Going to Dublin late December

You don't say if you will have a car or if you will be relying on public transport for day trips.

You should look at the Discover Ireland site for ideas.

I have always found Trip Advisor to be a useful site when looking for accomodation.

If you have a car I would highly recommend a day trip into County Wicklow (south of Dublin). Bray is within easy reach (you can also catch the DART from the centre of Dublin ). You will get a good view of the coast in places from the short journey on the train.

Powerscourt Gardens and Waterfall and Glendalough are also well worth a visit. You will experience some of the real beauty of Ireland on the journey to Glendalough.

Enjoy your trip!

Definitely Powerscourt in Enniskerry and Glendalough are two ideal places to visit outside Dublin. You can get a Dublin Bus to Enniskerry and a private bus, St. Kevin's, to Glendalough. The tourist office in Andrews St. would have info for you on where to get the buses etc otherwise its easy to drive to both places.

In Powerscourt there is a lovely Avoca Cafe which has fantastic food and amazing views. Glendalough is ideal for a nice long walk on well worn paths so if thats your thing bring a pair of comfie shoes or runners.

Also get the DART out to Howth - lovely seaside town and a nice walk up to Howth head to work up an appetite for some good fish and chips or out to Bray. The scenary along the coastline out to Bray is fantastic, some say Dalkey bay is identical to the bay of Naples, but Bray itself is a bit boring so you could do a round trip - out to Bray and then get the DART over to Howth.

Hi!

Just a comment on the transport: last year my parents visited me, but I had to rent a car because public transport between 24-26 December isn't really working. Very few routes are covered during Christmas, so if you don't want any surprises, it's better to rent a car. I always used his site to rent cars, www.reservacar-dublinairport.com. it's cheap. Just an idea.

Depends on the weater if you want to be outdoors. I would recommend tha National Gallery, and the National Museum, they are free, and it's worth to visit.

Bye 4 now!

Hi,

I visit Dublin a few times each year. Here are a couple of ideas and comments....

we stayed at the Gresham on O'Connell Street last January. It was a grand old hotel, had a few rough years and has recently has a facelift. The bedrooms were nice and the bar and lounge areas are lovely. A real example of Irish hospitality at its best. Its handy for the Writers Museum and the National Gallery. Also handy for the buses. there are some great modern restaurants in Dublin now - a reflection of the booming economy!

I would advise against hiring a car for the whole time. The main topic of conversation in Dublin now is how long you sat in traffic today compared to yesterday.... perhaps you can hire a car for day trips out of the city.

Howth is a lovely spot. haven't been to powerscourt for years but it was also beautiful.

best thing to do in Dublin? talk to the people around you, in the hotel, bars even on the bus!
have a good time.

jaysus, at the Gresham you'll be paying top dollar for dodgy rooms - stayed there once with my other half for Eur250/night, which got us a tiny room at the back overlooking the A/C plant via a non-soundproof rattley window, and beat a rapid retreat back to Jurys Inn on Parnell St. for Eur99/night for a better room.

As I said, Jurys Doyles Inns are good value per room - most come with a double bed and a single bed too, so if there's 3 of youse and you don't mind sharing...

Check out;

Music; National Concert Hall website. Also ticketmaster.ie to see what's on - don't forget that sometimes the cathedrals have special choirs in around Christmas and New Year, maybe you can catch one of those (the cathedrals are Christchurch and St. Patricks).

Abbey Theatre is the old state-sponsored theatre where you'll find the big productions or famous names, but nothing terribely exciting or noveaux. It'll be showing "The Recruiting Officer" when you're there, www.abbeytheatre.ie<BR>The Gate is showing Uncle Vanya, maybe a bit heavy for a Christmas trip... :)
Andrews Lane Theatre is more avant-garde. there doesn't seem to be anything on it's site at the moment though.
The Helix can be quite good. Something that can be quite fun is the lunchtime performances in Bewleys on Grafton Street.

Do check out the National Art Gallery, the Modern Art Gallery, etc. In Ireland most of the exhibitions are free (most of the exhibits were donated "to the nation" or bought with public funds, so the galleries can't charge even if they wanted to, except for special 'private' exhibitions). Don't forget teh National Museum either - lots and lots of shiney gold, as well as Vikings and assorted other goodies. The National Gallery has a particularly strong collection of Renaissance art including the famous Carravaggio, but also some rare examples of the famous women artists Lavinia Fontana and Sofonisba Anguissola. Not to forget the Rembrant, the Vemeers and the matching pair from Gabriel Metsu, 'Woman reading a letter' and 'Man Writing a Letter'.

Do check out the opening times - a lot of places can be shut between Christmas and NY.

Transport; rent a car when you want, but at that time of year I don't really advice leaving Dublin as the roads can be quite tricky with ice and rain and that. Unless you really want to get cold up in the Wicklow Gap (which is likely to be fog-bound anyway) or frozen in Glendalough, I'd stick to Dublin. Don't forget you're gonna lose a lot of time in Airports when you arrive and leave. Other than that the public transport in Dublin is good for that period, and if you stick to the city centre you won't even have to take a bus as you can walk everywhere.

Don't make assumptions about the prices!! Found a great deal on the internet for the Gresham - about 130 euros a night. Looked at the alternatives for 30 euros less and it was certainly worth paying a few more euros a night.

What's your budget? If you can stay in a nice hotel in Dublin, I highly recommend the Dylan Hotel Dublin. It's a boutique hotel and it's really centrally located.

Bring warm clothing.