Anyone who's done a Dublin student move knows the routine. End of June, your housemate's parents are downstairs in a Ford Mondeo, you're squeezing a mattress out of a third-floor bedroom in Phibsborough, and the whole street is doing the exact same thing on the exact same Saturday. Add 35 degrees of unexpected heatwave, a broken lift, and an Aldi run that ate two hours, and you've burnt through your last weekend of term.
Student moves in Dublin don't have to be like that. We move students from Trinity, UCD, DCU and TUD every week during the academic year, and we've seen every flavour of dorm exit and houseshare relocation Dublin can throw at us. This is the guide we'd give a friend starting their second year in Dublin who wants to do the next move properly.
What does a student move actually cost in Dublin?
Student moves are smaller and faster than family moves, which keeps the price down. Real Dublin 2026 prices:
Single room move (one student, one bedroom)
€70-€110. Mattress, single bed frame, desk, a couple of suitcases of clothes, and three or four boxes of kitchen/bathroom bits. We can move it in under 90 minutes across most of Dublin.
Full houseshare move (3-5 students from one house to another)
€180-€280 split across the housemates. So €40-€60 per person — significantly cheaper than each of you doing your own thing in your dad's car. If your group books together, we'll plan the route to do all the pickups in sequence.
Student dorm to family home (end of year)
€90-€180 depending on distance. Trinity Hall to a house in Drumcondra is at the low end. UCD residences to Wicklow or Naas is at the upper end. We do a lot of these between May and June.
International student move (storage and shipping)
We don't do international shipping ourselves but we partner with bonded freight forwarders in Dublin port for the international leg. For the Dublin-side pickup and pack to a forwarder's warehouse, expect €60-€140 depending on volume.
Timing: when to book, and when to move
The single biggest decision in a student move is the date. Dublin moves between universities and within the rental market spike on three specific weekends every year: the first weekend of September (move-in), the last weekend of January (semester change), and the last weekend of May (move-out). Book during one of those windows and you'll pay 30-50% more, with fewer slots and tighter time windows.
If you can move on a Tuesday or Wednesday in the second half of the month — when most leases haven't turned over — prices drop noticeably and we can offer same-day availability. Coordinate with your landlord around handover dates so the new place is available before the old one needs to be empty.
Trinity, UCD, DCU and TUD: the campus-specific tricks
Trinity College Dublin
Trinity Hall in Dartry is the most common move-out point for first years. Parking is permit-only on the surrounding streets, so we have to book a slot in advance with the front desk. The lift goes out of service if everyone's moving on the same Saturday — book early in the day if you're high-floor. Off-campus Trinity students are usually in Stoneybatter, Phibsborough, Rathmines or Portobello, all easy moves within the M50.
UCD Belfield
Belfield's residences (Roebuck Castle, Glenomena, Merville) are spread across the campus and the road network on-site is a maze on move-out day. The trick is approaching from the N11 side rather than Donnybrook. UCD off-campus students are usually in Ranelagh, Rathgar, Donnybrook or Stillorgan — all 10-15 minutes from campus.
DCU Glasnevin
DCU's Larkfield, College Park and Hampstead residences are easy access points with decent parking. The big surge is the end of May when first years move out and the second-year house hunters move in to the surrounding streets — Glasnevin, Drumcondra, Phibsborough, Whitehall. We do dozens of these every year.
TUD (Technological University Dublin)
TUD's campuses across Grangegorman, Bolton Street and Aungier Street pull a more scattered student population. Most students live in the city centre, Smithfield, Stoneybatter or out to Cabra and Phibsborough. Smaller individual moves rather than the big seasonal surges you see at UCD or DCU.
Splitting costs with housemates
If you're a group of 3-5 students moving out of a houseshare together, the cheapest path by a country mile is to book one combined move rather than five individual ones. We'll plan a single van run that drops each person at their next address — your parents' house in Galway, your friend's place in Cork, your new house in Rathmines — and you split the total bill.
Real example: 4 housemates moving out of a 4-bed in Stoneybatter, two going to family homes in Naas and Kildare town, two moving to new flats in Rathmines and Drumcondra. Total cost €240. Split four ways, €60 each. Each of you would have paid €80-€110 doing it solo. A combined booking saves the group around €100 collectively and saves a full Saturday.
