do I stay in Dublin or branch out to other places?
April 20, 2009 7:33 AM Subscribe
5 days in/around/near Dublin: What to do & where to go for the best time possible?
My boyfriend and I are flying in to Dublin on May 1 and leaving on May 6. We've been working in Europe for the last 7 months and this is the last place we're visiting before heading back to the USA.
I'm not sure if I want to stay in Dublin the whole time or if I want to hop over to other Irish cities, maybe take a train/plane to London or Glasgow. I just want to have an awesome time for my last days in Europe.
I'm into walking, being on boats, food (best fish and chips? best Indian food?), tea, microbreweries. Spending time on the beach while drinking some wine and watching swans and ducks is fun. If the weather is nice I'd be into renting a bike and exploring like that. I read a lot of Dick Francis books a few years ago so the idea of going to a horse race is oddly appealing to me. My boyfriend is into looking at cool buildings and urban decay -- if there's someplace with a giant abandoned building to explore, that would just be perfect (castles = also nice!).
I usually like museums but am kind of museumed out at present, so unless there is something really cool going on (like the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Grand Palais in Paris right now) I'd prefer to skip them. I know there's a James Joyce walking tour but I don't know if I'm too interested in that -- maybe after I finish Finnegans Wake it will hold more of an appeal.
Also, if anyone has any idea what the price range for the left luggage facility is, I'd appreciate that info as well!
My boyfriend and I are flying in to Dublin on May 1 and leaving on May 6. We've been working in Europe for the last 7 months and this is the last place we're visiting before heading back to the USA.
I'm not sure if I want to stay in Dublin the whole time or if I want to hop over to other Irish cities, maybe take a train/plane to London or Glasgow. I just want to have an awesome time for my last days in Europe.
I'm into walking, being on boats, food (best fish and chips? best Indian food?), tea, microbreweries. Spending time on the beach while drinking some wine and watching swans and ducks is fun. If the weather is nice I'd be into renting a bike and exploring like that. I read a lot of Dick Francis books a few years ago so the idea of going to a horse race is oddly appealing to me. My boyfriend is into looking at cool buildings and urban decay -- if there's someplace with a giant abandoned building to explore, that would just be perfect (castles = also nice!).
I usually like museums but am kind of museumed out at present, so unless there is something really cool going on (like the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Grand Palais in Paris right now) I'd prefer to skip them. I know there's a James Joyce walking tour but I don't know if I'm too interested in that -- maybe after I finish Finnegans Wake it will hold more of an appeal.
Also, if anyone has any idea what the price range for the left luggage facility is, I'd appreciate that info as well!
Best answer: Yes, do a search for tags on Dublin. My perfect one-day Dublin visit is in that group where I asked for advice for a similar day for London. Here's what I said about Dublin:
My perfect Dublin day included self-guided James Joyce tour, Book of Kells, Trinity College Long Room, Queen of Tarts tea shop strawberry sponge cake blowout, a Top Shop stop near Grafton, Stag's Head Pub, a Fish in Chips stand whose offerings were like crack in a brown bag, then bed.
I forgot to mention taking the musical pub crawl out of one of the big old pubs--can't remember the name but you'll find it. It was a blast despite my reluctance about going. (The word crawl reminds me of crawling upstairs, to bed, to the bathroom, etc. Wasn't like that.) Wonderful music, just enough drinking. I've since found out my "crack in a bag" fish and chips were from Leo Burdock's. (It's a good thing I was only there a day or I would've needed rehab after those fish and chips.) It's a takeout place, but you won't care. Have fun.
posted by Elsie at 8:16 AM on April 20, 2009 [2 favorites]
My perfect Dublin day included self-guided James Joyce tour, Book of Kells, Trinity College Long Room, Queen of Tarts tea shop strawberry sponge cake blowout, a Top Shop stop near Grafton, Stag's Head Pub, a Fish in Chips stand whose offerings were like crack in a brown bag, then bed.
I forgot to mention taking the musical pub crawl out of one of the big old pubs--can't remember the name but you'll find it. It was a blast despite my reluctance about going. (The word crawl reminds me of crawling upstairs, to bed, to the bathroom, etc. Wasn't like that.) Wonderful music, just enough drinking. I've since found out my "crack in a bag" fish and chips were from Leo Burdock's. (It's a good thing I was only there a day or I would've needed rehab after those fish and chips.) It's a takeout place, but you won't care. Have fun.
posted by Elsie at 8:16 AM on April 20, 2009 [2 favorites]
I have been to Ireland about a dozen times, and I gotta say, Dublin is...nothing special. It's a mildly interesting small town wrapped in a big city. There's far, far more interesting places in Ireland to go.
