Mairnealach
-
Posts
306 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by Mairnealach
-
-
Hi Dermot or Eagle or anyone else that might have visited or heard of Drimnagh Castle. I just ran across it when looking at tours. It said it isn't one of the well known attractions, but very worth the visit. Have you ever been there or know about it? How far or what's the best way to get to it from where we're staying, at the Westin in Dublin?:)
Location, location, location! Drimnagh Castle is situated in an industrial and unfashionable part of suburban Dublin. The Long Mile Road is very busy with commercial traffic heading to and from the industrial estates of west Dublin. It is lined with many commercial sites selling fitted kitchens and the like. As you have only two days in Dublin, there are many better things to do with your valuable time. If you still wish to visit the castle, then Dublin Bus numbers 56a or 151 will get you there.
-
What is the best place to pick up the HOHO bus in Dublin. I know the bus #53 goes from the port, Alexandra Road bus stop to Talbot & Mabbot. Is it easy to walk from the ship Dock to Alexandra? The main HOHO 1st stop is at Talbot and O'Connell. Is this an easy walk from Talbot & Mabbot? Is it the best stop to begin at? The Dublin HOHO contact suggested going to Merrion Square. We would have to take a taxi to get there I imagine instead of taking the bus. Anybody from Dublin have any suggestions. Don't want to waste precious time taking buses if it's not worth it.
Hi,
Make life easy for yourself and either get the cruise company's shuttle bus, if they operate one, or take a taxi. The number 53 bus is for passengers who are taking the cross-channel ferry to Holyhead and it operates to the Ferry Terminal. There is only one bus every hour and I do not know how near the berth your cruise ship will be using is to the ferry port. Most of the shuttle buses appear to drop passengers off at Trinity College and this is a good place to pick up the HoHo bus. The stop is listed as Nassau Street on the Dublin Bus HoHo schedule.
-
The Norman Villa guest house in Galway is highly recommended by Ireland's most reputable guide book. I have not stayed there myself.
http://www.normanvilla-accomm.ie/index.php/about-us
Most of the major car rental companies are represented at Dublin airport.
https://www.dublinairport.com/to-from-the-airport/car-rental
The obvious time to see Corcomroe Abbey would be when you are visiting the Burren and Cliffs of Moher.
I agree about taking the Enterprise train from Dublin to Belfast. I am very much in the minority in my view that the Guinness Storehouse is a triumph of marketing over substance.
Personally, if visiting Connemara, I would not drive too far, but go to somewhere like Carraroe on the coast road. Park the car, and then ramble down to the Coral Strand, breathing in the invigorating sea air. This is dependent on the weather being fine.
-
Thanks Dermot. One apartment is near the Ha'penny Bridge, how is that area? Ideally, I too would like an at apartment at Trinity College, though this won't open up till January 2017! Thanks again, Prish
'Near' is a weasel word and its meaning can vary depending on whether you are the buyer or the seller. What is the exact address of the apartment?
Do please bear in mind, however, that I am giving my opinion, which is that of one individual, on the desirability or otherwise of the locations. Other Dubliners might say that some of the locations are perfectly fine. Have you looked at TripAdvisor reviews to get a wider perspective?
-
Maybe I am a bit confused about it. Is there different HoHo Buses? I seen one listed that it said included the Malahide Castle Tour with a half day tour. We definitely want to do that. I looked at some of the stops on the one card and I really don't see us taking advantage of most of them. I'm guessing that where the Westin is that we could walk to some places. I do think a day or 2 on the hoho bus would show us a lot and perhaps get off at some of the places we want to see.
The HoHo (hop on/hop off) bus and the North Coast and Malahide Castle tour are two separate entities. There is no connection between them, except the fact that they are both operated by Dublin Bus. Here are details of the Malahide Castle tour:
https://www.dublinsightseeing.ie/northcoast.aspx
And here are the HoHo bus details:
https://www.dublinsightseeing.ie/citytour.aspx
The HoHo bus operates in Dublin city centre and the surrounding areas. The bus goes around the city, stopping at places of interest where the passengers can get off and then pick up the next bus. Another bus comes along every 10/15 minutes.
Malahide is a seaside suburb, located approximately 10 miles to the north of the city centre. There is only one bus that operates the tour. So once on the bus you cannot disembark and later pick-up another one. It is a full half day tour.
You are only in Dublin for two days. The Westin Hotel is situated in the city centre. Most of the city's attractions are within walking distance of the hotel. You definitely want to take the Malahide Castle tour. So your best option may be to get an Airlink Express ticket, to get you from/to the airport, and the Malahide Castle tour ticket. If there is anywhere in the city you want to visit that is not within walking distance of your hotel, you could just buy a ticket from the driver of the scheduled bus service.
