Ireland

You won't be quite as close to the Luas or city centre, and it's not the nicest part of town (Dublin 1), but it's doable. Just to give you an idea, the Luas runs along Abbey Street. You may find when you go to book that's not given to you as an option. This happened to my parents when they booked. They actually wanted Capel Street, because that's closer to us, but it wasn't given as an option. The closest to us was the Millennium Tower.

i'm not a good judge of price since it's been so long since i was there, but i can tell you that that location is a quick walk to henry st, where you'll find jervis shopping centre, complete with a tesco!  

i'm not a good judge of price since it's been so long since i was there, but i can tell you that that location is a quick walk to henry st, where you'll find jervis shopping centre, complete with a tesco!  

Thanks!

I think the price looks pretty reasonable, so I think we might book it after we have our tickets finalized (only because I'm not so stupid to book a hotel before tickets are in hand....just in case something happens).

You won't be quite as close to the Luas or city centre, and it's not the nicest part of town (Dublin 1), but it's doable. Just to give you an idea, the Luas runs along Abbey Street.

this is a good point--some of the surrounding areas in this section may have a bit of a run-down feel to them and won't be as aesthetically pleasing as south of the river, but it is still central enough to walk to a lot of touristy areas. 

I'll let you know when I get back if ours is any good.  It's in Temple Bar, so pretty central, and near all the pubs!

Vicky

LOL I was telling my mom about the place I found today and her response is "how do we know it's not a dump". 

Well, after our first trip to Florence/Pisa (just returned today), I would definitely like a little bit of a slower-paced trip.  We ran and did all the hotspots in Florence and Pisa over 2 days/48 hours. Pisa was more enjoyable because there were less things to do, so we were able to enjoy it a bit more (and it being cheaper than Florence was a plus). It looks like we only get flights to Belfast and Dublin, so we're aiming to stay in one and use it as a base for day trips and such. We're still debating between Belfast (Giant's Causeway is on that list) and Dublin (Brú na Boinne on that list). Or, can we travel between the two (we're looking at flying in late Friday night and back Monday evening, so that gives us three days of action).

I have just got back from Ireland.   We spent two days in Dublin then went to Clare, but honestly I think that a day is enough in Dublin.

Not sure about the drive to Belfast though.  Getting out of Dublin was a nightmare!

Vicky

Does anyone have any recommendations on hotels close to the train station? And how would we get from the airport to the hotel? I know hotels in the UK don't have shuttle busses the way a lot of US hotels have, but if the airport is really far away, I don't want to have to shell out a bunch for a taxi.  Is there light rail or anything like that?

There are several ways to get from the airport to Dublin.  There is a shuttle service which costs eur7 and takes 30 mins to get to the University/O'Connell's Bridge, or a local bus which I think is about eur2 and takes about 90 mins.  I think there is an express local bus which may cost about eur4.  We took the shuttle.

As for hotels, I can't help. We stayed in a terrible hotel in Temple Bar.  But I can tell you the best hotel in Clare if anyone is heading west!

Vicky

I have just got back from Ireland.   We spent two days in Dublin then went to Clare, but honestly I think that a day is enough in Dublin.

Dublin was voted the third most boring city in the world, behind Geneva and Brussels. No argument there! It's not bad if you've never been here before, but I wouldn't pick it as a place to visit over and over. And if you don't drink...well.....

And if you do drink....the cost is a shocker!  We were paying eur5.50 for a pint of Guinness in Temple Bar, as against eur3.80 in Clare!

Vicky

And if you do drink....the cost is a shocker!  We were paying eur5.50 for a pint of Guinness in Temple Bar, as against eur3.80 in Clare!

Vicky

Uh huh...I'm reminded that by my DH every time we go out! So we don't drink outside of the house too often. The scary thing is that prices have come down a bit.

Or, can we travel between the two (we're looking at flying in late Friday night and back Monday evening, so that gives us three days of action).

there's a bus that leaves from the dublin airport that goes to the city centre in belfast.  it was fairly cheap, as i recall, and took about 2 hours. 

Question....If we fly with a connection in France, do we go through immigration in France and not Ireland?  Both? Only Ireland?

The whole transferring thing confuses me, but we save $100 each by going via Paris!

You will go through immigration in France and Ireland. Dublin airport isn't set up properly so that flights arriving from the EU/UK wouldn't have to go through immigration. Thus, everyone goes through immigration in Dublin regardless of the origin of your flight. It's really annoying.