Visiting Dublin 5/29 to 6/3

Camaross82

Hey people, My future wife and I will be traveling to Dublin from USA on our honeymoon in may/june. We are staying in the temple bar area at the paramount hotel. I would love to hear from some locals on what places to check out as well as places to avoid.

We are from New Orleans, so we are quite familiar with the bar scene and are more into the local bar vs the tourist venues. And love hearing live music from all types of genres.

We would also be willing to meet a few people who are like minded to have a fun night on the town.

Thanks

Dallas

Well you'll be well set in Temple Bar, lots of pubs, places that do live music. The thing about the temple bar area is that you find a lot more if you veer into the side streets. Same goes for most of Dublin.

Must see/do:
1. Go from temple bar over the Ha'penny Bridge, down that street ahead there's a food court called the Epicurean. Get chips at Leo Burdock's, the chipper at the entrance.
2. Back at the North Side of the Ha'penny Bridge (the side Burdock's is on), follow the river upstream, in the direction that passes the Winding Stair and keep going, past even the next bridge. You'll get to a place called Tea Garden. It has a spiral staircase down into it, it's a tea shop, bit pricey for a cuppa imo but well worth the experience, very calming.
3. On a Saturday, in Temple Bar, go down Curved St. (anyone will be able to give you directions to it) and through the sort of arch/doorway in front, says Meeting house square on top of it. There's a food market there with some great stuff, try any free samples you can get your hands on and buy a couple pancakes/whatever takes your fancy. There should also be book stalls set up in the middle of temple bar by the ATMs aswell.
4. Visit the Georges Street Arcade. Directions wise, look up South great Georges street on google maps, and it's labelled as being in the middle of a block of buildings. It's there, it runs through the block of buildings through to either side. Have a bit of an exploration around the streets between South Great Georges Street and Grafton Street.

I know I said to wander down side streets, but obviously don't go down back-alleys with dumpsters and no shops (I'm sure you know yourself), and maybe be a bit careful at night, but generally once you're careful you shouldn't run into any trouble. I don't know what it's like where you're from, but there's a lot of people who beg in Dublin city. Bear in mind that a lot of them are tappers (people who beg to make money, who aren't actually homeless), and many of them won't use your money for anything worthwhile. If your heart really goes out to someone, buy them a cup of tea, or before you leave put a little donation in a charity box like Focus Ireland or the Simon community. But I'd really recommend not giving money to people on the street. There's one fella who sits on the path with no shoes or socks on, really dirty and shakes. I know lots of people who've bought him socks, but he never wears them. It's an act. I know it sounds horrible, but ignore beggars, give to a charity that helps them instead.

In my travels of writing this, I came across http://www.templebar.ie/default.aspx . You probably have too, but I figured I'd throw it up here.

admiralofthefleet

take the DART train out to howth. its a lovely coastal village that is even nicer in the summer.
there is a wealth of things for you to do so have fun

(temple bar is very expensive and plastic so i would say move around)

diddlybit

If you are looking for some trad Irish music, I would avoid everwhere in the city centre (especially the ones with Irish dancers advertised) and head out to Smithfield to the Cobblestone. You can get the Red Luas out there to the square and it's at the far end of it. It has less of the cheesy fiddly-dee stuff and attracts a lot of locals.

There are plenty of free publications available that will let you know what's going on, and you will easily pick them up around teh Temple Bar area.

For something different, head for a comedy night in the International Bar or the Ha'penny Inn (there are others, but they escape me at the moment.)

Interesting Bars-

The Library Bar on Exchequer Street in the Central Hotel is gorgeous for a quiet one.

The Long Hall on George's Street is an old Victorian Bar

Grogan's on South William Street is a great place, especially if the weather is good and you can nab a seat outside to watch the world go by. Ecletic collection of art inside. :-)

The Dawson Lounge- Smallest Pub in Ireland.

Hope you guys have fun

Twee.

For live music, keep an eye on Whelans, The Workman's Club and The Grand Social. They have a mix of local and international acts. For some jazz, check out JJ Smyths. Not the prettiest bar, but is well known for great live music.

There are a rake of excellent galleries and museums in Dublin, and most of them are free. Info on the museums of Archeology, Decorative Arts and Natural History (also know as the Dead Zoo) can be found here.
The National Gallery has a nice collection and nice building, as well as the RHA. Slightly outside the city is IMMA, modern art gallery set in a gorgeous building and grounds, and just a short walk from Kilmainham Gaol. They do great tours and you'll discover a lot about Irish history.

Gavin "shels"

Shelbourne play Finn Harps in Tolka Park on the 5th if you're into football (soccer). Only a 15 min bus journey from Temple Bar.

