Dublin to Ikea In Belfast

Zorba

Hi, just wondering has anyone traveled up to Ikea in Belfast and if so which way did they go and roughly how long did it take ?

Also as a side note what is the Ikea like up there, is it big, much stuff in it would u need the whole day to go around ?

Thanks in advance

murphaph

It's the biggest IKEA in the UK. It will take a few hours to see it all if you're so inclined and haven't been to an IKEA before. My tip-don't try to exit the store during evening rush hour as you will be sitting on the A12 Westlink for a while. Best bet to wait till the rush is over before returning home.

It takes about 2 hours from Dublin to IKEA in normal traffic. That's straight up the M1/A1/M1/A12/M3/A2. Be careful when you are leaving the M3 for the A2 because the signage is misleading-you will be looking for the A2 towards Bangor but if you follow the signage for the A2 you will end up heading the wrong way.

IKEA is well signed once you are on the A2 however.

GarfieldConnoll

What he said.

Two hours there and back, avoid Belfast rush-hour on return.

There's a restaurant there (swedish meatballs, mmm). Go for brunch/ lunch when you arrive, tour the store, pack the car/ van, go have dinner/ pick up the bits you forgot to get.

Great store.

PurplePrincess

I was there during the week, it took 2 hours from Dublin and it's well enough signposted. There's directions on the Ikea website.
Just take your time and wander around the showroom. They have some rooms set up with all the furniture etc in them.
At the start of the showroom you get a pencil and notebook so when you see something you like you write the code and location down and then you collect them from the warehouse downstairs when you have gone through the showroom. It's no harm to have an idea in your mind of what you're looking for as there is a big selection.

Don't leave without trying the Daim cake in the restaurant, its heavenly!!

There's also a big Sainsburys beside it, they had cadburys easter eggs for 99p and the drink is cheaper too, a good few special offers on.

Benster

I'd also add that you should try to get there early. We went on Saturday and arrived at 11:30am just ahead of the rush. Left at about 2.30pm and the queue for the carpark was way out to the main road.

Zorba

Great thanks for all the replies.

PurplePrincess

I've been shopping in Sainsbury's in Newry for a while and was told if u go a bit further to Banbridge it's even cheaper so will have to check out the one beside Ikea.

datk

PurplePrincess wrote: »

There's also a big Sainsburys beside it, they had cadburys easter eggs for 99p and the drink is cheaper too, a good few special offers on.

Is Sainsburys right beside it - as in just next door or just a short drive down - it looks a bit away on the map they show.

D

Richard

datk wrote: »

Is Sainsburys right beside it - as in just next door or just a short drive down - it looks a bit away on the map they show.

D

Once you turn left off the A2 you go up the side of a flyover, turn left and then head to a roundabout. Left is IKEA, right is Sainsbury's and B&Q. All are a few hundred metres from the roundabout.

OTK

Better to go during the week if possible. Ikea is packed on the weekend.

There is a special Ikea express bus from Dublin, Dundalk and Drogheda.

25 quid return from Busaras.

http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?_scope=Tribune/Business/Business%20Week&id=81212&SUBCAT=Tribune/Business

RadioCity

Good advice above to avoid the weekends. But its worth just taking a few hours (like I did) for a nosey round and if you see anything, bring the car up the next day!
However, its possible to make a day out of it by travelling on the Dublin to Belfast Express for €20.00 return and getting the Metro bus from City Hall out (service 28A) Ikea is the final stop. A day ticket is £2.50 after 10am.

Whilst Ikea won't be signed miles and miles in advance, any directions from the end of the M1 in Belfast for the CITY Airport and Bangor will keep you in the right direction to get onto the M3 and A2.

Rashers72

Avoid eating in there during lunctime - queues are massive. Either side is best.
Worst days Fri, Sat + Sunday for sheer volume of visitors.
Sainsburys in the Quays Newry far far better then the one beside IKEA.
If you cannot get food in IKEA, also note you'll probably find the same situation in the restaraunt in Sainsburys.
Avoid leaving Belfast 4-7pm. Again either side and you'll be fine.
Other then that, great store. Great prices, especially with a strong EURO.

murphaph

They have special tills for RoI customers to use their Laser cards too.

Are Sainsbury's in Newry using the same prices as Holywood Exchange? I know that some UK supermarkets use different price structures in different stores.

The big stores in Newry could easily get away with charging 10% more than stores further from the border ans still make plenty from southern customers.

RadioCity

Does Ikea accept €uro yet?
I think I saw notices displayed that they didn't yet accept Euro cash.

AckwelFoley

yea made the trip from dub to IKEA a few weeks ago. Its up beside Harld and wolfe Ship yard not to far away from the shankill road. - A nice tourist visit while ur up there

Victor

snyper wrote: »

yea made the trip from dub to IKEA a few weeks ago. Its up beside Harld and wolfe Ship yard not to far away from the shankill road. - A nice tourist visit while ur up there

Shankill Road - West Belfast.
IKEA - East Belfast.

AckwelFoley

tomtom sat nav said its not far away

edit: or is it the falls road im thinking of.. hmmm

mackerski

snyper wrote: »

tomtom sat nav said its not far away

edit: or is it the falls road im thinking of.. hmmm

No. Falls road is close to Shankill. Sounds like a duff satnav.

murphaph

mackerski wrote: »

No. Falls road is close to Shankill. Sounds like a duff satnav.

