Virgin to Dublin. Please help!

MizzKattt

I'm shedding my overalls and cowboy boots to travel abroad. This is my first time to Dublin. Any ideas what to see? Where to eat? Where to stay?

BEAT

how long do you plan on staying? have you made any plans at all yet?

billy the squid

i thought it said virgin in dublin (but then i have a mind like a sewer)

what are you looking for in particular

Shopping will be a bit expensive here what with both our rip off prices and the high exchange rate between the euro and the dollar.

the good thing about dublin is that there are bus and rail links to other parts of the country should you want to go on a day trip to say the west of ireland its only a three hour train journey to the west of ireland

you find loads of info here

http://www.ireland.ie/

hope this is some help

garthv

Hey Howsit goin?
Good places to see :

• Iveagh Gardens
• Stephens Green
• Eamonn Dorans On a Saturday Night

Good places to eat :

• Zaytoon (when you are really drunk)
• Little Caesars on Dame Street
• Burdocks up by christchurch

Good places to go :

• Whelans on camden street (friday and saturday nights rock)
• Eamonn Dorans(again)
• Spirit if your up for a dance

Enjoy Dublin

MizzKattt

BEAT wrote:

how long do you plan on staying? have you made any plans at all yet?

No plans as of yet. It'll be in May for three or four days.

GuanYin

There are well over 10k US university students in Dublin, so you're not gonna stick out like a sore thumb too much.

Generally the US people I know (I'm of US origin myself) get on just fine and you'll make friends easily enough.

I'm guessing you want to meet Irish people, but if you're into maybe a mix of settle US and Irish, there are a few pubs around that work. Not least is the Comedy Cellar (upstairs - see funny to start) upstairs in the International Bar (its near Grafton St.).

Foodwise, you'll find that the cusine here isn't near as good as the US, especially ethnic restaurants which have all been europeanised to suitthe local palate. That said, there are a few gems around and check out the food&drink board here.

Lonely Planet and rough guide websites online will probably have a few suggestions too.

Finally boards people usually have drinking sessions and if you're still about when the next one comes up I'm sure plenty of the folk here will be happy to spend the night drunkenly hitting on you

[edit]
I'm also gonna suggest you ignore all of Garth V's suggestions except perhaps Zaytoon, but even then only after 2am.

Moriarty

Spend your 4 days going from pub to pub to pub. You'll be broke, but that's beside the point.

MizzKattt

billy the squid wrote:

i thought it said virgin in dublin (but then i have a mind like a sewer)

what are you looking for in particular

Shopping will be a bit expensive here what with both our rip off prices and the high exchange rate between the euro and the dollar.

the good thing about dublin is that there are bus and rail links to other parts of the country should you want to go on a day trip to say the west of ireland its only a three hour train journey to the west of ireland

you find loads of info here

http://www.ireland.ie/

hope this is some help

A dirty mind is a terrible thing to waste. Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. No shopping. American consumerism is at all time high on this side. Junk is abundant everywhere. I really would like to meet people native to the area.

azezil

GaRtH_V wrote:

Hey Howsit goin?
Good places to see :

• Iveagh Gardens
• Stephens Green
• Eamonn Dorans On a Saturday Night

yeah if you're a hippeh!!


*shakes fist, hippeh!*

Lemming

The national museum on Kildare Street
Trinity College (the Book of Kells & the Library)
St. Stephens Green

The Guinness Brewery/Hopstores
The Porterhouse (always busy, but live music every night and they stock a most impressive range of beers/ales/etc and brew their own on-site)
Eamonn Dorans isn't bad
The Temple Bar Music Centre has gigs on every night too (usually)
The National Concernt Hall (if you want something a little more classical) - Click Here.
Unfortunately I've been out of the orchestra performance/classical-music scene here for a while so don't know any of the small performances that can be found fairly frequently around the city.

There are a number of theatres who run plays constantly, most notably the Gaiety & the Olympia theatres, although there are lots of smaller ones

I will also second Syke's recommendation of getting a copy of the Lonely Planet Guide for either Ireland (or Dublin if there's a specific one). I've used them before for travelling around Europe and they are really good books.

I'll leave it there and let someone else pick up from where I left off


On an aside note, try to avoid current-affairs/political discussions like the plague (for obvious reasons). Syke might be able to give a far better impression than I on that note (since I'm not american and living here, as opposed to just living here and being one of the natives)

BEAT

jaysus, just 3 or 4 days? well I would have given you some tourist info on travelling outside of dublin but with just 3 or 4 days I'd say there is plenty to do in Dublin to fill your time.
Are you going it alone? if so then hop on a bus tour by day and do some pub hopping at night.
if you want to find a good place right in the city center that is cheap and in the middle of it all I would suggest the Clifton Courts right on the quays, they had the best rate in the city.

Be sure and check the currency exchange rate before you leave so you will know how much money to bring with you, right now you lose 34 cents on the dollar...go here:
http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

Once you check into your hotel you can ask the person at the desk some good things to see and they will direct you. People are nice enough, If you ask around when you are there you will find plenty of people willing to help you out.

what are you into? history...clubs, parties photo opps?
tell us what you like and we can tell you where to go

Moriarty

Lemming wrote:

stuff

This here is a local town for local people. We'll have no trouble here. Filthy foreigners.

