yestravel

Thanks to all the advice and recommendations from people on Fodors we had a great time in Dublin. Weather was nice, not too cold, no rain and mostly sunny days. People were fabulous; everyone was so friendly and generally interested in the upcoming US elections.
We ended up staying at the new SAS Radisson on Golden Lane and this proved to be a good choice for us even though we rarely stay in chain hotels.
http://tinyurl.com/2zpb8r
Easy walking to all the main sites and the neighborhood was just fine. Nice rooms and everything was in good shape since it was so new.

We hit all the major tourists� sites, Christ Church, Trinity College with the Book of Kells, Dublin Castle, Grafton Street, St. Stephen�s Green and lots of just strolling about checking out the buildings and shops. Went to Saturday market in Temple Bar.
Spent some time in various pubs enjoying the Irish music although many told us that true Irish music had left Dublin. I enjoyed what I heard!

Meals included;
Bang Restaurant (http://www.bangrestaurant.com/) fabulous dinner
L�gueuleton http://www.lgueuleton.com/ not as good as we expected, but still very good
Venu Brassiere (http://www.venu.ie/) just okay
Winding Stairs (http://tinyurl.com/388zh5) excellent meal
Especially enjoyed the baked goods, scones being at the top of the list and the breads were to die for. Had some yummy soups also.

All in all, Dublin is a fun and vibrant city and a grerat place to spend a long weekend.

yestravel

Just curious --dont people go to Dublin?? I know I didn't find a lot of info on this board when planning our trip.

chatham

yestravel,
Thanks for your report. I've stayed in Dublin twice and would go back again if it were less expensive for lodgings. Other trips I stayed in Malahide.
Joan

Padraig

Sure, I go to Dublin. But I was born there and live just up the road from it.

My judgement on your question: this forum is dominated by Americans, and these seems to be a consensus among them that the south-west is the place to be. Some here even advise against visiting Dublin.

Dublin has more total tourism than the south-west, but if you think back over the range of accents you heard at the tourist sites, you might conclude that a lot of visitors to Dublin come from Europe.

yestravel

Yes, for an American this trip was expensive. We just adjusted the type of restaurants and where we stayed, but it still cost a lot.

Padraig, yes this is definnitely an American dominated baord. U were one of the people who gave me advice on plces to stay or areas --so thanks.

To others check out Dublin --

pittpurple

I was wondering if you had any recommendations for places to hear music? I'll be in Dublin for two nights with my mom in July and she loves Irish music so any recommendations are welcome! Thanks.

yestravel

I found suggestions for places on Trip Advisor, so you might search on that site a bit. Don't have the list of the ones we went to but this is what I remember off the top of my head:
We did go to 'The Oliver St John Gogarty' - Sunday music began at 3ish. Also while considered "touristy" we liked
'The Brazen Head.' The first time there we heard a great trio, loved it so much we went back the next night, but the group the second night was not as much fun. A couple places we just wandered in to and if the music was good, we stayed, if not we moved on. There is also a Pub Crawl I believe that starts in Temple Bar, u might check that out. The bargain of the century is the pubs -- all free -- my husband had a stout or two and that was the total cost. So great entertainment for very little $$! Enjoy Dublin!

hbo6

Hi yestravel. We are presently looking for lodging in Dublin. Did you book that hotel thru their website or use a discounted website? I'm trying to find a hotel with a very moderate rate.

yestravel

I never had so much trouble selecting a hotel. Between the weakness of the $ and the high costs in Dublin, it was very hard to find a moderately priced place to stay. I kept reading reviews in TA and enough negative things would be said about any moderate place we considered, that I would get scared off! We got a AAA rate off the Radisson website in Nov I believe. It cost 139 euro a night. A lot of people recommend Jury Christchurch and I will say it had a great location. Don't know what the rooms look like. Good luck!