Wikimecum:Dublin, Ireland

Dublin is both the capital and largest city in Ireland with a population of half a million of people. The traditional Dublin County is made up of the City of Dublin, Fingal, South Dublin, and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown. Since medieval times Dublin has been Ireland's primary city and is currently the economic and cultural center.

The primary currency of Dublin in the Euro, however certain places may still take sterling (GBP). This is not a guarantee because only certain places (such as hotels and small stores) will accept sterling if at all. While I was in Dublin I did not notice anyone paying with sterling, so I would suggest only bringing Euros.

I traveled to Dublin over my Thanksgiving break with 5 other people. We did not spend the entire time in Dublin however. We only spent 2 days in Dublin and then 3 of us went to Paris and the other 3 of us went to Glasgow, Scotland for the remainder of Thanksgiving break. I enjoyed the city of Dublin, but if I were ever to go back to Ireland I would travel more into the country side.

Getting There

The main mode of transportation from Venice to Dublin is by plane. The airline that we flew was Ryan Air which is a very affordable airline. It cost 10 Euros to fly to Dublin, 40 Euros to fly from Dublin to Pairs, and then 30 Euros to fly from Paris to Dublin. Ryan Air only operates in Europe and has over 140 different locations for flights. You have to be careful with this however because not every location flys to all of the other locations. Venice for example only flys to 16 different locations.

The Venice airport is located in Treviso which is about an hour bus ride outside of Venice. In order to get to the airport you have to take a bus from the bus terminal. There is a specific bus to take and it cost 6 Euros each way or 10 Euros round trip. Our plane left out of Treviso at 10:10 a.m. and arrived in Dublin around 1 p.m. Ryan Air flys into Dublin's main airport so it was only a short ride from the airport to the main part of the city. The bus we had to catch from Venice left around 7 a.m. so be sure to leave enough time to get to the bus terminal. This goes for all trips. Make sure you leave plenty of time to get where you are going so you don't miss your ride.

Where to Stay

While in Dublin we stayed in Isaac's Hostel which is located near the main bus terminal. There are a variety of different types of rooms to stay in anywhere from 1 to 16 people in a room. We stayed in a room for 6 people, since there was 6 of us traveling together and I found the rooms to be very clean. It cost about 20 Euros a night, but that was during the week. On the weekend the prices go up about 4 Euros. The hostel was located in a great spot with a lot to do and only a short walk to O'Connell Street (one of the main streets in Dublin). Breakfast was also included in the price and consisted of toast, coffee/tea, and juice.

Although I did like the hostel a lot, I don't know if I would stay there again. The major downside to the hostel was the fact that we had to share a bathroom with the entire floor. This just makes it difficult when you have to wait to shower and use the bathroom. I would say that about 30 people could stay on the floor and there were only 4 toilets and 5 showers. Because of this the bathrooms weren't super clean.

Moving Around the City

I found that the best way to get around the city was by walking. The main mode of public transportation is by bus and there are different lines that run throughout the city. You can buy a bus pass that lasts 48 hours and it cost about 10 Euros. This was cheaper than buying individual tickets to and from the airport and allowed us to use it for any other bus ride we wanted to take.

As I mentioned before I found that it was easiest to just walk around the city. It gave you a better view of the city and allowed you to see things at your own pace and not just speed by them in a bus. We walked every place that we went and only took a bus to and from the airport. The city is not really that big and it is very easy to walk to all of the places in the city center.

My Weekend Itinerary

As soon as we arrived in Dublin we took a bus from the airport to the main bus station. From here we walked to our hostel which was located right around the corner. We were not able to check into the hostel because it was too early, but we were able to leave all of our bags there and find out more about the city. We decided to just go and get lunch and spend time walking around the city and do more of the touristy things the second day we were there.

The place we chose to eat lunch was right near our hostel. There was a nice variety of food to choose from and the food was really good. At first glance the restaurant looked kind of upscale, but once inside it was very different. It was a fun place to just hang out and relax and the staff was very nice. I found it to be very reasonably priced. I got a meal, a beer, and split desert with someone else and it came to 15 Euros. Depending on your main meal though, the price could be higher.

After lunch we walked around the streets near our hostel and then made our way to O'Connell street. For the rest of the afternoon we just did some shopping and walking around. There were a lot of stores to go into and a lot of department stores. I found the prices of clothing to be very reasonable (check out the store Penny's). For dinner we just went to a local bar. It is usually easiest to just walk around and find a place to eat, rather than planning out where to go.

The second day we were in Dublin we went to the Jameson factory in the morning and the Guinness factory in the afternoon. The Jameson factory cost 10 Euros to get in and it also included a free drink at the end. If you decide to take the tour they ask you to volunteer in the beginning. This is to do a taste testing of 3 different whiskeys at the end of the tour. I did it and had a lot of fun so definitely volunteer to do it. The Guinness factory was about a 20 minute walk from the Jameson factory. There is a bus stop near both places, but we decided it was easiest to walk. The Guinness factory cost 11 Euros to get in and this included a free beer at the end of the tour. This was a self guided tour, but it was explained the entire beer making process which was pretty interesting. There was also a really nice restaurant in the factory and in every meal beer was used in some way to make it. We had lunch here and the food was delicious.

From the Guinness factory we walked to the Temple Bar area. By this time it was dark out and there were tons of Christmas lights out which looked really pretty. The Temple Bar area is a pedestrian only area, so there is a nice feel to the neighborhood. We ended up walking by Trinity College, but didn't go onto the campus. At this point we ended up back on O'Connell Street. By the end of the day we made a huge loop and ended up back where we started. I enjoyed walking around the city because it gave us a really good idea of what the entire city was like.

For dinner we just ate at a burger place on O'Connell street. There were lots of places to eat including many American fast food places (McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, and Quiznos to name a few). From here we just went back to our hostel to relax. since we all had early flights in the morning (one was at 6 a.m. and the other was at about 11 a.m.). Overall I really enjoyed Dublin, but like I mentioned before, I would have liked to see a bit of the country side.

Other Things to Do

Visit the Trinity College area- We were told that this was a very pretty area, but we did not have enough time to go down and see it.

Go to Temple Bar - One area of the city is called the Temple Bar which has one of the most famous bars in Dublin. We passed by the bar, but did not go in. If you have the time I would suggest going down and visiting that area.

Go on a Pub Crawl - You can hook into a pub crawl where a guide will take you to a variety of different clubs and bars. It usually costs a small fee (maybe 10 Euros), but should be a lot of fun.