- TII lists six service areas on the motorway itself: M1 Lusk, M1 Castlebellingham, M4 Enfield, M6 Athlone, M9 Kilcullen and M11 Gorey. Everywhere else you leave at a junction.
- A motorway lay-by is not a rest stop. TII keeps them for HGV drivers and emergencies.
- Toilets at beaches and scenic car parks keep shorter hours in winter. Plan the last stop of a winter day around a service area or a town.
- Coillte forest parks that charge take €5 per car at Donadea and Gougane Barra, by card or app.
- Northern Ireland has its own councils and its own prices, in pounds: 20p at a few Causeway Coast toilets, £12 at the Giant's Causeway car park.
The question on a long drive is rarely "where is the best café". It is "where can I stop, and will there be a toilet when I do?" This guide answers that, for the motorways, for the towns and for the forest and coastal car parks our routes send you to.
Everything here comes from Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the service-area operators, the local councils, Coillte, the OPW and National Parks, and the National Trust in Northern Ireland. All of it was checked in October 2026. Where we could not open a primary source for a fact, we say so and leave it out.
Motorway service areas in the Republic
On the motorway itself
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) runs a small network of service areas built directly beside the motorway. You pull in from the motorway and rejoin it without going through a junction. TII lists six:
| Motorway | Service area | Where | Operator's published hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | Lusk | Between Junctions 4 and 5, north Co. Dublin | Applegreen: 24 hours |
| M1 | Castlebellingham | Between Junctions 15 and 16, Co. Louth | Applegreen: 24 hours |
| M4 | Enfield | Between Junctions 9 and 10, Co. Meath | Applegreen: 24 hours |
| M6 | Athlone | About 5 km east of Athlone | Circle K: 24 hours |
| M9 | Kilcullen | Between Junctions 2 and 3, Co. Kildare | Circle K: 24 hours |
| M11 | Gorey | About 10 km north of Gorey, Co. Wexford | Circle K: 24 hours |
Locations are from TII and the operators. Hours are from each operator's own location page, checked October 2026. Applegreen publishes 24-hour opening for the northbound side at Lusk and Castlebellingham and the eastbound side at Enfield. Those sites have a facility on each side of the road. If you are travelling the other way, check the hours on arrival.
Just off a junction
The M7 to Limerick and the M8 to Cork have no service area on the motorway itself. The stops on those roads are off-line: you leave at the junction, and the stop is on the roundabout or just beyond it.
Two facts decide which stops you will pass. The M8 to Cork leaves the M7 at Junction 19, near Portlaoise. The M7/M8 toll plaza is just before it, between Junctions 18 and 19. So a Dublin–Cork driver passes the stops at Junctions 14 and 17 and then leaves the M7. Everything from Junction 20 onwards is on the Limerick road only.
On the M7, in the order you meet them heading from Dublin:
- Mayfield, M7 Junction 14. This is on the Dublin side of Portlaoise. TII lists it as a service area. We could not find a current operator page with its hours, so check on arrival.
- Midway, M7 Junction 17 (Portlaoise). Applegreen lists it as open 24 hours, with toilets.
- Moneygall, M7 Junction 23. This is the Barack Obama Plaza. It is south-west of the toll and past the Junction 19 split, so it is on the Dublin–Limerick run only. If you are driving Dublin–Cork, you never pass it. Its own website was not loading when we checked, so we cannot give you its hours — check on arrival.
- Birdhill, M7 Junction 27, in Co. Tipperary. This is the junction after Nenagh West on the way to Limerick. It is not where the Cork and Limerick motorways divide; that is Junction 19. Applegreen lists its Birdhill site as open 24 hours.
On the M6 to Galway, beyond the on-motorway service area at Athlone (between Junctions 7 and 8), TII lists a service area at Junction 16, Kiltullagh, towards the Galway end. We could not find a current operator page with its hours, so check on arrival.
Junction positions are from TII's motorway service areas map and its M7/M8 toll page, and Birdhill's from An Garda Síochána, all checked October 2026.
TII's Service Area Policy 2023 sets a target of a service area at least every 60 km on the motorway network, in line with EU rules. It also admits where that is not yet met: the M17/M18 between Galway and Limerick has about 120 km with no service area. On that road, plan to come off into a town.
On the M50 around Dublin, Applegreen lists a service area at Ballymount, Dublin 12.
Motorway fuel is the dearest fuel
Service areas are for the toilet and the coffee. They are rarely the place to fill the tank. Our fuel guide has the detail.
Lay-bys are not rest stops
This one surprises visitors. The lay-bys you see on Irish motorways and dual carriageways are not picnic stops.
TII's Service Area Policy 2023 says the lay-bys on the national network are for heavy goods vehicles and professional drivers, for a maximum of one hour. Any other driver looking for a rest should use the service areas, "except in the case of emergency". TII's earlier policy put it more bluntly: road users are not permitted to get out of their vehicles at these lay-bys.
So if you are tired, the answer is the next service area or the next junction, not the next lay-by. If you have broken down, see our roadside emergencies guide.
Public toilets in towns and villages
Public toilets in the Republic are run by the local council. There is no national list, and councils publish very different amounts of detail. What we could confirm:
- Kerry County Council said in its County Development Plan 2022–2028 that it has public conveniences at nineteen locations, seven of them run by local community groups.
- Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council publishes a full list with hours. Its Universal Superloo on Sandycove Avenue West is open 24/7 and costs €0.50, contactless only — coins are not accepted. Checked October 2026.
- Mayo County Council says toilets at its Blue Flag beaches and amenity areas are open, with portable toilets added over the summer.
Some council toilets are free and some charge. Where they charge, the trend is towards card-only machines, so do not count on coins working.
