Goldliner X3 runs between Derry and Dublin and serves this corridor, which gives another option north and south.
Monaghan Bus Station is on North Road, a few minutes’ walk from Church Square. Local and rural services around the county, including the Local Link routes that serve the smaller villages, run from there too.
By train
There is no train. The Ulster Railway reached Monaghan in the 1850s and the line closed in the 1950s, and the county has had no rail service since. The nearest stations are Dundalk on the Dublin to Belfast line, about 55 kilometres, and Portadown, about 50 kilometres.
If you are coming from Britain or further afield by rail and ferry, Dundalk is the practical connection point, and there are bus links from there.
Airports
Dublin Airport is about two hours by road and has the direct route 32 bus. Belfast International is about an hour and a quarter, and Belfast City about an hour and a half, but both need a car or a change of bus.
Parking
Monaghan operates pay and display in the town centre, with car parks off the main squares and on the approach streets. It is a small enough town that you will find something within a few minutes’ walk of wherever you are going, and outside market days and match days it is rarely difficult.
The forest park, the leisure complex, the Peace Campus and the Garage Theatre all have their own free car parks.
Crossing the border
The border is fifteen kilometres north on the N2 at Emyvale, and there is no checkpoint or formality. What does change is currency, mobile roaming, and fuel prices, which is why a lot of local driving is done with an eye on which side of the line is cheaper that month. If you are hiring a car in the Republic, check that the hire agreement covers driving in Northern Ireland, because not all of them do.
Commuting from here
A fair number of people reading a page like this are not planning a visit. They are working out whether they could live in Monaghan and get to Dublin. The honest answer is that the bus is about an hour and fifty minutes each way, hourly, seven days a week, which is doable but makes for a long day. There is no rail alternative and there will not be one.
What that commute buys you is covered on the living in Monaghan page.
Going further
Monaghan makes a reasonable base for the north midlands and the border counties, with Armagh, Fermanagh and the Cavan lakes all inside an hour, and Carrickmacross, Castleblayney and Clones all inside half an hour on the county’s own bus routes. Trips.ie has more on County Monaghan if you are planning to range beyond the town itself.
Details on this page last checked . If something here is out of date, it probably is our fault rather than yours.