-
Thanks, Dermot! It sounds easy enough. I seen that if you buy the Pass that the ride from the airport is included, but not the ride back. I did just order a tour book from Ebay for a couple dollars. My dh doesn't use the internet and likes to look at the tour books.:)
The number of different bus tickets can appear bewildering. The Airlink Combo Return Ticket, €27, includes a return ticket to the airport on the Airlink Express as well as the HoHo tour.
https://www.dublinsightseeing.ie/Airlink/AirlinkComboReturn.aspx
If you do not plan to take the HoHo tour, then there is the 3 days (72 hours) Leap Visitor Card for €19.50 which includes return travel to the airport and unlimited travel on all Dublin Bus scheduled services (but NOT the HoHo bus).
https://about.leapcard.ie/leap-visitor-card
Dublin Bus drivers are normally very helpful and the Airlink Express ones exceptionally so. They are accustomed to dealing with visitors' queries. If you unsure where the Westin Hotel is located, just ask the driver.
-
Dermot, there are some apartment hotels in Dublin, eg Key Collection, Staycity, City Apartments, etc. Some require full advance payment without cancellation, others aren't ready to book till Oct/Nov. Trinity College also has rooms/apartments during summer but again the earliest one can book is Jan 2017.
I usually like to plan well in advance and would like to find something suitable asap. We'll be staying for a week, so a self-catering apartment would be more comfortable, and cheaper too! Thanks:)
I have had a look at the locations of the keycollection.ie and StayCity apartments. Although the apartments are relatively central, they are not in what I would consider the best or most salubrious parts of Dublin. They both have apartments in Temple Bar which, in my opinion, is their best location. But bear in my mind that this is the entertainment and night-life quarter of the city, full of bars and restaurants, so noise could be an issue at night. I am solely commenting on the locations and have no information on the standard of the apartments themselves.
I found the dublincityapartments.ie website impossible to navigate as regards getting detailed information on the specific location of their apartments.
If it were me, based solely on location, I would unhesitatingly stay in Trinity College. Stressing that this is on location alone, having no knowledge of the standard of the accommodation. But I am rather partial to university accommodation, having stayed on several English campuses - Manchester, Bath, Queen Mary's and Imperial in London - and always found the accommodation satisfactory. The one essential is that I have an en-suite room.
Dermot
-
Hi Dermot, me again! So the stop is listed as Trinity College? Is the Westin across from the college?
Yes, the hotel is across the street from Trinity College. As the Eagle says, the stop is in College Green and it is the stop for Trinity College and Temple Bar. Put ''Westin Hotel, Westmoreland Street, Dublin'' into Google Maps to clarify the bus route. The 747 bus crosses the river Liffey at O'Connell Bridge and goes southwards up D'Olier Street as Westmoreland Street is one way for northbound traffic. The bus then takes a right turn into College Street before stopping across the street from what is quaintly described by Google as Irish Houses of Parliament, being over two hundred years out of date, but is now the Bank of Ireland. You then just have a 100 yards walk to the hotel.
-
My apologies for hijacking the OP's post! Any suggestions for an apartment hotel to sleep 5/6 adults for a week next June? I found quite a few places on VRBO but they all want advance payment without cancellation, I don't want to commit this far ahead. Thanks in advance:)
I have no knowledge of apartment hotels in Dublin. TripAdvisor carries reviews of a number of such hotels, so you could have a look at them and see if any appear suitable. The only guidance I could offer would be on the location of the apartment hotel.
Dermot
-
Ideally, for a visitor with mobility issues, the hotel should be situated in the area bounded by Trinity College/Nassau Street to the north, Merrion Square to the east, St Stephen's Green to the South, and Grafton Street and its environs to the west. This is the fashionable area of Dublin and contains most of the sights that tourists would be interested in visiting. It is also compact and suitable for walking around. But this is a counsel of perfection.
This area contains Dublin's finest hotels, but they are expensive. Whether they are 'good value' depends of one's personal circumstances, I guess. I couldn't afford to stay in them. For less expensive accommodation, but still reasonably central, try looking at hotels just outside the central area I have listed.
Dermot
-
Hi,
The best way to get from the airport to the Westin Hotel is by the Dublin Bus Airlink Express number 747.
http://www.dublinbus.ie/Your-Journey1/Timetables/Airport-Services/
The fare is €10 for a return ticket. Get off the bus at College Green, the next stop after O'Connell Street where a lot of the passengers will be leaving, and the Westin Hotel is only 100 yards away. There is a bus every fifteen minutes. At the airport, the bus starts at terminal 1 before going to terminal 2. The reverse happens on the return journey. You get your tickets from the driver or there is normally a staff member selling tickets at the airport stop. It would be helpful if you had some small denomination euro notes. If you wish to pay by credit card, the best option is to get the bus tickets from the Spar shop at arrivals in the airport. There are supposed to be vending machines at the bus stop, but I have never noticed them.
The Visit Dublin website lists a large number of the city's attractions.
http://www.visitdublin.com/home
Enjoy your visit,
Dermot
-
Hi,
We have been in Barcelona for a few days over the past two years and the outstanding meal we had was in Restaurant Agut.
http://www.restaurantagut.com/en
It is situated in the Gothic quarter, near to the Cathedral, and I would say it is a gentle 10/15 minute walk through an historic area from your hotel. We had Sunday lunch there and it was packed, so advance booking is recommended. You can book online.