A day trip to Newgrange from Dublin is a day well spent - Bus Eireann has guided day tours that are a lot of fun and go through some beautiful parts of Ireland.
Galway's a nice little city and an easy train from Dublin; there's also the North, I haven't been to Belfast in a few years but it's apparently catching up with the rest of Ireland as far as culture goes. Derry's a great little city, and the north Antrim coast is gorgeous.
posted by pdb at 8:22 AM on April 20, 2009
A day trip to Newgrange from Dublin is a day well spent - Bus Eireann has guided day tours that are a lot of fun and go through some beautiful parts of Ireland.
Galway's a nice little city and an easy train from Dublin; there's also the North, I haven't been to Belfast in a few years but it's apparently catching up with the rest of Ireland as far as culture goes. Derry's a great little city, and the north Antrim coast is gorgeous.
posted by pdb at 8:22 AM on April 20, 2009
Best answer: My advice was going to be to go to Galway instead. I love Dublin, but I'm thinking that it's going to seem unimpressive by the standards of the European cities you've seen recently. Dublin isn't a city that reveals its charms easily to the casual visitor. If you go to Galway, you can spend a day or two in the town, which is lovely, and then you can take day trips to the countryside. You can take a boat to one of the Aran Islands and then rent a bike once you're there. Connemara can be a little overrun with tourists in the summer, but it won't be so bad in May.
I haven't been to Belfast in forever, either, but I agree about the north Antrim coast.
posted by craichead at 8:32 AM on April 20, 2009
I haven't been to Belfast in forever, either, but I agree about the north Antrim coast.
posted by craichead at 8:32 AM on April 20, 2009
Response by poster: I did look through the questions also tagged Dublin and already wrote down some ideas from them. :)
Elsie - I'm glad that you commented on my question! I had read your perfect day description and was seriously wondering about the fish and chips place that sounded so amazing. I will definitely look up Leo Burdock's because I love fish and chips.
I really don't have a choice about going to Dublin since the cheapest way to fly back to the States is Dublin-Chicago so that's really impossible to change. My question really is, how long should I stay in Dublin and where else can I reasonably go from Dublin (preferably places suited to my interests, as described)?
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 11:38 AM on April 20, 2009
Elsie - I'm glad that you commented on my question! I had read your perfect day description and was seriously wondering about the fish and chips place that sounded so amazing. I will definitely look up Leo Burdock's because I love fish and chips.
I really don't have a choice about going to Dublin since the cheapest way to fly back to the States is Dublin-Chicago so that's really impossible to change. My question really is, how long should I stay in Dublin and where else can I reasonably go from Dublin (preferably places suited to my interests, as described)?
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 11:38 AM on April 20, 2009
For your interests I would suggest the Irish coast anywhere between Galway and Waterford. Indian food might be a problem and your bf will not find any urban decay. Otherwise all good. Give my love to the ducks.
posted by Dr.Pill at 12:09 PM on April 20, 2009
posted by Dr.Pill at 12:09 PM on April 20, 2009
Ireland is small, so you can reasonably get pretty much anywhere from Dublin. Dublin to Galway is three hours on the train. Dublin to Belfast is about two. You can definitely stay in Dublin for all five days and do little day trips out to places like Dun Laoghaire and Glendalough. I don't think you should feel constrained to stay in the Dublin area, though.
posted by craichead at 12:20 PM on April 20, 2009
posted by craichead at 12:20 PM on April 20, 2009
In all honesty, you can spend two full days in Dublin and see most everything that makes it Dublin. Spend the 1st relaxing after your flight, take the 2nd and 3rd to do Trinity/Guinness and all that typical stuff, and use the rest of your time in Dublin to take day trips outside the city.
Another thing that's interesting in Dublin if you're into history is Kilmainham Gaol. If you're not into history, it's still an awesome old building - not abandoned, obviously, but unused for its original purpose and really quite worth seeing.
posted by pdb at 1:59 PM on April 20, 2009
Another thing that's interesting in Dublin if you're into history is Kilmainham Gaol. If you're not into history, it's still an awesome old building - not abandoned, obviously, but unused for its original purpose and really quite worth seeing.
posted by pdb at 1:59 PM on April 20, 2009
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If you haven't been to London then it's certainly worth seeing. Far better than Dublin.
posted by fire&wings at 7:39 AM on April 20, 2009