Camaross82

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I will definitely try to keep them in mind while we are visiting. My fiancee loves tea so Im sure we will make an effort to find the tea shop that was mentioned. As far as the street people neither of us are strangers to this type of activity. We have quite a bit hear in new orleans as well. And we will keep away from the back streets and dark alleys. Speaking of these types of places, is there many/anf fire arms on the streets of dublin? Not too familiar with the gun laws there. Also what about gangs or any other mischievious groups?

How is public transit also? Are taxis avalible, fair?

admiralofthefleet

you wont see guns or gangs on the streets of dublin. public transport is fair and taxi's are very easy to catch (look out for cars with yellow plates on the roof)

Camaross82

Thanks for the quick reply, the no guns or gangs is a nice change. Not that there arnt people looking to cause trouble, but where Im used to most of the ones causing trouble are also trigger happy.

What about the weather in late may, early june? What should we expect?

admiralofthefleet

Camaross82 wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply, the no guns or gangs is a nice change. Not that there arnt people looking to cause trouble, but where Im used to most of the ones causing trouble are also trigger happy.

What about the weather in late may, early june? What should we expect?

like anywhere, the weather can be changeable but that time of year is usually pleasant

omg a kitty

Sunshine, maybe around 20 degrees celcius. May -> August are the good months. Bring an umbrella just in case;)

Camaross82

What is Georges Street Arcade? What kind of activities go on there?

scudzilla

Get the DART (Train) from the city out to Malahide, it takes maybe 15/20 mins and will cost ya about 4euro return each.

It's a great little town and across the road from the DART station is Malahide Castle

http://www.malahidecastle.com/

omg a kitty

Camaross82 wrote: »

What is Georges Street Arcade? What kind of activities go on there?

Its an old shopping market, Victorian I think

TheUsual

Tante Zoe's restaurant in Temple Bar is good, if you get homesick for some cajun/creole cooking while you are there.

http://www.tantezoes.com/


I would also check out what bands are playing in Dublin when you get there, as they can be nice and busy with a friendly atmosphere and a good way to mix with local people.
Vicar Street is one place that's a good size :

http://www.vicarstreet.com/

Camaross82

Sounds great, doubt ill hit up any cajun resturants on my visit though.

sdanseo

scudzilla wrote: »

Get the DART (Train) from the city out to Malahide, it takes maybe 15/20 mins and will cost ya about 4euro return each.

It's a great little town and across the road from the DART station is Malahide Castle

http://www.malahidecastle.com/

Can't reccommend the town highly enough, now I live here so of course I'm biased but it's one of the best examples of a proper Irish seaside town/village without having to go far from the city at all. There's the train as mentioned above but the #42 bus will also do the trick and allow you to see a bit of the city (all our buses are double deck so you get a decent view from the top).

If you have the time also check out the southside seaside towns of Dalkey and Bray...the latter isnt really as big a destination as it used to be (there was once a funfair etc) but still has a nice promenade.

In the city itself, some really good places I've visited include Dublin Castle (really really good tour especially if you're into history), Smithfield Tower (panoramic views of the city, a quick gap filler), Marino Casino (also on the 42 bus route), and of course the Guinness storehouse. Get yourselves a 2-day Open-top bus ticket (see www.dublinbus.ie) - it's a hop on, hop off thing so you can see a sight, then get the bus to the next one and so on.

Phoenix Park is a nice spot also, great for a walk etc in the evening (and summer evenings here are really long, expect it to be daylight from 6am to 10pm at that time of year).

Corruptedmorals

I highly recommend the Dublin Bus Ghost Bus Tour, you can get tickets from Dublin Bus headquarters (59 upper O'Connell street..same side as the General Post Office). It's pricey but it's just brilliant, Dublin has a great history and the guides are great, try to go when it's actually dark though, I see them going when it's daylight, can't be as good!

Camaross82

Ok, the hop on hop off bus ticket sounds like a great idea. And the long evenings sound wonderful. That way we can make use of as much sunshine as possible. Thanks again everyone for the ideas.

Daisy!

Definitely get out of the city and visit Howth and Malahide.

Also try your best to get out of Dublin entirely and visit the likes of Kerry, West Cork, Connemara etc. The nicest parts of Ireland are outside of Dublin. Enjoy your stay!

kerash

I recommend visiting Dublin Castle, the Hugh Lane Gallery, The national musuem and Collins Barracks. You might like to visit Croke Park Glasnevin Museum and dont forget the Book of Kells!
I'd also recommend Johnnie Foxes sounds really touristy but it's actually a great spot and lovely on a nice day up in the mountains

omg a kitty

kerash wrote: »

I recommend visiting Dublin Castle, the Hugh Lane Gallery, The national musuem and Collins Barracks. You might like to visit Croke Park Glasnevin Museum and dont forget the Book of Kells!
I'd also recommend Johnnie Foxes sounds really touristy but it's actually a great spot and lovely on a nice day up in the mountains

And drop into my school next door yeah?

