sassy27

I will be traveling with my Mom in April, over Easter to be exact, to Dublin. Neither of us has been before and I'm having a hard time deciding between two hotels. Our budget in the grand scheme is probably budget as the two I have come up with are around $115 to $125 a night. We are not looking for anything fancy just a decent place to sleep and prefer to stay in a hotel. I would like to stay around O'Connell street and be near the airport shuttle. With this said, the two hotels are:

Best Western Plus Academy Plaza Hotel
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...ty_Dublin.html

Maldron Hotel Parnell Square
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...ty_Dublin.html

Can anyone tell me if one is better than the other?

IrelandTours

Hi there,

I would go with the Maldron Hotel. However if you can afford it Merrion Square is a better part of town to overnight.

sassy27

Thank you for replying! This does help. I'll also look over by Merrion Square.

flpab

http://www.buswells.ie/

I have stayed four times in Dublin and this has been my favorite place. The Air coach bus dropped us off right across the street in front of the Leinster House and the National Archives building. The Hotel is on Molesworth St. Nice area and close to everything. I like this side of the river better when walking at night. We felt very safe, group of females. St Stephen's Green and Merrion Sqaure are beautiful and they are close by. This is an older hotel but we were very happy with it. Nice places for breakfast close by or you can buy the breakfast at the hotel. We paid under a 100 euro a night for a triple room. It was also quiet!

sassy27

Thank you flpab. This hotel looks nice and within budget.

flpab

sassy27, the other hotels are ok but in an area that I would not be comfortable walking at night. I go there all the time during the day but at night it is iffy. We stayed the last night after coming back from Galway at the airport and bought the 10 euro day tripper at the airport. We used it all day, it was for both of us and we went to Glasnevin, back to the city and then late that night took it back to the hotel by the airport. Great deal. We did use the air coach and bought the hop on hop off bus pass with it. It was my one friends first trip so thought she could get the highlights of the city that way. It was also a great way to get to Guinness and back. I love St. Stephens, do walk through that and check out Oscar Wilde at Merrion Square. His statue faces his old home.

Lawchick

I'm Irish and I would not stay in either of those hotels.

Bid on Priceline.com.

I usually get a nice 5 star - just off St. Stephens green for about $110

sassy27

Thanks again everyone.

I've never been to Dublin and a friend recommended staying near O'Connell. Her recommendation was just too pricey for me and for some reason, I'm having a hard time deciding on where to stay for this trip. Maybe if this was my second time visiting, it wouldn't be so hard. I could up the budget a little if needed.

Coll

I am really surprised by the trouble I am having finding a hotel in Dublin, too. It seems that the reviews are really mixed unless you are at a top luxury hotel like the Merrion. A lot of reviews, even for some of the places that are supposed to be nice, talk about tired rooms, dirty showers with bad water pressure/temperature and/or unbearable noise. I was looking at the Roxford Lodge, which gets good reviews and would be within your budget but it is a little farther out. I decided against it for that reason because the weather forecast isn't looking great and I may want someplace I could go back to more easily during the day if needed. I was looking at the Best Western Academy Plaza, too, but was concerned about comments that the neighborhood was a bit dicey. I bid a few times on priceline but it seems that the going rate for a 5* is more like 145 before all of the taxes and fees and that doesn't necessarily include internet. I may go with Buswells, but the rate is higher than noted above for this weekend. If I end up at the Best Western, I'll post again to give my impressions.

njsusan

I have stayed at the Best Western,and did not have any problems with the area.I found it to be a very central location at a reasonable price.Around the corner is a good local place for breakfast
http://www.kingfisherdublin.com/ to avoid an expensive hotel breakfast.

We will be going back in June!

Susan

flpab

My second fav place to stay is The Harding Hotel. It is across the street from Christ Church but was pricy for some reason this last trip. I will go back to Buswells next trip. It was safe, great area, quiet and the room was good. I loved that it was close to the parks and Grafton St. I hit the Marks and Spencer grocery all the time, basement of the dept store on Grafton.

sassy27

Hmmm. Being near Grafton is sounding good because I love going to Marks and Spencers.

Coll - if you do end up at the Best Western, I would very much like to hear your thoughts on the place. I'm someone who always wonders about the "should haves" and "what ifs".

tuam

Take a look at Jury's Christ Church. It is close to Grafton St., St. Stephens, trinity, etc. It is clean, comfortable and reasonable.

Lawchick

Book something you can cancel and then bid on priceline closer to the time.

I stay there once every two months thanks to priceline. Have never paid more than 120$ for a 5 star. - before taxes.

