weekend away to Dublin, advice please

Not sure I can help that much other than make sure you book a hotel RIGHT IN THE CENTRE of Dublin. We stayed in Clontarf which I think is between the airport and the centre and it cost us 20 euros a day in taxis to get to and from the centre. Dublin is quite expensive so stay in the centre if you can.

I know the Burlington hotel is in the middle.

Have a look on trip advisor

I disagree completely. We stayed in a lovely B&B, a 10-15 minute bus ride from the centre (there are literally hundreds of them out around Croke Park) and just popped in and out. Much cheaper than the central hotels if you're on a budget.

Don't know if you're into history, but if so, do try and get to see the Book of Kells exhibition.

What Pieman said. The buses are really easy to use and there's a cheap one for a few Euro that takes you into the city centre from the airport.

Not sure how tight the budget is, but if you search for Drumcondra road, there are places from around £40 per night. We just went into a pub by the car rental place and asked around.

You can spend the extra cash in the bars and restaurants in the evening. And you'll need it. Dublin was expensive before the Euro exchange rate fell like a stone.

Bus is without a doubt the easiest way to travel in Dublin. The airport bus is something like €7 each to the city centre, and they shout your stops and give directions to your hotel if you ask the driver ?

We stayed at the Shelbourne on St Stephen's Green - a great hotel, but lot's of paparzzi when we were there. There are a ton of cheaper hotels and B&Bs near Temple Bar, literally places to crash after a night on the black stuff.

Try the Dublin tourist info for a list of places to see and do. You absolutely must do a bus tour, they are real fun!

Sorry only popping on quickly while I have my lunch so can't answer properly, I'm from Dublin and don't really agree with the PieMan and Baron. Definitely don't stay near the airport, it is about 20 mins drive if there is no traffic but traffic in Dub is awful often, there is an excellent (blue) bus service from the airport to the city centre though. As an aside, I got mugged horribly right by Croke Park so avoid the area if I can other than for matches. Pieman is right about seeing the Book of Kells though.

I would really suggest staying centrally, cheaper hotels tend to be in Dub 1 (city centre north of the liffey). This area can be in parts ropey at night but if you find somewhere just of O'Connell street nearer the liffey it should be fine.

The best area to stay in is somewhere with a Dub 2 postcode. Have a look at The Central it is quite often reasonably priced and is in a great location. Otherwise have a look for B&B's on Leeson Street or surrounding areas. They're easily walkable to everywhere.

I'll try and come back later with some more hotel names.

We went to Dublin at the weekend. We stayed here /parnell-square/ which was only a 10minute walk from Temple Bar, and just round the corner from O'Connell Street. The hotel was really very good for the price of it.

Be prepared, Dublin is incredibly expensive. Even more than normal with the low €/£ rate.

Just an idea, but with the exchange rate being so awful, why not Belfast instead? Ryanair do cheap flights into Belfast City Airport, it's a nice city centre and there's stuff to explore outside the city (bus tour up to Giants Causeway, Bushmills etc).

I was saying that as I'm not the sort of person that likes to go everywhere on local buses or get taxis etc. I prefer to get to places on foot. I wouldnt stay in Dublin again unless I'm right in the middle of it all and even then you'd have to really tempt me!

I've been to Dublin a few times (live in NI) but tbh the novelty has worn off for me. We flew from there on honeymoon and stayed at a v expensive hotel which was bloomin awful value for money. I've always found it expensive even when staying at cheap hotels bewteen eating, drinking, shopping.

I'm staying in Belfast for a break shortly even though it's close by (I'm at the coast) because it has some fab hotels, bars, nice shops, everything is really easy to get to (even on foot) so would definitely say what BGB says.

I went to Dublin for a hen weekend a couple of weeks back and it was crippingly expensive, although lovely, and I suppose the cost if relative I suppose.

I stayed in a perfectly adequate hotel right in Temple Bar, but it was really quite noisy. Mr P was on a stag weekend at the same weekend, and their hotel sounded better, so I'll ask him later if you want. Bewleys Ballsbridge is usually quite cheap and not THAT long a walk out of town. Jurys Inns might have deals on too.

I've been in Dublin loads, but never the Guiness Storehouse, and really enjoyed it. Love the Book of Kells, and there are nice places to eat and drink (google cafe de la seine, its ace and my directions will be dreadful)

I live in Belfast though, and do love it here (most of the time). Give us a shout if you need any Belfasty questions answered.

I know what you mean, i've been three times now and I'm not in a hurry to return, we've done the sightseeing so apart from drinking there's not much for us to do. I think you can find less expensive places if you go a bit further out, we had a lovely steak just by walking about 10 mins out of Temple Bar. The last place we stayed was pretty grotty for the money we paid. We'd have been better off going back to the hostel we stayed at the second time we went.

