Deals of the Week: Dublin for £30; Sound of Barra; Tax-free flights

A TRAIN

Thanks to the Virgin Value ticket, bought through Stena Line on 08705 455 455 or at larger rail stations, you can reach Dublin for £30 return – so long as you start from London Euston, Watford Junction or Milton Keynes. This covers the train to Holyhead, the high-speed ferry to Dun Laoghaire and the DART train to the centre of Dublin. You must book at least two weeks in advance; buying only a week ahead, the fare is £45, and three days before travel it rises to £55 return.

From other parts of the country, the best rail-and-sail deal is Stena Line's Dublin Duo fare, which gets two people from Chester to Ireland's capital for a total of £62; from Manchester for £73; from Birmingham for £78; and from Newcastle for £99. You can book these through main rail stations up to 2pm the day before travel.

A BOAT

The Sound of Barra is about to become the domain of Caledonian MacBrayne (0870 565 0000, www.calmac.co.uk). When the summer timetable of the Scottish ferry operator begins on 4 April, the currently council-operated link between Eriskay and Barra will be taken over by CalMac. This will be a welcome addition to the Western Isles network, cutting out the long trip around from Lochboisdale in South Uist to Castlebay in Barra. It will be covered by the Western Isles Island Hopscotch ticket; a car plus two people can sail from Ullapool to Stornoway in Lewis, then via Harris and the Uists to Barra, returning to the mainland at Oban, for £191. The company has also introduced a series of Scottish Island Whisky Hopscotch Trails to isles such as Mull and Skye.

A PLANE

The tax-free flights offer from easyJet expires at midnight tonight. The no-frills airline is cutting all one-way fares between now and 25 October by £5, equal to the Air Passenger Duty charged by the Chancellor. Fares look particularly good on the Liverpool-Paris route: in May, you can fly from Merseyside to the French capital for £30 return. There are also good deals to Athens, which is widely available in May for around £73 return from Gatwick, £88 from Luton.