Camaross82

Im prob gonna try to stay in the city for the most part. Since our time is limited I want to make the most of it and dont want to spend much time traveling from place to place. Especially after a trans atlantic flight, not to mention a 6hour layover.

We are staying at the paramount hotel, any views on that place?

And Where is your school at kitty? I wouldnt mind meeting up and maybe catching a drink or something. Always open to making friends.

Dick Turnip

http://www.cityofathousandwelcomes.com/

Sign up to this, it's a new initiative for locals to meet tourists for a pint/coffee and give them an intro to the city. You might just miss it though, it starts in early June sometime.

AnalogueKid

Here's my advice for a short visit to Dublin -

Go to the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle, it's free and fascinating. Ancient inscriptions, papyrus, Bibles and Qurans. It's certainly better than shelling out outrageous money to see one page of the (admittedly beautiful) Book of Kells.

Check out the National Museum of Natural History aka The Dead Zoo. As I'm currently an expat, I'm not sure if it has reopened after refurbishment (the exhibits were displayed elsewhere for a while). A real insight into the Victorian-era imperialist mindset. Beside the Dáil (Parliament).

Nice pubs in the city - the Cobblestone and Dice Bar (both Smithfield); McDaids, Kehoe's and Grogan's (all near Grafton St); the Long Hall, residents bar in the Central hotel and Hogan's (George's St area); Whelan's, Anseo and the Bernard Shaw (Wexford St, Portobello)

Arguably, the best selection of restaurants in Dublin is in Ranelagh (10 min tram ride from Stephen's Green). Bistro Bianconi has some of the best pizzas outside of Napoli (takeaway), great Thai (Diep) and over a dozen others all on one street in a fairly well-to-do part of town. A few places have reasonable early bird menus. It wouldn't have the excellent seafood of the aforementioned Howth, but is cheaper and far closer to where you're staying. Do go to Howth for an afternoon though.

A fantastic and very reasonable restaurant near your hotel is Il Baccaro in Temple Bar (it's in a little square near the IFI cinema - another nice spot). Small menu which changes all the time, always a good sign. A chef friend of mine (and an Italian) who works in another place reckons it's easily the best Italian food in town. Good wine list too. Stay well clear of Milano - a soulless chain with bland food. Fitzers is dreadful too.

After a few scoops (drinks), there's nothing better than soaking it all up with a mouth-watering gourmet kebab from Zaytoon on Parliament St (in Temple bar, confusingly nowhere near the current parliament!).

Dublin has some really nice parks, something most visitors comment upon. The Phoenix Park is about a 35 minute walk from your hotel, it's massive! Lots of deer, open spaces and of course Dublin Zoo. Somebody else mentioned Malahide Park, and I'd recommend Marlay Park too. Iveagh Gardens in the city is a little oasis of tranquility.

Antiques can be found on Francis Street which is quite near a certain brewery which you'll probably visit.

If you can manage it timewise, there's a passage tomb / calendar about 30-40km outside of Dublin called Newgrange. It's 5,000 years old - a thousand years older than the Pyramids of Giza. Here it is It'd be a shame to miss such a treasure, but most visitors to Dublin do.

PS The gangsters in Ireland are called T.D.s, Bankers and Property Developers as opposed to Blood and Crip. Dublin has a lot of wandering, spaced out heroin addicts, but they don't hassle you at all - it's just a sad sight unfortunately.

I hope you have a great trip guys!

tony 2 tone

AnalogueKid wrote: »

I hope you have a great trip guys!

I would just add to that (very well done list of places to go) Ryans on Parkgate street for food, it's near the Phoenix park which is lovely when the weather is good. Ryans on Queen street for beer, close to the Dice bar. And The Lower Deck (also Ryans!) in Portobello does a lovely pint of Guinness.
Also check out Burdocks chipper close to Christchurch for fish and chips. All the food is cooked in real fat so you know it's good!

Have a search for old threads in this forum for more ideas.

Twee.

The Dice Bar really is an excellent spot. I had never been there until two weeks ago, been three times since!

wildlifeboy

this tour gets rave reviews constantly..I am going myself this weekend and I am a local.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186605-d1822672/Dublin:Ireland:Dublin.City.Bike.Tours.html

cosmic

true-or-false wrote: »

3. On a Saturday, in Temple Bar, go down Curved St. (anyone will be able to give you directions to it) and through the sort of arch/doorway in front, says Meeting house square on top of it. There's a food market there with some great stuff, try any free samples you can get your hands on and buy a couple pancakes/whatever takes your fancy.

