Advice on Dublin prices, please

maman

DH and I are going to Dublin for a few days next week. Everyone I talk to says 'Oh it's really expensive:eek:'.


Would any locals/recent travellers be able to tell me just how expensive average meals and drinks are, please? Plus a few ideas of where to eat.


And a few 'must see/do' suggestions if you have time.


TIA

richardw

It is. That restaurant at the top of M&S on Grafton St.

jpsartre

Many bars/restaurants have menus with prices online these days.

trailingspouse

Like anywhere, there are cheap places to eat, and expensive places to eat. I would say that the cheap places are probably on a par with a 'mid-range' place in the UK.

whatmichaelsays

If you think of it like any European capital city, it's not as horrific as people make out.

Yes, if you're going just to get lashed in Temple Bar, it won't be a cheap weekend. €5 for a pint of Guinness is par for the course.

However, feeding yourself is no more expensive than most other big cities and I actually found that things like tourist attractions, hotel prices and public transport were quite reasonable.

As for things to see and do, Kilmainham Gaol is excellent. The Jameson Experience is better than the Guinness brewery, but most people naturally go to St James' Gate.

w211

Though drinks will be more expensive in general, spirits are sold in 35ml measures, rather than 25ml over here, so that may offset the extra cost a bit.

If you're vising the Guinness brewery, I suggest you buy your tickets online here and print them out, so you can enter straight away, as there's often large queues to buy tickets there.

I also suggest https://www.railtoursireland.com if you have any full days spare if you want to see a bit more of Ireland (I've used them twice).

skint_chick

Chester Beatty Library - in the grounds of Dublin castle - it's free and has an amazing collection
https://www.cbl.ie

Walk round St Stephens Green - lots of sculptures and statues to look at
Little Museum of Dublin just off St Stephen's Green https://www.littlemuseum.ie - fab guided tours for €5 each

Whatmichaelsays was right about Kilmainham Gaol it's excellent. There's lots of restaurants offering early bird specials before 7pm or set menus for €15/20 pp

The National Museum of Ireland is free entry to the archaeology and natural history sections, they're old school glass cabinet style museums. If you like cemeteries then Glasnevin Cememtery Museum offers really interesting tours and lots of famous Irish historical figures are buried there.

There's lots of info on interesting sights in this free guide
http://www.inyourpocket.com/ireland/dublin
Don't forget if you're on the 3 mobile network you can activate your roaming with them and your data usage etc is covered by your usual plan. Dublin is very walkable - you can get a regular bus out to Kilmainham and Glasnevin but you should be able to walk the rest.

Katiehound

Hop on hop off bus good to give you an idea of what's what and city lay out! Buy on line for cheaper tickets
Book of Kells in Trinity College
Kilmainham Gaol
Dublin Castle
Guinness tour
Hop on the DART to get to the seaside

Museums generally closed on Mondays-I know the National in Kildare St. is- was intending to see the treasures found in bogs like the Ardagh Cup etc. Check for opening hours!!

trailingspouse

Me and Mr Spouse are going next week, for a week - Dublin, Limerick, Cork, and places in between. I'll look out for you!!

slightlyconfused1

We paid 13€ for two drinks (pint and a g and t) in January. It's certainly not a place for a cheap weekend. I did have a great time though.

Fuzzy_Duck

I think it was 2009 I went, so it was a fairly long time ago admittedly. I found it expensive. Having said that though, my partner and I coped, and we had very little money at the time (we went because we got ridiculously cheap flights and a decent deal on our hotel- and possibly because I was naive and hadn't realised how pricey it would be!)

It does depend on what you do though. When we went, we woke up late each day, picked up a relatively cheap bagel for lunch, and had a pub lunch in the evening, which was usually around 10 euros. It was the booze prices we struggled with as we were generally paying 5 euros a drink. We got around this by just having a few drinks during the day and buying a bottle of wine from the supermarket in the evening, where we would read a book in the hotel and generally relax.

We really enjoyed it regardless though, and I'd love to go back and do all the touristy stuff we missed out on. The National Museum was closed when we went, and we simply couldn't afford the entry fees to a lot of places. We didn't go in the castle or Trinity College due to our limited budget, but we still got to appreciate them from outside.

For a few days, you will be fine I'm sure. When I spent a few days in London last year I didn't find there to be that much of a difference in price.