kiwicutie41

My cousins and I have a ten hour layover in Dublin. We get into Dublin around midnight, and our flight leaves the next morning at 10:30. We don't want to sit in the airport for that long, but we also recognize the fact that it is the middle of the night. We were thinking about trying to find a pub, or just walking around for a while taking in Dublin. Is this safe? Any recommendations for what to do in Dublin in the middle of the night? Your advise is greatly appreciated!!

SiobhanP

By the time you get through customs and get a taxi to town the pubs may be closing. Where will you place your luggage? If you want to go to a pub I would take a taxi yo Swords which is a village beside the airport. I have been to the cock tavern a few times that is a nice pub and a few others I cannot remember the names of! Also most restaurants are closed but eddie rockets should be open (its like Johnnie Rockets in the U.S.) One thing thougg what day of the week will it be? Weekends can get a bit messy in Swords by midnight from people leaving the pubs. There is a younger crowd out on the weekend nights. I cant off my head think of a 24 hour place to eat in and sit for a while in the city.

BumblyWumbly

I myself would feel safe wandering around Dublin in a group at night, but I'm a native Dubliner, and I know the areas and situations to avoid. There's always going to be an element of danger in walking around a city you don't know at night. Having said that, I can't see much danger in wandering around the bit between Stephen's Green, Merrion Square and Trinity

There isn't a whole lot to do in Dublin in the middle of the night, so this is all I could come up with;
Gaiety Late Night Club seems to open at 11:45pm, don't know when it closes http://www.gaietytheatre.ie/clubs.htm
I'd say most of the late night pubs would stop serving at 2am
The Good World Restaurant, Sth Great Georges St opens until 3am at weekends
Zaytoon on Parliament St opens until 4am
Sin Theatre Bar on Sycamore Street serves food and drink until 3.30am

Would you not be exhausted staying up all night though? If you got a hotel room with a resident's bar, you'd be able to use that and also get some sleep. You won't get the real Dublin pub atmosphere, but the big, late night pubs won't have that either

The Dart trains start running just after 6am I think. You could get one to Malahide or Portmarnock, go for a stroll by the sea and get a bus or taxi on to the airport

Stephens Green is open during daylight hours, so if your flight is in the summer, you might be able to visit it.

tod

Kiwi- Please may I step in to your post momentarily? I hope BumblyWumbly comes back to this post as I want to ask:

Our Aerlingus flight has been delayed until 6.30pm - we were supposed to fly out at about lunchtime -
What transport besides taxis is there into Dublin and going back to the airport in time for check-in, and how long is the journey time-wise??
Thanks in advance.

BumblyWumbly

Tod, there is Aircoach, Dublin Bus Airlink and Dublin Bus ordinary bus.
www.aircoach.ie
www.dublinbus.ie
Aircoach and Airlink take the most direct route into the city and are the fastest. With Aircoach, there are two routes through the city centre, Ballsbridge and Leopardstown, you can take either of these routes. Between 6am and 8pm there is a bus on both routes every 10 mins
On their website they say it's a 40 minute journey, but I think that's a worst-case scenario, it's usually quicker than that.
The Airlink 747 will bring you to O'Connell St and the Bus Station, 748 will bring you to the Bus Station and then Heuston rail station. They run with the same frequency as Aircoach, are slightly cheaper, but are more difficult to find in Dublin airport, and don't go to the south side of the Liffey which is where you will probably want to go (Trinity, Grafton St, Stephen's Green etc.)

SiobhanP

If you are tht long in Dublin get a room for the night no one is superhuman! The 747 bus is the best value of all of them but if convenience is what you are after go for aircoach or air link. You still need a place for luggage unless you want to drag it with you all day. i would get a cheap place to sleep for the night have a drink late and sightsee in the am as you still need to be at the airport 2 hours before a flight.

shturner

I don't have a solution but have a question to either BumblyWumbly or SiobhanP: Two of us will spend night at Best Western Premier Academy Plaza Hotel @ Findlater Pl (off O'Connell St) downtown Dublin. We plan to take a bus to airport & need to be there by 8 a.m. day we leave. We will each have one piece of medium-size spinner type luggage (next size up from allowed plane carry on size) and one small hand carry. Should we take Airlink 747 or will we be allowed on bus if we have this luggage? We have done this in other countries. Thanks so much for any suggestions.