When a town has no public toilet you can find, the honest answer is the same everywhere: a pub, a café or a hotel lobby, where you buy something. A supermarket or a large petrol station is the other reliable option.
What is open out of season
This is where advice about toilets most often goes wrong. A toilet block that is open every day in July can be closed by late afternoon in December, or locked for the winter.
Three examples, all checked October 2026:
- Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown's beach toilets close around 4:30 to 5:30pm from November to February, against 9 to 10pm from May to August.
- Glendalough Visitor Centre (OPW) closes at 17:00 from 15 October. Its toilets close at 16:15 from mid-October to mid-March.
- Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre (OPW) is open 9:00 to 17:45 from May to September and 9:00 to 16:15 from October to February. It is closed 24 to 27 December and on 1 January.
The rule of thumb for a winter drive: plan the last stop of the day at a service area, a town or a hotel. Do not plan it at a beach car park.
Facilities at State sites can also close for a day at short notice, for weather or industrial action. National Parks and Wildlife Service sites announced a day of closures for 14 October 2026, for example. If a stop matters, check the site's own page that morning.
Forest parks and car parks with tables
The car-shaped version of a picnic is a car park with tables and a toilet. Most of the ones worth knowing are run by Coillte, the OPW or National Parks.
Coillte forest parks
Coillte charges for parking at some of its forest parks. It keeps access free at more than 200 other recreation forests. Checked against coillte.ie in October 2026:
| Forest park | County | Parking | Facilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donadea | Kildare | €5 per car, contactless card or app — no coins | Car park open 7am–9pm April to September, 8am–7pm October to March. Toilets only while the café is open. |
| Gougane Barra | Cork | €5 per car, debit or credit card only | Toilets and a picnic site. |
| Avondale | Wicklow | Covered by the annual pass; Coillte's page gives no single-visit fee | Car park open 7am–10pm April to September, 8am–5pm October to March. Toilets at the café, plus temporary toilets in the car parks in summer. |
Coillte sells a €50 annual pass, checked October 2026. It covers parking at Ards, Gougane Barra, Farran, Curragh Chase, Dún a Rí, Donadea and Avondale, and at the Ballyhoura mountain-bike centre. For a two-week trip it only pays off if you will visit a lot of these.
National parks and OPW sites
- Killarney National Park. National Parks says parking within the park is free. The Muckross car park is open 8am to 9pm and the toilets at Muckross House 10am to 6pm. Checked October 2026.
- Glendalough. There are three car parks and they are run by three different bodies. The Visitor Centre car park is run by APCOA, open 8am to 8pm, and payment is by coin or card. If you pay there, the OPW gives you one free admission to the Visitor Centre. The Upper Lake car park is run by Wicklow County Council and charges at the entrance. The car park in Laragh is free. Neither National Parks nor the OPW publishes a current amount for the paid car parks, so we do not quote one. Checked October 2026.
Charged coastal stops
- Cliffs of Moher. Parking is included in the admission price, which the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience gives for 2026 as €15 an adult, €12 for students and seniors and €30 for a family. Opening is 8am to 9pm from May to August and 9am to 5pm from November to February, closed 24 to 26 December. Checked October 2026.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is a different road network with different operators, and none of the above transfers across the border. Prices are in pounds and distances in miles.
Motorway services
There are very few. The Department for Infrastructure confirms there are services at Lisburn on the M1. We could not find a current operator page giving their hours or facilities, so check on arrival. We found no DfI page listing rest areas on the NI network.
In practice, on the M1 and M2 plan your stops in the towns the motorways pass.
Public toilets
Toilets are run by the eleven councils. Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, which covers the north coast from Limavady to Ballycastle and the Glens of Antrim, publishes 47 toilets with their summer and winter hours. Checked October 2026:
- Ballintoy Harbour is listed as open 24 hours.
- Bushmills (Dundarave) is open 09:00 to 20:30 in summer and 09:00 to 17:30 in winter.
- Cushendun is open 10:00 to 20:30 in summer and 10:00 to 17:30 in winter.
- Three sites charge 20p: Ballycastle Bus Stop, Ballycastle Marina and Cushendall Cottage Wood.
- A RADAR key for the accessible toilets costs £5 from the council.
The Giant's Causeway
The National Trust's Causeway Coast Way car park costs £12 per vehicle. You pay through the JustPark app, and the car park is open 5am to 8pm. A pre-booked Visitor Experience ticket includes reserved on-site parking. Walking to the stones on the public right of way is free. Checked against the National Trust's booking page in October 2026.
How to plan your stops
- On the M7, M8 and M17/M18, know which junction your stop is at before you set off. There is no service area on the road itself.
- In winter, make the last stop of the day a town or a service area.
- Carry a card that does contactless. Card-only toilets and car parks are now common on both sides of the border.
- Carry a few coins of each currency for the machines that are still coin-only, such as the 20p toilets on the Causeway coast.
What we could not verify
- Barack Obama Plaza's opening hours. Its website was not loading when we checked in October 2026.
- Opening hours at Mayfield (M7 Junction 14) and Kiltullagh (M6 Junction 16). We found no current operator page for either.
- Hours on the southbound and westbound sides at Lusk, Castlebellingham and Enfield. Applegreen's pages we read covered the other side of the road.
- Glendalough's parking charges. No current tariff is published by the operators.
- Northern Ireland motorway service hours and operators.
If you find one of these has changed, the operator's own page is the place to check, and we would like to hear about it.
Related guides
- Toll Roads & the M50 — every toll point and how to pay
- Parking in Ireland — pay and display, discs, apps and clamps
- Fuel Guide — where fuel is cheapest
- Winter Driving — shorter days and what to carry
- Roadside Emergencies — what to do if you break down