Satnavs can only do so much when the driver has a basic lack of understandingthe difference between east and west

It's a common enough myth though that the Falls and Shankill are on the opposite sides of town, when in fact they are almost parallel and very close to each other!

cormie

Has anyone any idea how many trolleys it would take to kit out a full house? So imagine you were getting a kitchen, 3 beds, 3 wardrobes and a few other bits and pieces. I know they charge £50 per trolley for delivery so just curious what you can fit on a trolley?

Hagar

If you can't get the SatNav directions sorted out here's a map for you.
Ikea Belfast Map

murphaph

cormie wrote: »

Has anyone any idea how many trolleys it would take to kit out a full house? So imagine you were getting a kitchen, 3 beds, 3 wardrobes and a few other bits and pieces. I know they charge £50 per trolley for delivery so just curious what you can fit on a trolley?

A lot of trolleys I should have thought-sofas and matresseses can only be flat-packed so much! The £50 a trolley seems very expensive to me, sure how much would a van cost to hire for the day in Dublin? you'd get two runs done in a day easily. A business opportunity for you cormie?

cormie

Haha, that's why I'm asking

Also, if you go with the £50 delivery with Ikea, how long does it actually take for the stuff to be delivered?

Hagar

Take the time to register and get one of their "IKEA Family" cards. The main advantage is it give you 90 days to exchange rather than the usual 30 days. That's a big plus if you don't get up North too often.

BTW the mattresses come rolled up and vacuum packed so they are very compact.

Be prepared to have to recycle / dispose of lots, and I do mean lots, of packaging afterwards.

murphaph

When they say "1 trolley=£50" is that a regular shopping trolley or an IKEA one which is more like an Airport trolley and would allow you to load more flat packs on board?

cormie

This is what came up in google for "Ikea Trolley"



How much furniture is actually on that trolley, I wouldn't know?

AckwelFoley

Hagar wrote: »

If you can't get the SatNav directions sorted out here's a map for you.
Ikea Belfast Map

lol gold.

murphaph

Quick question: How much would a transit or similar cost to hire for a day in Dublin to do this run? I need to furnish an entire house and IKEA seems to make economic sense!

cormie

This is what I wrote in another thread about van rental:

When renting a van you have to take a lot of things into consideration, fuel up and down to Belfast will be €50, toll costs €7 or €15 depending where in Dublin you are, cost of renting the van itself, I've rented vans myself and couldn't find one for less than €95 per day inc vat, then unless you already have a commercial insurance policy, you'll need to pay extra for insurance, about €30 as far as I know. So that's about €160 total. Then there's the time spent going to collect the van and then getting back from where you got it, then there is also the risk of not being used to a vehicle of that size and if you scratch it off a wall by taking a corner too tightly (happened me the first time I drove a van ) you'll be paying big bucks to the rental place then most rental places will require you to have a credit card to pay the deposit too so it can be a bit of a pain in my experience.

Dont forget that some rental co's will not allow their vehicle out of the republic - and if you do take it north of the border........insurance wise,you could be on your own if anything goes wrong. Be carefull out there and be sure to ask your rental co and your insurance co.

Probably unlikely with flat pack furniture, but if anything got broken while you were renting a van in transit, there would be no comeback either.

talkingclock

cormie wrote: »

This is what came up in google for "Ikea Trolley"



How much furniture is actually on that trolley, I wouldn't know?

that's a kitchen plus the cooking starter pack I'd say.

murphaph

talkingclock wrote: »

that's a kitchen plus the cooking starter pack I'd say.

No chance. I installed a B&Q kitchen and the concept is very similar to IKEA and it was a hell of a lot more than that for a simple U shaped kitchen. I ended up getting them to deliver the carcasses from Liffey Valley and I brought a trailer to Newry to buy the doors (substantially cheaper as the ones I wanted were only on half price sale in the UK stores). The doors alone would take a trolley. Plinths and pelmets are long and awkward to transport if your kitchen design includes them.

Thanks for the price estimate there cormie. So how much do you reckon you'd be able to charge for a run to IKEA to fill your van and still turn a profit?

A Dub in Glasgo

I never understood the attraction IKEA has with people

Luckily, I will miss all that IKEA loving traffic when I come off the ferry in the summer

cormie

murphaph wrote: »

Thanks for the price estimate there cormie. So how much do you reckon you'd be able to charge for a run to IKEA to fill your van and still turn a profit?

Depends really, would be good if I could get more than one delivery to go down at a time and that way it would be cheaper for each customer. But for it to be worth my while for just one customer, probably looking at about 250 for a van load delivered to anywhere en-route from Belfast to Dun Laoghaire. This would be cheaper than 4 trolleys delivered with Ikea's service and you'd get it the same day. You'd also fit a lot more than 4 trolleys into my van I'd say.

cormie

Hagar wrote: »

If you can't get the SatNav directions sorted out here's a map for you.
Ikea Belfast Map

Arghhh, just googled "Ikea belfast map" and got that:mad::p

Hagar

Sorry about that but it has cheered me up no end.