MAST48

Planning a trip to Dublin for 11 or 13 days. Need to rent an apartment near Trinity College or close vicinity. No car rented, using taxis/buses. Coming to do family research will need to be close to Archives/Government buildings. Please tell me your experiences and advice. Thank you.

janisj

whet is your budget??

MAST48

Don't really have one, just want to find a nice comfortable, reasonably priced place. Not a luxurious place but not a dump either; safe neighborhood for older couple, lift needed if not on first floor. Will know what I want when I see it. Must have private WC with shower (enclosure, or curtain. Have seen some that I like but have no reference from guest who stayed there.

janisj

reasonably priced means different thing to different folks. You must have <i>some</i> idea how much you want to/can spend.

"<i>Must have private WC with shower (enclosure, or curtain.</i>" A flat will have a private bath.

I've used Homelidays and vrbo. Both are listing sites where you deal w/ individual owners.

http://www.homelidays.co.uk/EN-Holid...dublin_r13.asp

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals.../ireland#a1207

littlejane

Have you tried Trinity College itself - if you are coming out of season you can rent rooms there (used as student accomodation during the year, many but not all do have private bath).

MAST48

janisj -- Thank you! I have heard of VRBO but never used them. Almost rented via them on Lake Como, city center apartment this past spring, but after paying a deposit and lots of back and forth with the rental agency (not the owner)by pure luck I discovered that it was not the way presented. One of the lucky ones who could procure the address of the place before final commitment. My brother who lives in the area went to check it out; poor location, 3rd floor fire-escape type stairs inside courtyard with little or no parking. Keys on a box connected to the railroad fence across the street from the building where some parking is allowed. No person to contact near the premises their office was near Bellaggio - not within walking distance. When I brought up to their attention the misrepresentation of the locale, I was told “buyers be aware”, not an impressive reply for reassuring me. Will give a try again, maybe this time I will get better luck! That I why I wanted the name of an apartment, or the address; so I could be confident that a review of it was sincere not a marketing ploy. Thank you for your help.

MAST48

littlejane -- thank you very much. I would rather rent an apartment, if not, I will go to a B&B or a hotel. There are few Pubs with rooms, I will do that if nothing else. Thank you!

littlejane

The twin rooms in Trinity are just like an apartment - kitchen, sitting room, 2 bedrooms... just a thought

MAST48

littlejane --- I was not aware of such accomodation at the College! Certainly were my daughters went (Wheaton in Norton, MA)had just a small room with twin beds. Since we are 70 years young, we really need beds a bit bigger than twins. So you are telling me that the term "twin rooms" actually refer to a the number of bedrooms? What does 'family room' means in hotels? Thank you so much - I will try to find access to Trinity.

ter2000

http://www.tcd.ie/accommodation/Visitors/

Should have all the info you need here. Remember, your stay needs to be outside term time.

littlejane

sorry no I was probably misleading by calling it a "twin room" - you are right, twin room generally means one room with 2 beds - we used to call our rooms in college "twins" because there were 2 of us but I can see that it makes no sense... A family room in a hotel generally means there is a large room with an area where you can sleep a couple of kids - usually in the lobby of the room. A family room in a hotel would not normally have a kitchen.

MAST48

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU! Very helpful information. Will contact them to find out the timing of the availability, I think it probably will be no good for me since I am looking at an arrival date of possibly May 20.
I am still hoping to find a regular rental, since I understand that all have a communal sharing of facilities. Even at the University we are looking at 68 Euro per person, that is higher than a B&B.
I will keep at it. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

nytraveler

I think you need to ask for the ground floor - not the first floor - which is up one or 2 flights of stairs in the european mode.