Help with 2 1/2 day visit to dublin

No guarantees about weather but todays long term forecast mentioned warm and humid for the latter half of this week. temp high teens/low twenties but probably damp.
Dart trip: I presume you meant Killiney and not Kilkenny. Kilkenny is on the main Waterford line, a lovely little city but more than an hour out of Heuston Station. If you take the Dart go north to Howth walk the pier, and climb the hill. You can take the Luas in from City West to Connolly Station and get the Dart from there.
We don't have a "downtown" in Dublin, it's either Northside or Southside, the divide being the river Liffey. The Luas will get you into the city centre northside and you can walk from there. Dublin is a small city. Temple Bar area is a tourist trap.
Look up markfawkners posts on this branch for lots of things to do in the city, very comprehensive. The Dublin Theatre Festival starts this week if you are into theatre.
Enjoy

Look into a day trip to Wicklow National Park including Glendalough and Luggala (my profile pic). Beautiful places. The weather will not be cold. Like the other guy says it will most likely be humid with temps in the high teens possibly reaching 20c.

For good cheap eats! Try "Govindas" on Aungier Street, €6 for an Indian dinner (hare krishna). The "Metro Café" on South William Street does a very tasty Irish stew for €7! Just a 5 minute walk between the two. Try a coffee at Simons Place too! Café at Georges Market.

I would like to apologize for being ignorant and saying Kilkenny instead of Kiliney. I live by the beach currently and so am not to excited about a beach town but would like to see the country side meadows, castles history that kind of thing. I dont think i can do with wicklow too far and take up a whole day. Rihgt now still undecided what to do but below is a shot at a Tentative itenary -Please suggest additions or places i faile to mention.

Thursday afternoon - got to downtown dublin and walk around the temple bar area and trinity college and taken in the sights and sounds, some shopping of the grafton street maybe, walk around with a few beers and craic - open for dinner place reocmmendations or good pubs. ( also any museums or other venues iin this areas pleas edo advise).

Friday Morning - Take a luas form saggart to connolley - ( take train to either Howth or tanother recomended destination).
Spend the morning and early afternoon have lunch and be back in Dublin by 4 pm . Friday afternoon ctach more of dublin's attractions. explore the south side open to recommendations.

Saturday - Checkout lug my bag with me and so i need to find a place where i can store my carry on in downtown dublin any recommendations?? DO they have storage booths at the Luas or DART train stations.
Spend the day in downtown dublin and then takke the airlink at 4 pm for an 8 pm flight.

Okay so i have lots of gaps and nned recommendations to fill the activities in this itenary..

Does anyone know where i can stash a carry on for a few hours.
Thanks
Nade..

In terms of cheap places to drink in Dublin there aren't many. As mentioned, there is no downtown (so stop talking about it!) but Dublin is easy to walk around. There are souvenir stores al over the place flogging the same stuff, one of the larger chains for this is Carroll's and they are in Temple Bar and have a large store near O'Connell Bridge, on the corner of the quays and Westmoreland St.

In terms of weather, last weekend was great but keep an eye on the web for weather. I'd suggest a light rainproof coat and layering options but we are heading into a late summer burst so you might be lucky

Your best options for cheaper food is to keep an eye open for early bird specials which will get you a couple of courses and a glass of wine for EUR20-25.

This is a cut and paste from previous a post on things to do in Dublin:

I am of the opinion that Dublin needs a good solid two days, one centring around the west end and sights like the modern art museum, St Michan's Church (check online for tour times as a tour of the vault is a key part of the visit), the Guinness Storehouse, Kilmanhaim jail, Phoenix Park/zoo, modern art gallery and Collin's Barracks (more likely a selection of) and a second day centrally to include the national gallery, Merrion Square (and Oscar Wilde statue), the Kildare St archaeology museum, Chester Beatty Library (in Dublin Castle), Trinity College/Book of Kells, The National Gallery across from Merrion Square, Temple Bar, Grafton St and St Stephen's Green. IMO, the Guinness factory and the Book of Kells are not worth it (particularly price wise since they are a rarity in that there is an entry fee) but visitors seem to come away satisfied from visits to both. St Patricks and Christ Church can fit it into either day. As you can see, this could easily stretch to three days. I've highlighted the places I think are the best lesser known highlights of Dublin.