Coll

Hi Sassy-

I did end up at the Best Western the weekend before last. I got tired of looking and making and canceling reservations! It worked out very well for me and I have no real complaints. The hotel is right off O'Connell street and super convenient for the Aircoach from the airport (7E each way or 12E to buy a round trip), which runs very frequently and stops just around the corner from the hotel.

I had a double room. It was on the small-ish side, but it had free wifi with a good connection, a large flat screen TV, a desk, a safe big enough for a laptop, an ironing board/iron and a tea kettle and tea/coffee. The room had been recently renovated. The bed was very comfortable. The bathroom was very clean and modern, although don't expect any luxury toiletries. They had shower caps and hand soap and body wash in wall dispensers. The towels were large, but a little frayed. The common areas of the hotel (i.e., lobby and hallways) could use a little sprucing up, but nothing was dirty or unkempt. It wasn't awful or anything--it just looked a little more modern on the web site than in person.

There is a nightclub next door to the hotel, but I didn't have any issues with noise.

As for the location, I never felt unsafe or even uncomfortable. I am a city dweller, however, so I am used to big cities. I usually went back to the hotel around 11:00 pm and there were plenty of people around.

There is the M&S on Grafton Street, but also another one closer to the hotel on Henry St. I went to both because I love M&S, too! Henry Street is another main shopping street, but more Topshop type stores than luxury boutiques, about a 5 min walk from the hotel. There are also lots of little convenience stores around if you want to pick up some snacks or drinks.

It's no more than a 10 minute walk to the River Liffey and then just a bit farther to get to Trinity College, Grafton Street, Temple Bar, etc. I walked everywhere all weekend, although I probably walk a little more than most people. Two of the three days, I walked back to the hotel to get changed before going back out in the evening to the Temple Bar area, which was a 15-20 min walk depending on what part of TB.

A tourist office is right around the corner from the hotel and many of the tour busses for day trips stop in front of the tourist office. The hop on-hop off bus also stops there (I didn't do this, but the hotel staff had suggested it). I usually don't go on organized tours, but the weather was nice on Sunday so I decided to see a bit of the countryside. I knew various tours left from the tourist office so I just headed out Sunday morning and lucked out with a tour leaving in a few minutes. I went to Wicklow/Glendalough/Avoca with Day Tours Unplugged (http://www.daytoursunplugged.ie/index.html) which was very enjoyable. I've heard that the trip to Newgrange is very interesting, too.

I did the typical tourist things for the most part. One of the fun things I stumbled on was a farmer's market/artisan market on Cow Street in Temple Bar on Saturday morning, which is definitely worth stopping by if you like markets.

I would not hesitate to go back to the BW. I got a decent rate with the ability to cancel up to the day before on booking.com so you could do as lawchick says--book something you can cancel to have a place and then you can still look around a little and/or bid on priceline. Good luck and enjoy your trip!

jkbritt

Priceline is a good way to find a decent hotel. Also, use laterooms.com is a decent source. You can sort laterooms by price, etc. How long are you staying? If about a week, then an apt or room rental becomes cheaper and better. More room, ability to cook, etc. Look at: http://www.homelidays.co.uk/EN-Holid...EINSTER+DUBLIN

jkbritt

flpab - On the Air Coach bus, We had/have issues. Two years ago, we had an 6:30 Ryan Air flight from Dublin. We were at the coach station as designated by the Air Coach operator at 3:30. The bus was supposed to be there at 3:45. It was raining and miserably cold, standing out front of a hotel on the sidewalk, awaiting the Air Coach. It NEVER came. We waited until 4:15, then walked across to the median where taxi's were sitting and took a cab to the airport. Cost was 26E. The heat was worth 50. We made it to our flight, by the hair on our chiny-chin-chin. Therefore, we cannot recommend Air Coach as a means of transport.

sassy27

Thanks everyone. I have some time and you have all given me lots to think about which is a good thing. I did book the Best Western but can cancel up to the day before.

Coll - Your review is exactly what I was looking for. I was wondering about the Best Western because of location and being close to a tourist office. Being near not one but two M&S' is very tempting. My main concern was the noise and the chinese food smell in the middle of the night.

jkbritt - thanks for the Air Coach warning. We have an early flight out and I hate being late, especially when leaving.

sassy27

Update:

I just returned last week from my trip and wanted to post back to say, I was happy with the Best Western. We arrived earlier than expected and a room for us was not ready yet, so we walked around as much as we could. We went back earlier than 2 pm and a room was then ready. When I got to the room it was not what I reserved so we went back down to reception and they immediately gave us another room. No hassels. Everything was clean and there was no noise from the night club or smells from the resturant.

The location was perfect and close to so much shopping. It was not too far from the "places to be". I would stay here again.