Heh.

Lemming

Moriarty wrote:

This here is a local town for local people. We'll have no trouble here. Filthy foreigners.

Heh.

wtf?!!! lol cheeky swine!
I'm having visons of the "League of Gentlemen" sketch ....

MizzKattt

BEAT wrote:

jaysus, just 3 or 4 days? well I would have given you some tourist info on travelling outside of dublin but with just 3 or 4 days I'd say there is plenty to do in Dublin to fill your time.
Are you going it alone? if so then hop on a bus tour by day and do some pub hopping at night.
if you want to find a good place right in the city center that is cheap and in the middle of it all I would suggest the Clifton Courts right on the quays, they had the best rate in the city.

Be sure and check the currency exchange rate before you leave so you will know how much money to bring with you, right now you lose 34 cents on the dollar...go here:
http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

Once you check into your hotel you can ask the person at the desk some good things to see and they will direct you. People are nice enough, If you ask around when you are there you will find plenty of people willing to help you out.

what are you into? history...clubs, parties photo opps?
tell us what you like and we can tell you where to go

I'm hoping three friends will travel with me. However, with school in full swing, it's hard to get them to commit. History...some. I'm more interested in people; meeting, exchanging ideas, talking, watching, etc.

MizzKattt

Moriarty wrote:

This here is a local town for local people. We'll have no trouble here. Filthy foreigners.

Heh.

Lemming, I thought you said ya'll don't bite.

Moriaty, we have a word here for that kind of attitude....Hick.

GuanYin

I will say that 3-4 days will be tough, especially with jetlag and hangovers to account for.

GHOST MGG

hhmmm...watching......we have enough of those in st stephens green thank you..lol

Lemming

syke wrote:

I will say that 3-4 days will be tough, especially with jetlag and hangovers to account for.

I dunno ... jetlag is very hit or miss. I found it fine going Transatlantic to Canada, but on the way back I was murdered by it because I decided to stay up all night watching films on the plane ... Because I was going forward through time-zones it messed up my body clock since I didn't sleep (flight left 11.45pm Toronto time - landed 10am-ish Dublin time)

So MizzKattt might be ok (if she sleeps part of the flight on the way over)

BEAT

well a group of you should have fun so,
it will take you the first day in to recover from the flying over...make sure you book your hotel before you get there so you can drop off your things freshin up and take a little nap. then you can spend the night out on the town.
I would say resting during your first day in and spending your night out in a local pub, a few local pubs would be a good first day.

spend the next 2 days touring...hop over the Trinity college and see the book of Kells...if you get yourself a dublin city map it is easy to read and you can find all the museums. You can hop on a quick bus tour that will give you a little background info on the city and then you can hop off and visit the places individually.

There is a tourboard at the Dublin airport that can provide you with times and listings for such things...get that book Lemming suggested as well. It is helpfull.

As time gets closer and the dates you are travelling are finalised let us know and we can look up some local events at that time for you to check out. There should be some concerts going on then and whatnot.

you can send me a PM as well if you like for more detailed info

Moriarty

MizzKattt wrote:

Lemming, I thought you said ya'll don't bite.

Moriaty, we have a word here for that kind of attitude....Hick.

Calm down dear, it was a joke. No need to ready the marines just yet.

/note to self: practice subtlety Brick-style in future, for the benefit of our american friends.

garthv

azezil wrote:

yeah if you're a hippeh!!


*shakes fist, hippeh!*

screw you a$$ muncher!

MizzKattt

Moriarty wrote:

Calm down dear, it was a joke. No need to ready the marines just yet.

*Putting grenades down.*

Dang, Moriarty. I haven't been able to blow something up in almost a day or two. I was hoping for some more backtalk.

*sighs in disappointment.*

Lemming

For some reasont that entire retort reminded me of the Tom Lehrer song "Send the Marines"

When someone makes a move
of which we don't approve
Who is it who always intervenes?
UN and UAS?
They have their place I guess!
But first!!! Send the marines!!

We'll send the best we've got!
John Wayne and Randolf Scott!!
Remember those exciting .. fighting scenes!
To the shores of Tripoli,
but not to mississipli

etc

is_that_so

Do the bus tour, it will help you and your buddies orient yourselves. It also helps you decide what you want to see and what you want to skip. Bus drivers can be entertaining as well. A lot of bus tours do the get on and off trip. You'll find most of them on O'Connell Street.

mad m

Well with all the sites you are pointed to id say you will see more of Dublin than most Dubliners ever will. Yeah the bus tour is good.

solas

Try and get to see newgrange. If you were going to egypt you would go and see the pyramids right?
it's about an hours drive from Dubiln.
(would recommend that to Irish peple who haven't been there yet)

is_that_so

solas wrote:

Try and get to see newgrange. If you were going to egypt you would go and see the pyramids right?
it's about an hours drive from Dubiln.
(would recommend that to Irish peple who haven't been there yet)

Newgrange is a 2 hour multimedia tour these days unless you get in the back way

Lemming

is_that_so wrote:

Newgrange is a 2 hour multimedia tour these days unless you get in the back way

And usually has bad queue times ..... there are two other sites available from the same place - one of which is bigger than newgrange.

is_that_so

yep Knowth and Dowth