Dublin Hotels

If you're lucky enough to stay at one of the classy hotels or elegant guesthouses that occupy former Georgian town houses on both sides of the Liffey, you'll quickly realize that entering one of these little domestic palaces really is a trip back in time. But this does not mean the 21st century has not arrived. "An absolute avalanche of new hotels" is how the Irish Times characterized Dublin's hotel boom in the last decade. New lodgings have sprung up all over the city, including the much-talked-about Westin at College Green, a totally revamped Shelbourne, and a few others in Ballsbridge, an inner "suburb" that's a 20-minute walk from the city center.

Dublin has a decent selection of inexpensive accommodations, including many moderately priced hotels with basic but agreeable rooms. Most guesthouses, long the mainstay of the economy end of the market, have upgraded their facilities and now provide rooms with private bathrooms or showers, as well as cable color televisions, direct-dial telephones, and Internet connections. The bigger hotels are all equipped with in-room data ports or Wi-Fi. If you've rented a car and you're not staying at a hotel with secure parking facilities, it's worth considering a location out of the city center, such as Dalkey or Killiney, where the surroundings are more pleasant and you won't have to worry about parking on city streets.

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