tmk1010

My husband and I are thinking about traveling to Dublin later this year. I'm a bit more well traveled them him - he doesn't even have his passport yet and can be kind of a grump - so I'm trying to plan a relatively easy first trip out of the country for him. =P (With direct flights, English speakers, and recognizable food, heehee!)

It would be a four full day trip through Gate 1 travel. (Opinions on them? Don't plan on doing any of their tours, just to book plane and hotel together.) We will not be renting a car. (I like the challenge of public transit...)

We'd arrive in the morning (around 7.) Taking the Airlink to the city (will probably get a Rambler Bus Pass) and then I'm thinking of doing that hop on, hop off bus tour for the first day just to get an overall feel of the city. (Although I'm a bit concerned about storing our luggage since the flight arrives so early - obviously I'll contact the hotel.)

The second day we'll do the museums we may have missed (and Guinness!), maybe going a little further afield to Howeth or Dalkey Castle via Dart. Or Drimnagh Castle via Luas.

He wants to see the countryside and I have a thing for trains, so on the third day we'd take the train to Limerick then bus it to Bunratty Castle and Folk Village, then see the Cliffs of Moher, go through the Burren and get back on the train at Galway to head back to Dublin. (www.railtoursireland.com)

The fourth day we'd do whatever we still felt like doing from day two (Howeth or Dalkey Castle or Drimnagh Castle) and I'm playing with the idea of seeing some sort of show.

Our flight will probably leave prior to when Airlink runs on Sunday so we'll have to take a taxi. Hopefully this isn't terribly expensive - anyone? We could book transport back through Gate 1, but that's $130. Seems like a taxi would be cheaper.

Does this seem reasonable? Any tips or suggestions? Thanks! =)

rabicamail

I don't find any thing wrong in the Dublin travel plane and wish you happy journey .

GreenDragon

Hotels are usually fine with keeping your bags until your rooms are ready. I've done exactly that first day plan many times!

You will love day 3 Well, all of it, really. I think you will have a fantastic time, looks like a great plan.

2g

Luggage store should not be a problem but only your hotel can confirm this.

I think there's more to Dublin than a HOHO tour. It's a good introduction to the city, but plan day 2 in detail in advance, so you can see exactly what you want. I recommend a visit to the Book of Kells at Trinity College.

tmk1010

Haha, I am looking forward to day three. =) I'm more of an old monument/building/church person as opposed to scenery, so it should be interesting.

Definitely want to check out the Book of Kells and many of the cathedrals. (Christchurch, St. Patrick's, St. Anne's, etc.) The HOHO is more to get a general feel for locations so we know where to go back to. I've never done one before, but I actually don't know much about Ireland the way I have other places.

Thanks for the input! I'm glad it seems reasonable.

And in retrospect, I'm sorry I called my hubby a grump. He loves talking to and meeting new people. But being away from home is distrupts him.

littlejane

It all sounded good to me until I got to day 3 - I know it is a guided tour but that is a very, very long day. You are going right across the country and doing a huge amount of driving (in a bus, i know), back to dublin exhausted at 9 after getting up at around 5:45 if you want to have breakfast and make it to the train on time. I didn't see a mention of dinner either, maybe they expect you to have that on the train, which would be pretty grim unless you are not remotely into food.

You are right that with 4 days you can afford to escape Dublin, but I'd go for something more relaxed, maybe to Straffan to the steam train museum or out on the DART (train) to greystones, do the cliff walk from Greystones to Bray and get the DART back from Bray, having a nice lunch in a pub along the seafront.

You don't want to wear the grump out altogether, you might never get him to go on another trip

mimi1949

If your husband likes chatting with new people, Ireland is the place but the pubs in smaller towns are where we've always found the friendly folk. Dublin is a city with few special charms compared to the smaller towns. You might save some travel by going south to the Wicklow mountains instead of all the way to the West Coast (the West deserves it's own vacation) The Wicklows are so close to Dublin and so different - Glendalough has fabulous ruins as well as nice hiking, beautiful Powerscourt Gardens, lovely coastal villages and it's easy to take it all in from Dublin with minimal travel time. In Dublin we loved the Guinness Storehouse. The Kilmainhaim Gaol was interesting but the tour is too long. For a special meal in Dublin make a reservation at Pearl near St. Stephen's Square. We were sent there by a local businessman and it was fabulous - food, atmosphere and service were all great. Finding traditional music in Dublin was next to impossible last September. We've made 3 trips to Ireland and we always want to return but a couple days in Dublin is enough. The charm of Ireland is in the smaller towns and villages and in the countryside.

Cowboy1968

I can't remember exactly about the taxi.. but nothing even remotely close to $130!! More like €30.

Aircoach buses seem to run all day/night also on sundays.
Depending on the location of your hotel, the Aircoach services might even be more convenient as they also cross the Liffey and stop near Trinity College and further across town. Airlink's 747 bus only serves O'Connell St and the Central Bus Station (Busaras).
www.aircoach.ie

HeidiS

We took this exact trip with Gate 1 last November. We took the Aircoach from the airport to the hotel and it was perfect (and cheaper than a taxi!). The vacation is enough time to explore Dublin, but if you want to go out of the city more you might want to add another night to the trip (which is possible through Gate 1).

We took all of the optional tours offered - on the Hop On/Hop Off Bus we spent most of the day at Guinness Storehouse & Kilmainhaim Gaol (both GREAT!). We also stopped at Dublin Castle & St Patrick's Cathedral. I definitely recommend the Full Day Wicklow Mountains, Valleys & Lakes tour - gave us the chance to do some hiking near the lakes and we enjoyed the visit to Avoca (and got some great holiday gifts there too). The Dublin Bay & Castle half-day tour was also good, but our favorite was Wicklow!

We stayed at the Mespil Hotel and had a great experience. It's about a 30 minute casual walk to the Temple Bar area and also close to St. Stephen's Green. Also, the hotel had a great breakfast!

HeidiS

Also, regarding your concerns about storing luggage... not sure where you are staying, but the Mespil has a storage room behind their main desk and they happily stored all of our luggage while we waited for our room & explored the city.

tmk1010

LittleJane - 7 to 9 is a long day and I hadn't considered his fatigue... Perhaps we can book when we get there and not in advance. I can't imagine that late fall is a particularly busy tourist time for them. Also, cliff walk sounds promising! I'll check it out.

Cowboy1968 - Airbus sounds awesome! That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks! I generally don't trust prebooked prices like that.

mimi1949 - I found a Wicklow tour and it looks gorgeous as well. And we could sleep in if we wanted. =P And thanks for the restaurant recommendation - I will definitely look into it! Bummed about the traditional music, although I suppose we won't really know if it's traditional or not. I'm sure we'll want to go back and rent a car and drive through one day when we have more time (and money, haha.) I think that would be ideal.

HeidiS - We were looking into staying at the Mespil. We don't mind walking and with the bus pass it seems like it wouldn't be an issue. I'm glad to hear about the luggage storage! It would be terribly unfair to fly in and be stuck waiting for the hotel room. =)

GreenDragon

Wicklow is fantastic. If you saw "PS, I Love You", the place they first met was in the middle of the Wicklow Mountains. Gorgeous! Powerscourt gardens, Powerscourt Falls, Glendalough - worth a lovely day.