In terms of good places for a few Guinness in Dublin Dawson Lounge in Dawson St, Kehoe's in Sth Anne St off Grafton St, and The International Bar in Wicklow St are all good with a bit of traditional atmosphere. Check out Porterhouse in Nassau St, near the intersection with Grafton St as an alternative to just quaffing Guinness; they serve their own brews as well as special things like Galway Hooker. There is a similar one on the corner of Parliament and Essex Streets in Temple Bar(ish).

For live music try Donohoes near St Stephen's Green (particularly Sunday afternoon session), McNeill's in Capel St (Saturday night from 9.30-midnight's great), Cobblestones in Smithfield (which might be further off the beaten track than two women might like to be late at night), and Temple Bar pub in Temple Bar (Saturday afternoon can be great but it depends on who is playing and you are paying EUR4.95 a pint). As a rule I don't rate the Temple Bar area as a late night place - pissing vomiting in the street, hens and stags - but lots of people obviously do.

Day trips from Dublin could include Dalkey and Howth (both easily accessible by train). If you are looking for somewhere to hike (or actually more like just take a good long walk) head for Dalkey by train.

I would suggest using a luggage storage place, there is one in O'Connell St called Global Internet Cafe; it is down near the Liffey end. The other advantage is from O'Connell St (up towards the other end, ehading away from the river) you can get a 16a bus for EUR 2.30 to the airport rather than the EUR5 or such that it will cost on any of the express buses. It takes a little linger.

Trust me Wicklow is not too far at all! Seeing as you will be staying in Citywest / Saggart area. When there you will see hills just a little to the South West. Take a bus up there and your all ready into Wicklow! It's just 1 hr from city centre to Glendalough which is a Celtic paradise!

Re bars it depends on what your looking for? Dublin is full of bars and different scenes. Same goes for food? For more local info try this forum: http://www.boards.ie/

The Pav bar in Trinity is a good place for cheap drink, it is obviously a student bar but anyone can drink there. Guinness is awful, we have better stout and beers in general. Check out the Porterhouse, Messrs Maguire, The Palace Bar, L. Mulligan Grocer, Bull and Castle and Against the Grain for Irish craft beers. Lots of pubs sell craft beers now so just ask.

Food is very expensive in Dublin. Indian food is of a high standard and very cheap. If you are determined to drink Guinness, then I would suggest going to the Gravediggers in Glasnevin on the Friday evening and drinking it with a half dozen oysters. The oysters are half the price of most places in Dublin.

Oh yes. I'll second Maguires (although they have changed it and taken away the seating at the downstairs bar to install a carvery thing since I was there previously, I think April last year or ash cloudy time anyway, it looked pretty permanent when I was in there a few weeks back) and the Bull and Castle.

Gravediggers is also great, I'm trying to think if it says Gravediggers anywhere on the building (I've only been there a few times) and it may simply say John Kavanaghs or just Kavanaghs. When I was in there a few years back they only had cheese and onion crisps so watch for that.

Yeah, Gravediggers is a colloquialism. The name on the pub is "Kavanagh's". Make sure to have a drink in the bar adjacent to the lounge afterwards. It's quaint.

Howth is full of nice places for food. I would actually recommend The Bloody Stream for a light lunch. The mussels are good and cheap. If you want to splurge and have a good view, then Aqua is quite nice. Il Panorama is nice for panini and coffee.

1: Here's a list of some of the things to do in Dublin: Dublin Castle, the National Art Gallery, National Museum of Ireland, the Spire, the zoo, Croke Park and Dublin Bus Tours. For more visit www.visitdublin.com

2: If I was you I would visit Kilkenny. It's a nice small city and it's the medieval capital of Ireland. The castle is really nice there, aswellas Rothe House.

3: I really can't help you with that because I don't drink.

4: The city centre is walkable! It only takes a few minutes to get from Henry Street to Grafton Street, but to see some of the attractions you will need to take some other form of transport. Like if you needed to get to the train station you would need to take the Luas.

5: There's different ways of getting to different places in Dublin. So you will have to find out whether you need to take the Luas, Bus or Dart before you go. But most places in Dublin are accesable by bus.

6: This weekend the weather won't be great! So you will need to bring an umbrealla and a jacket!

Hope thats helps!