Not at the moment, sadly. They're doing work on the Square (putting a roof on it, I think) so it's closed. All the stalls are now scattered about the Temple Bar area now - around Essex St, Exchange St and Cow's Lane. All the stalls are still there but it's not as convenient or atmospheric as having them all in the one spot. It might be open again by end of May/start of June when the OP is over but I doubt it.

Camaross82

Thanks all for the suggestions. Please keep them coming, I am using yall to set up my plans. Although it seems I will need a longer stay.

The tomb sounds like a deffinite must see.

Camaross82

Also, I am assuming that there will be taxis avalible at the airport to take us to our hotel. If this is not the case please let me know. After an overnight flight I would like as little hassel getting to the hotel as possible.

Gavin "shels"

Camaross82 wrote: »

Also, I am assuming that there will be taxis avalible at the airport to take us to our hotel. If this is not the case please let me know. After an overnight flight I would like as little hassel getting to the hotel as possible.

There's a taxi rank right outside the airport, nearly always taxis there, the longest part would be the queuing up for one.

cosmic

Gavin shels wrote: »

There's a taxi rank right outside the airport, nearly always taxis there, the longest part would be the queuing up for one.

As said above, there's nearly always taxis outside but the queues can be horrible, I'd say that would be especially painful after a long flight.

Have you called the hotel to see if they do airport collection? Whenever my OH and I go away we usually get it. It's never that much more expensive than a taxi and we always feel so fancy. It's ridiculously convenient too.

Camaross82

Ill look into it. Thanks for the suggestion.

TheUsual

Camaross82 wrote: »

Also, I am assuming that there will be taxis avalible at the airport to take us to our hotel. If this is not the case please let me know. After an overnight flight I would like as little hassel getting to the hotel as possible.

If the queue for the taxis is too long (I never had a problem to be honest except at summer holidays busy season) , then you can call a local taxi company to come and pick you up ...

http://swordscabs.com/index.htm

Just phone then from the airport phones on 01 80 80 800, or if you are using your mobile then it's : +353 1 80 80 800
They will pick you up outside on the street on the Departures level (the lower level is Arrivals, the upper level is Departures at Dublin airport).

arybvtcw0eolkf

Hey everyone.. Thanks for all your inputs to the OP.

In fact, when the OP has come and gone from Dublin I'm going to change the title of this thread and make it a sticky, such has been the quality of the information & help given to a visitor in it.

It, and your replies, can then be a reference for anyone making a visit to us.

Camaross82

You can actually make it a sticky now if youd like. It would make it quicker for me to reference instead of having to flip through the threads.

And I totally agree that all of the information has been top notch.

Mr Simpson

Camaross82 wrote: »

Also, I am assuming that there will be taxis avalible at the airport to take us to our hotel. If this is not the case please let me know. After an overnight flight I would like as little hassel getting to the hotel as possible.

I assume you will be arriving into terminal 2, taxis really shouldnt be an issue tbh, the airport is deserted most of the time. The rank is located just across the road from the terminal entrance.

Camaross82

Well. Another two weeks and I'll be on my way to Dublin.

Can't wait.

jack presley

Check if there's a GAA match on over the weekend you're here. That'd be worth seeing if there's one on.

AnalogueKid

jack presley wrote: »

Check if there's a GAA match on over the weekend you're here. That'd be worth seeing if there's one on.

GAA is to Ireland what NASCAR is to the USA. FYI Camaross82

Camaross82

That would be sweet

hairy sailor

i'd recommend kilmainham gaol on your visit,you can access it from the hop on hop off bus tour,check it out on trip adviser,always gets amazing reviews,it only costs 6 euro,less than 10 dollar's & has a great museum & guided tour of the prison,play'ed a huge part in ireland's history,you might even reconise it from a few movie's,enjoy your stay

Camaross82

Well... My time in Ireland has come and gone. I can honestly say that I had a great time. Great weather, great booze, great people. And the sights were awesome. We went from the Dublin castle to the cliffs of Moher, and many places in between. And my beautiful wife is already trying to figure out how to get back there.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

TheUsual

Camaross82 wrote: »

Well... My time in Ireland has come and gone. I can honestly say that I had a great time. Great weather, great booze, great people. And the sights were awesome. We went from the Dublin castle to the cliffs of Moher, and many places in between. And my beautiful wife is already trying to figure out how to get back there.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Good to hear you enjoyed your holiday !
Sounds like you saw a lot of sights, I think that's great but there are always more things to visit here ... try Donegal and Kerry next time !