Packing tips for student moves
- Ask your local supermarket for sturdy boxes — Lidl, Aldi and Tesco staff will usually hand them over for free if you ask politely after a delivery.
- Vacuum-pack bedding, duvets and winter clothes. Available in Dealz for €3 a pack. Saves enormous van space.
- Disassemble IKEA furniture rather than moving it whole. Most of it survives a flat-pack disassembly better than it survives being carried down a flight of stairs.
- Photograph the empty room and fittings before you hand back the keys — this is essential for getting your deposit back from Dublin student landlords.
- Bring a 'first night' bag — phone charger, kettle, mugs, sheets, toothbrush. Don't pack these in the bottom of a sealed box.
International students: storage and summer leaving
International students often need somewhere to store gear over the summer rather than flying home with three suitcases of textbooks and kitchenware. Dublin has several student-friendly storage facilities — Storage King, Easy Storage and Big Yellow all have city-centre or M50 locations. A 1 m³ locker runs €25-€40 per month and we can deliver your boxes straight from your moved-out house to the unit on the same trip.
If you're heading home for the summer and want a single coordinated move — pack-up, transport to storage, return in September to the new house — we'll handle both ends of the booking. Tell us the date you're flying back and we'll plan the September delivery into your new term-time address.
Booking your Dublin student move
The fastest way to book a Dublin student move is to send us a WhatsApp message on 087 419 9541 with the pickup and drop-off addresses and a rough idea of what you're moving (single room? full houseshare? mattress and a desk?). We'll come back with a fixed price in 1-2 minutes. We work seven days a week including the busy May-June and September windows. If you're trying to save money, ask about combining with your housemates — most groups save €100+ that way.
Read more about our wider man with a van service in Dublin, or check our published pricing for a full breakdown.
Subletting and the in-between move
Lots of Dublin students take on a 9-month lease and then sublet over summer. If you're handing the keys to a friend or a stranger, here's the move dance that works: pack everything you want kept into one corner of the room or a single storage box, photograph the rest of the furnishings, hand them over with an inventory list, and have your replacement sign it. We can move the personal box to your family home or a Dublin storage unit on the day of handover for around €40-€80.
Subletting is technically against many Dublin tenancy agreements, so check your lease first. Some landlords are fine with it as long as they're informed; others will charge a re-letting fee. Either way, get it in writing.
End-of-year deposit return: the Dublin student reality
Dublin student landlords have a mixed reputation on deposits. The single best protection is a thorough photo record at the start AND the end of your tenancy. Walk every room with your phone, photograph any pre-existing damage, mark anything questionable on the inventory list at the start, and email it to the landlord. Repeat the process the day you move out, including a video walk-through showing everything is clean and intact.
If you do lose deposit money unfairly, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) handles disputes for both Irish and international students. The process is free, takes 2-4 months, and roughly 60% of clear deposit disputes are decided in the tenant's favour. Worth knowing if a Dublin landlord tries to keep a few hundred euro for nothing.
Moving with a bike, instrument or sports equipment
A lot of Dublin students carry one signature item — a road bike, an electric guitar, a kayak strapped to a roof rack at home, ski boots, a snare drum, a film camera kit. These don't fit in a hatchback and aren't safe in a luggage compartment with shifting cases. We blanket-wrap bikes, transport instruments in their case in a padded section of the van, and secure long items like surfboards or skis with straps so they don't bounce around. None of that is at extra cost — it's just how we load.
End of term checklist for a clean exit
- Defrost the freezer 24 hours before you leave the flat.
- Take final meter readings (gas, electricity) and photograph them with the date visible.
- Bin everything in the kitchen that's perishable — landlords charge cleaning fees for fridges left with rotting food.
- Drop a key with a housemate or neighbour as backup in case you forget something on the day.
- Forward your post via An Post's Mail Redirection service (€55 for 3 months) so important documents follow you to your new address.
Why students choose GoVans.ie
Honest fixed pricing, no per-hour meter, same-day availability, fully insured, and a team that genuinely doesn't mind a 4-flight walk-up move in a 1908 Phibsborough redbrick. We get how stressful a student move can be — final exams in your other ear, deposit money on the line, and a deadline of midnight to be out of the flat. Our job is to take the van side of that off your plate so you can focus on everything else.
Need a student move in Dublin?
Trinity, UCD, DCU & TUD students — share the cost with your housemates.