I always feel like I sound like a snob about hotels but we stayed somewhere for about £60 or £70 for 2 nights a couple of years back in Dublin and it was a bit rough but fine value for money. We also stayed somewhere that cost 10 times that last year and could barely swing a cat in the room (not that we tried) and paid a ridiculous amount for food and drinks (£20 odd for a cocktail I thought tasted liked bleach)

I feel like Dublin gives us orish bad name sometimes ?

Jaz, I find Dublin restaurants to be a bit the same tbh: there are some excellent ones out there, but they tend to fall into the more mid-range category.

I suppose the same could be said of a lot of places though (with restaurants, certainly not least Belfast, although there are some excellent restaurants in the city).

I think Dublin is vastly overrated. I think it's one of those places that's great to go out if you know locals (and therefore avoid the crappy touristy bars etc.) but even then no better than most cities. Most of the touristy type things are pretty mundane e.g. Guinness, distillery and the rest. The rest of Ireland on the other hand is stunning and well worth exploring.

Thank you so much for your replies, really appreciated

Btw tabitha, Dublin can obviously be really good but I would consider Belfast too as I think it has so much to offer especially with the Euro being pants for Dublin ?

Shall we be tour guides? The open top bus stops outside my usual lodgings...I reckon I could make a fair stab of it ?

Going for dublin because we live in bournemouth and they only fly to dublin not belfast from there. It's more about him getting husband on a flight really, but i thought we might as well go somewhere nice whilst we were doing it!

You will enjoy it, honest!

You still over here much Baron? I've always mean to go on the tour bus but my uni friend's friend used to be one of the guides, I might talk H into this weekend ?

Yeah, still coming over. Nothing now until January though as it's busy in the run up to Christmas and I can't be arsed to wait around in airports when I've got work to do.

I think someone earlier mentioned Bewleys - they usually have a standard rack rate of EUR99 any night of the week, which I think is reasonable for Dublin. It's in Ballsbridge which is a nice area and a (25min) walk/bus ride from the city.

Totally agree with BGB about Dublin being overated, we lived in Castleknock for a few years and didn't much enjoy it.

Belfast on the otherhand is fabulous.

[random] I stayed there a couple of times but ended up not really going into Dublin, the hotel we stayed in wasn't bad though

One of my favourite cities and I've been back numerous times. Some gorgeous shops, fascinating history, great architecture and a fab live music scene (not the iddly diddly stuff put on for the tourists in Temple Bar pubs ?). I also like the fact that it's a small city and most things are within walking distance. The traffic is hellish if you have the misfortune to be in a hire car though. It's expensive if you eat and drink in Temple Bar but, like most cities, it can be done on the cheap if you go off the beaten track slightly.

The bus tours are great fun and well worth the money, if only to get your bearings when you first arrive. I think you'd feel very isolated if you stayed out by the airport. It's a fair old trek out of the city. Try visitdublin.com or goireland.com for hotel deals. They often have good discounts.

I'm sure you'll have fun if you do decide to go.

[More random] Iwent to school in Castleknock.

Obviously I'm slightly bias given I'm from there but I think Dublin is what you want to make of it. There are lots of lovely places outside of the city centre that are worth exploring but lots of people who go there don't make the effort.

It is expensive, but all the more so if you choose to go/eat in the touristy places. Same for any city really. I have no idea what the cost of a drink in Temple bar is but I would hazard a guess it's more than in a bar that isn't on the tourist trail.

Relatively it's a small city in a small country so it's not going to be the same scale, breath of interest wise as London or other major cities.

Tabitha have a look at Jurys Custom House or Jurys Christchurch. Both are within easy walking distance of everything and should be reasonably priced.

I believe Colin Farrell lived in Castleknock (well so a taxi driver told me and pointed out his school) ?

I went to Dublin a couple of times over the summer this year.

Each time I've stayed at a Jurys hotel, firstly in Christchurch and then in Parnell Street, they were both lovely but I think I preferred Parnell slightly more.

If you want to go sightseeing I would suggest you google for info on a DublinPass. We bought a 3 day pass and saved loads of money. You can book them in advance and pick them up from Dublin Airport (opens at 8am daily so fine if you're on the 6.30 flight), the benefit is it includes a free bus transfer into the city as well as free entry into loads of attractions (there is a list on the website).

I love Dublin, it's so much smaller than London and I've always walked between places - although the jail is a fair stroll. The smaller restaurants in the side streets of temple bar are great but alcohol is expensive wherever you go.

Have a great time, I first went several years ago as my ex had never flown and a short flight seemed much easier to handle to begin with. I always fly with ryan air as well, I figure you get what you pay for and when you can get a return for about £30 inc taxes you can't really complain!

dippy xx