3 nights in Ireland - Stay in or outside of Dublin?

[deek]

Hoping to find some Irish experts in here. We're closing out our honeymoon in Ireland in May, and wondering if it would be more fun/convenient to stay in Dublin, or elsewhere, and day trip to Dublin. I know a Dublin stay would definitely be more expensive. Any and all recommendations are welcome!

[reeshau]

Are you looking to go somewhere other than Dublin?  What sort of things are you looking for?

Certainly, the Wild Atlantic Way can be romantic for a honeymoon.  But more like romantic ocean walks and little pubs, than lots of night life.  If you are going there, fly in to Shannon instead.  Much more navigable airport, and you can be out and on your way very quickly.

When you say "stay outside of Dublin," it's not going to be like the US.  Do not expect to drive in from elsewhere to the City Center.  It's not the worst in Europe, but it's more inconvenient than it's worth.  Stay somewhere on a train line, and use the DART or LUAS to move around.  Busses aren't bad for access, but are much slower.

You will need to get a ride to and from the airport.  A taxi is most common.  There are bus routes there, with luggage racks.  Again, they are slower, but can be a bit of a free tour on the way in, particularly if you can grab the front row up top.


In the Dublin area:
We had a lovely AirBnB in Ranheny, next to St. Anne's Park.  Lots to do there for breaks from the city, and concerts in the summer.  On the DART.

We used to live between Ranelagh and Dundrum.  They are more suburban, but with plenty of restaurants, parks, and groceries convenient.  On the LUAS route in.

We used to visit Bray quite often.  Lovely seashore with a pebble beach, local attractions, and bluff walking.  Quite a bit longer into the City Center, but not as isolated.

A splurge place to stay, if you don't want City Center / parties, could be Powerscourt.  We loved going there, but it's more isolated. $$$ for a cab that far, although bus lines go there, as it is a tourist stop.  Lots of biking around there on the weekend.


Just a few ideas.  Tons around, of course.  You're a little early for the Dalkey Book Festival, and Bloomsday.  Be aware of the bank holiday May 6--lots of businesses will be closed.  Also, life will go faster if you have a credit card that you can tap to pay.

[CNM]

Depending on what you're interested in, Galway is something of a party town and it's easy to get there via train from Dublin.

We spent a week doing driving the Wild Atlantic Way around Clifden (we stayed in Oughterard) and LOVED it. Definitely not a night club, party atmosphere, though.

[deek]

Are you looking to go somewhere other than Dublin?  What sort of things are you looking for?

Certainly, the Wild Atlantic Way can be romantic for a honeymoon.  But more like romantic ocean walks and little pubs, than lots of night life.  If you are going there, fly in to Shannon instead.  Much more navigable airport, and you can be out and on your way very quickly.

When you say "stay outside of Dublin," it's not going to be like the US.  Do not expect to drive in from elsewhere to the City Center.  It's not the worst in Europe, but it's more inconvenient than it's worth.  Stay somewhere on a train line, and use the DART or LUAS to move around.  Busses aren't bad for access, but are much slower.

You will need to get a ride to and from the airport.  A taxi is most common.  There are bus routes there, with luggage racks.  Again, they are slower, but can be a bit of a free tour on the way in, particularly if you can grab the front row up top.


In the Dublin area:
We had a lovely AirBnB in Ranheny, next to St. Anne's Park.  Lots to do there for breaks from the city, and concerts in the summer.  On the DART.

We used to live between Ranelagh and Dundrum.  They are more suburban, but with plenty of restaurants, parks, and groceries convenient.  On the LUAS route in.

We used to visit Bray quite often.  Lovely seashore with a pebble beach, local attractions, and bluff walking.  Quite a bit longer into the City Center, but not as isolated.

A splurge place to stay, if you don't want City Center / parties, could be Powerscourt.  We loved going there, but it's more isolated. $$$ for a cab that far, although bus lines go there, as it is a tourist stop.  Lots of biking around there on the weekend.


Just a few ideas.  Tons around, of course.  You're a little early for the Dalkey Book Festival, and Bloomsday.  Be aware of the bank holiday May 6--lots of businesses will be closed.  Also, life will go faster if you have a credit card that you can tap to pay.

Since we only have 3 nights and are flying into Dublin, I'm thinking we'll want to make these 3 days easy on ourselves before we head home. It'll probably be stay in or near Dublin and if anything, taking the rail straight south along the coastal villages for a day trip if we want to explore.

I know you had mentioned Bray.. any recommendations in Dalkey/Graystones/Kilcoole/Wicklow?

[reeshau]

Are you looking to go somewhere other than Dublin?  What sort of things are you looking for?

Certainly, the Wild Atlantic Way can be romantic for a honeymoon.  But more like romantic ocean walks and little pubs, than lots of night life.  If you are going there, fly in to Shannon instead.  Much more navigable airport, and you can be out and on your way very quickly.

When you say "stay outside of Dublin," it's not going to be like the US.  Do not expect to drive in from elsewhere to the City Center.  It's not the worst in Europe, but it's more inconvenient than it's worth.  Stay somewhere on a train line, and use the DART or LUAS to move around.  Busses aren't bad for access, but are much slower.

You will need to get a ride to and from the airport.  A taxi is most common.  There are bus routes there, with luggage racks.  Again, they are slower, but can be a bit of a free tour on the way in, particularly if you can grab the front row up top.


