Previous message posted January 2000 - No response, so will try again. Going to Dublin late May for nine days. Things to do? Day trips from Dublin? Anyone stayed at the Royal Dublin? Anyone tried Johnnie Fox's pub. Thanks.

The Royal Dublin is a 3/4 star hotel, recently refurbished in a shopping area of Dublin. It is on the opposite side of the river from Trinity College and other sites. <BR> <BR>If you will not have car, there are guided tours to Wicklow, and a hop-on hop-off tour of Dublin. You might want to rent a car for anything further afield.

The Royal Dublin is in an excellent location - on O'Connell Street. You should try and take the Green Dublin Bus into the city centre from the airport - not the coach. It is let you off at the back of Clerys Dept store which is on O'Connell Street. For good shopping go down Henry Street and Mary Street or Talbot and Earl Street. Good department stores include Clergys (O'Connell Street), Arnotts (Henry Street). If you wish to purchase Waterford Crystal go to the China Showroom on Lower Abbey Street for good prices in comparsion to the other department stores. Easons on O'Connell Street is excellent for all your literature needs (and guidebooks). This is Northside Dublin and is cheap than the soutside and up around Grafton street. Visit the Writers Musuem on Parnell Sq (just up from your hotel) and dine at Chapter One (in the basement of the musuem) the food is out of this world. Lots of theatres around including the Gate on Parnell Sq and Abbey Theatre down near Earl Street. Book ahead - email the hotel and get them to reserve seats. There are lots of day trips with CIE tours out of Dublin. The main station for buses to and from Dublin is a short walk from your hotel. Have you thought of spending a few nights in Dublin and then travelling out and renting a car. Popular sites like Newgrange (ancient passage graves) and Glendalough (ancient monastery in the Wicklow Mountains) will have lots of tour buses at this time of the year so if you could I would rent a car and tour the Wicklow Mountains. Good places to stay include Mitchelles of Laragh. Also a better site to visit than Newgrange is Lough Crew outisde the towns of Oldcastle and Kells (1+ hours drive from Dublin). Stay at Currans or the Fincourt in Oldcastle or Headford Hotel in Kells. I would not advise trying to see everything perhaps just focus on the East Coast. Car hire is essential in Ireland to see anywhere outside Dublin (apart from taking one day tours). JOhnny Foxes is a pub cum restaurant and is geared mainly to the tourist industry ie very few natives frequent this pub. Try the Ceili House Bar in Oldcastle for traditional music and fire side chat. A crowd of my friends were thinking about JFoxes but choose the C House instead and had a brillant time. If you have any other questions please feel free to post <BR> <BR>Enjoy yourself <BR> <BR>Cathy

The Royal Dublin is in an excellent location - on O'Connell Street. You should try and take the Green Dublin Bus into the city centre from the airport - not the coach. It is let you off at the back of Clerys Dept store which is on O'Connell Street. For good shopping go down Henry Street and Mary Street or Talbot and Earl Street. Good department stores include Clergys (O'Connell Street), Arnotts (Henry Street). If you wish to purchase Waterford Crystal go to the China Showroom on Lower Abbey Street for good prices in comparsion to the other department stores. Easons on O'Connell Street is excellent for all your literature needs (and guidebooks). This is Northside Dublin and is cheap than the soutside and up around Grafton street. Visit the Writers Musuem on Parnell Sq (just up from your hotel) and dine at Chapter One (in the basement of the musuem) the food is out of this world. Lots of theatres around including the Gate on Parnell Sq and Abbey Theatre down near Earl Street. Book ahead - email the hotel and get them to reserve seats. Trinity College Government Buildings, Guinness Brewery and Whiskey Distillery are all within walking distance of the hotel ranging from 5 to 10 minutes. There are lots of regular city buses too if you feel you can not stumble back. There are lots of day trips with CIE tours out of Dublin. The main station for buses to and from Dublin is a short walk from your hotel. Have you thought of spending a few nights in Dublin and then travelling out and renting a car. Popular sites like Newgrange (ancient passage graves) and Glendalough (ancient monastery in the Wicklow Mountains) will have lots of tour buses at this time of the year so if you could I would rent a car and tour the Wicklow Mountains. Good places to stay include Mitchelles of Laragh. Also a better site to visit than Newgrange is Lough Crew outisde the towns of Oldcastle and Kells (1+ hours drive from Dublin). Stay at Currans or the Fincourt in Oldcastle or Headford Hotel in Kells. I would not advise trying to see everything perhaps just focus on the East Coast. Car hire is essential in Ireland to see anywhere outside Dublin (apart from taking one day tours). JOhnny Foxes is a pub cum restaurant and is geared mainly to the tourist industry ie very few natives frequent this pub. Try the Ceili House Bar in Oldcastle for traditional music and fire side chat. A crowd of my friends were thinking about JFoxes but choose the C House instead and had a brillant time. If you have any other questions please feel free to post <BR> <BR>Enjoy yourself <BR> <BR>Cathy

Ellen and Cathy - thanks so much for your input. We'll be coming to Dublin via the Dublin Swift from Holyhead after a week in London. We may cut our stay short in Dublin, rent a car and maybe tour Cork area 2-3 days. Cathy, you must be well travelled - saw a post by you in UK Forum. Again, thanks.

Charlie, go to Cashel. It was one of our favorite stops when we were in Ireland in October. (for 8 days) The Rock of Cashel is a fascinating place and is maybe a 2 hour drive from Dublin. From there you could go on to Cork easily. We did this the other way around when we stayed at the Ballymaloe Country House for a few days after Dublin. We started out in Dublin for 3 full days and then headed down along the coast and stopped at Waterford to tour the crystal factory. Made it to the Ballymaloe House by dark and stayed there for 3 nights. During that time we toured around Kinsale and Cork City before heading up to Dublin via Cashel. I think the driving time is 4 hours between Dublin and Cork. We took the drives at a very leisurely pace and stopped wherever we wanted to besides the abovementioned places. Enjoy your trip. You're going to love it in Eire!