Dublin

pbright

Hi,

I plan on doing the guiness brewery tour in dublin this tuesday! It is a ten percent discount online,....i am wandering if there is away to get a bigger discount? I am also wandering how long it takes and what you think 2young guys should do with the rest of their 1 and only day in Dublin???

Also, how do you get to Dublin cheap from the airport....our ireland trip is on the cheap! Also, i assume its cheaper to get the bus to belfast from dublin than the train. The train station is right by our hotel in belfast however, if its cheaper to get the bus then bus it it.

Thanks for your help.

appreciated

Hoopylass

I went to dublin last year and we flew with Ryanair, we booked bus tickets through the ryanair website and the bus takes you from the airport to the centre of Dublin. Cheap and easy.

The guinness tour is ok...It took me and my friend maybe an hour or 2 to go around, we booked the dublin tour bus and hopped on and off all day. I would def reccomend the Kilmaham (sp?) Jail, the tour guide was fantastic!

Hope you enjoy dublin!

delorean_2

Are you flying out to Dublin on Tuesday and just staying for the day?

I visit Dublin around 2 to 3 times a month. It's an amazing place, somewhere I will also be emigrating to in a years time after i've moved to Canada.

I'm not sure about beer tours, although the obvious one is the Guinness tour in the city centre. You get given clear tokens with a dollop of Guinness trapped inside them. You can exchange them for a free pint. I got given one from a friend and decided to hold on to it as a souvie.

The Airport is actually in Swords, which is about 20mins or so by car out of the city. There is an airlink bus service that runs from the city to the airport and through Swords. I forget what number bus it is, all I remember is you can get it from near Fagans, the rest is a blur as I was absolutely rubbered catching it home to Swords after a GAA match lol.

A 24hr bus service runs to the airport called the Nightlink. Best bet is tyo grab a timetable from airport information. Depending on who you are flying with you can pick up cheap onward transport too. I think Ryanair do this, although i've never had to use these services due to friends living in Ireland.

If you are in Dublin for the night, there's loads of great pubs and clubs. One's I recommend are Mezz in Temple Bar. It always has a good band on. It's a bit small and usually packed to the rafters but it's great craic in there and a great place to go.

Try Sine too. A multi floor pub with dj's downstairs and I forget what's upstairs as I was drunk. I know there are big chairs upstairs though!

There's another good gaff for a late drink called the Viper Room. This is a bit further up from the bridge across the river. It's usually rammed though and is about €10 in.

Q-Bar is ok, again a bit of a rip off though. There's also Fitzsimons on Temple Bar, think of it as a sort of Wetherspoons/Yates chain bar. It can get a bit rowdy nearer kick out time though and if you go outside for a cigarette, watch your stuff like a hawk. Last time outside there my friend nearly had her bag robbed. So just use common sense and be careful.

The Temple Bar is good craic on a matchday and is one of the only pubs to allow smoking inside. It's because it has a unique courtyard inside. It's great on a day like today (the All-Ireland GAA finals are on, Dublin are playing Offaly). You get lots of Dubs fans in there and it's a great atmosphere.

If you can score tickets you can go to the stadium and watch the match live. Last year my girlfriend got us tickets for Dublin vs Tyrone replay. We went up on Hill 16, the terraces. The atmosphere was unreal!

If you want to venture out of the city. There's Powerscourt Waterfalls. It's €5 in but is worth every cent. A truly beautiful sight.

On the way up or back you can stop in to Johnnie Fox's, the highest pub in Dublin. It's a bit pricey though so stop for just the one and move on.

The Summit pub in Howth is great too. They do a brilliant pint of the black stuff there and the views from the cliffs out to the islands touching the coast of Ireland are fantastic. Well worth the trip out.

I hope i've given you some ideas of what to do. Even if it is mostly booze related! I've been to Belfast too so if I can help let me know.


edit: I forgot, how the hell could i miss this out. You MUST, I repeat MUST visit a pub called The Cobblestone in a part of the city called Smithfield. Go there and ask for Tony. The man is the most legendary barman in all of Ireland. They usally have a trad sesh on every day, the beer is mega and the craic is even better. Get yourself down there double quick. It's a blast!

The pub is on the docklandy area. It's right next to Bono's penthouse. And next to a Subway and (if i remember correctly) the Jameson's brewery. You can't lose!

Pobby

I would really advise you to take the open top bus tour around Dublin.You can get off and on when you fancy a little walk round.We had a driver/tour guide called Declan{as I remember}.A real joker through the microphone and as an extra sang us songs!

MrSmartprice

Get the #41 bus from the airport into Dublin centre. It stops outside the terminal. It costs about 1.20 euro, against about 6 euro for the actual airport bus. We have used it every time.

Other things to do: Kilmainham Jail is worth half a day if you are interested in Irish history. Absolutely absorbing tour, easily reached by bus. St Michan's Church is excellent too, for the crypt rather than the church itself. You can shake hands with the Crusader! I'll leave the details for you to discover.

u2o

get the local bus service, went to dublin other week!

Not quite sure if you're right MrSmartprice but sorry if im wrong- price was €1.80. the bus we definately got was 16A and also something like 746, they leave from the same stand at the airport, take different routes i think but both end up in dublin city centre.

dont get the expensive airport buses, i was quoted €7 for one of them.

delorean_2

I think the NightLink is about €3 and that goes to the Airport before it goes in to Swords central.

So if your flight is late at night or you have to get their in the small hours for an early flight, take the NightLink. Just be prepared to meet a few rum characters slumped in their chairs from a night out! HAHAH!

If you were coming over in 2 weeks you'd have probably bumped in to me lol.

delorean_2

Download a free discount tourist pass here:

http://www.cultureheritageireland.com

Hope that helps.

MrSmartprice

u2o wrote:

get the local bus service, went to dublin other week!

Not quite sure if you're right MrSmartprice but sorry if im wrong- price was €1.80. the bus we definately got was 16A and also something like 746, they leave from the same stand at the airport, take different routes i think but both end up in dublin city centre.

dont get the expensive airport buses, i was quoted €7 for one of them.

You may be right if you've been recently. I was last there about 2 years ago, so the route numbers may have changed, and I guess the prices will have risen. The advice still holds though, the regular service is a fraction of the cost of the airport bus for essentially the same thing.

briona

The 16A is fine [see timetable below] but the flyer buses are much faster – try the 747 for a 35 minute journey instead of the 16A's 90 minute journey. There are ticket machines by the bus stops outside the airport and many drivers prefer you to buy in advance, especially if there are huge queues although you should be able to buy a ticket from the driver – [I think] they operate an 'exact fare only' policy though so don't approach them with a EURO 20 note!

http://www.dublinbus.ie/your_journey/viewer.asp?placeName=Airport%20(Dublin)&SelectedRoute=16A

http://www.dublinbus.ie/your_journey/viewer.asp?placeName=Airport%20(Dublin)&SelectedRoute=747

EDIT: Oh, and the stop to get off at is O'Connell Street [esp. with the 16A as that's the only in-town stop!] With the 747 you can get off at O'Connell Street [by far the better choice] or Busaras [Central Bus Station – slightly further out]

fatboyonadiet

What's the biggest city in the world?

Dublin, because it keeps doublin' and doublin' and doublin'...

Just had to share that joke once I read the post title!