In the Dublin area:
We had a lovely AirBnB in Ranheny, next to St. Anne's Park.  Lots to do there for breaks from the city, and concerts in the summer.  On the DART.

We used to live between Ranelagh and Dundrum.  They are more suburban, but with plenty of restaurants, parks, and groceries convenient.  On the LUAS route in.

We used to visit Bray quite often.  Lovely seashore with a pebble beach, local attractions, and bluff walking.  Quite a bit longer into the City Center, but not as isolated.

A splurge place to stay, if you don't want City Center / parties, could be Powerscourt.  We loved going there, but it's more isolated. $$$ for a cab that far, although bus lines go there, as it is a tourist stop.  Lots of biking around there on the weekend.


Just a few ideas.  Tons around, of course.  You're a little early for the Dalkey Book Festival, and Bloomsday.  Be aware of the bank holiday May 6--lots of businesses will be closed.  Also, life will go faster if you have a credit card that you can tap to pay.

Since we only have 3 nights and are flying into Dublin, I'm thinking we'll want to make these 3 days easy on ourselves before we head home. It'll probably be stay in or near Dublin and if anything, taking the rail straight south along the coastal villages for a day trip if we want to explore.

I know you had mentioned Bray.. any recommendations in Dalkey/Graystones/Kilcoole/Wicklow?

Dalkey is lovely, but pricey in a pricey town.  Famous folk live up there, on the coast.  There is a very nice coastal bluff walk between Bray and Graystones.  (Also a nice one at Howth, on the north side)  the DART runs less frequently south of Bray.  And south of Graystones, you are on the regional network, so less frequent again.  (More like hourly, than every 15 minutes)  Definitely plan on getting a LEAP transit card--one for each of you.  You can buy them at any DART or LUAS shop, and a lot of convenience stores.

Are you looking to get a car?  Or stick with trains?  Party all night, or communing with nature?  Alone, or making new friends?

3 days is a whirlwind.  You won't even get to see much, much less all.  Travel like you're coming back.

One touristy thing I highly recommend is a night of trad music in a pub.  (Touristy for places that do it every night, with dancing, rather than locals sitting among the tables)  We've been to The Merry Ploughboys, south of the M50 ring in Rathfarnham..  Most famous in this way is The Brazen Head, West of Temple Bar.  For that one, get reservations.  You might ask at the closest pubs to where you are staying, and ask if they have a trad night.

I could personally spend a whole day in the Long Room, and lounging at Trinity College around it.  Lots of good eats, relatively cheap, around the college.

You can get day tour busses out of  the city center to Powerscourt and Glendalough.

Further into Wicklow and Wexford, I don't really know well.  But for someone in the US, even The Rock of Cashel in Tipperary is a day trip.  You can cross the island in 4 hours, so getting to the middle is about 2 (one way).  Horrifying to a local to drive that long, but we drove twice as far on Monday as a day trip to see the eclipse.

And of course, if you are a GoT or Vikings fan, there is plenty of guidance to see places where they were shot.

[Moonwaves]

There was a rockslide a while back on the cliff walk between Bray and Greystones and I think it has been closed since. Still worth taking the DART out to Bray, though, the view when you come out of the tunnel and see Killiney Bay is spectacular. Well, it's spectacular when it's sunny, and still very, very nice when it's cloudy.

The walk along the promenade would still be nice. It's a long time since I lived in Dublin and even longer since I worked in Bray but I don't think it will have changed all that much. A few nice gastro-pubs along the seafront, the Harbour Bar at the end closest to the DART station also used to be a good spot. And at the other end, near Bray Head, are "the amusements", the highlight of many summer holidays for us when we were kids. It wasn't our favourite beach because it was so stony, but we loved going to play the slot machines. Oh, and the very best onion rings can be had from the chipper beside the DART station.

Definitely get a Leap card, very handy for getting around.

[reeshau]

The very first touristy thing I did when I lived in Dublin was to see the Bray Air Display.  They were featuring a Catalina, which is my favorite prop plane.  I noticed a number of people watching from Bray Head, and I thought that must be a really interesting perspective, to see the planes flying at your level.  Never got up there to see it myself--yet.

[reeshau]

This article just came up on RTE:  8 vibrant food and flea markets to visit around Dublin

We've been to 3 of them.  (St. Anne's, People's Park, and Herbert Park)  None of them are huge; they are very comparable to a "City" farmer's market, with a lot of prepared food stalls, craftspeople selling their wares, and a few produce sellers.  Good people watching, though.

Which reminds me: for a nice, free experience, there is the Merrion Square open air art gallery.  The artists hang their works on the fence surrounding the park, so you can stroll to see the park and the art.  Artists do the same on St. Stephen's Green, but I don't think it's as organized.  It's a higher concentration of tourists, but also well worth a visit.  Our favorite park.

[Dave1442397]

If you're staying in Dublin, I'm familiar with the North side and would recommend Howth, maybe The King Sitric.

https://www.kingsitric.ie/

The King Sitric is right at the harbor, and if you're into seafood, there are lots of options.

The cliff walks are really nice, with options from easy to hard.  https://www.tripsavvy.com/howth-cliff-path-loop-1541626
The longest is the Purple Route, which took me just under three hours with plenty of stops for pics. https://scenicirishwalks.home.blog/2019/03/03/howth-cliff-walk-purple-route/

You can easily walk to the DART if you want to head into Dublin City, and Howth is about 30mins from Dublin Airport.