A bit further away, you might need to get a bus there, is La Mar Salada restaurant in Barceloneta near to the beach. We had a highly enjoyable meal there, if not quite hitting the heights of Restaurant Agut.
http://www.lamarsalada.cat/index.php?md=portada&accio=mostra&id=0&lg=eng
The other places where we enjoyed eating are not within walking distance of your hotel. The one disappointing meal we had was in Can Culleretes, a famous restaurant which is reputed to be Barcelona's oldest, and is nearest to your hotel in Carrer d’en Quintana just off La Rambla. It was a lovely and atmospheric building, it was packed with locals who all seemed regulars and were having a good time, and yet we found the food to be very ordinary. It shows how subjective such things are.
Dermot
-
Hi,
Apologies for the late reply, but I have not been online recently. It is possible to walk from Dublin Port to the city centre, but I would not recommend it. The port is in an industrial area and I find the walk a long traipse. There will be a plentiful supply of taxis around when a cruise ship berths and the fare should be around €15. I am assuming that your ship is using Dublin Port and not Dun Laoghaire. If the latter is the case, then let me know.
As regards good value accommodation in the city centre, tourism is booming at present, there is a shortage of hotel beds and a recent report states that Dublin hotels are the second most expensive in Europe.
Therefore, reasonably priced hotel accommodation in the city centre is hard to find. Have a look on TripAdvisor and if you find anything that you like the look of, let me know and I will advise what I know of the hotel. I would recommend that you avoid any hotels in Temple Bar, the entertainment district, as they are likely to be very noisy.
The one good value hotel that I will recommend is the Clayton Hotel in Ballsbridge which was formerly known as Bewley's Hotel.
http://www.claytonhotelballsbridge.com/
But it is not in the city centre. Ballsbridge is an upmarket inner suburb, the British embassy is next door to the hotel and the US embassy is a few hundred metres down the road. It will take about ten minutes by bus to get to the city centre and several buses go past the hotel. I have spent several nights in the hotel, when it was Bewley's, and have always found it highly satisfactory. I am assuming that under its new ownership the same standards are being upheld.
Please let me know if I can assist in any way.
Dermot
-
Hi,
Which site did you use to book your tickets? This is the Dutch Railways website,
but, as Ine says, they do not accept payment by credit card only by Dutch bank cards. This is not unusual in the Netherlands where credit cards are not that widely used. The NS site is consequently only of use to visitors as a means of getting train times.
Dermot
-
There is a Gall & Gall specialist wine shop right beside Albert Heijn in the Plaza at Schiphol. This YouTube video is about the Albert Heijn store, but you can see the Gall & Gall shop beside it.
In general, I find that Albert Heijn has a limited selection of wines mainly at the cheaper end of the market. For example, the two branches of AH that I use regularly, in the centre of The Hague, do not stock champagne. Gall & Gall has an extensive selection of still and sparkling wines, at all price levels, as well as a large selection of single malt Scotch whiskies.
Their website is in Dutch, but is fairly easy to decipher. ''Wijn'' is wine, ''rode'' is red, ''witte'' is white, and ''Mousserend'' is sparkling.
This is their store locator site.
https://www.gall.nl/winkels/
In the box ''postcode of plaats'', put in Amsterdam for a list of all their shops in the city. Perhaps Ine could advise if any of them are convenient for the port.
Dermot
-
This is how Brown Thomas, an up-market department store in Grafton Street, Dublin, handles VAT free shopping. I imagine most large stores, which have a large tourist business, act similarly.
http://www.brownthomas.com/services/tax-free-shopping-in-ireland/page/taxfreeshoppinginireland
-
John and Sally McKenna are Ireland's best-known food writers. For many years they have been publishing a series of guides, one of which is Top 100 Places to Stay in Ireland. I would trust their recommendations unreservedly. To read their comments on the various hotels and guest house they recommend, you need to purchase the guide. However, from a newspaper article, I have copied a list of the places they recommend in County Dublin in the 2016 guide:
Aberdeen Lodge, Ballsbridge
Ariel House, Lansdowne Road
Brooks Hotel, Drury Street
The Conrad, Earlsfort Terrace
Kelly’s Hotel, South Great George’s Street
Number 31, Lower Leeson Street
Pembroke Town House, Ballsbridge
The White Cottages, Skerries
Ignore The White Cottages as Skerries is too far outside the city to be practicable on a short visit. The Aberdeen Lodge, Ariel House, Number 31, and Pembroke Town House are guest houses; the other three are hotels. As for the locations, Ballsbridge, Lansdowne Road and Lower Leeson Street are in an up-market, inner suburb of the city. It would be a ten minute bus journey to the city centre, although Lower Leeson Street is nearer and you could probably walk from there.
The three hotels, Brooks, The Conrad, and Kelly's, are all in the city centre in good locations. As I live in Dublin, I have no experience of staying in any of the establishments. I have had good reports from my sister of the restaurant in Brooks Hotel.
You have many happy hours of Googling ahead of you. If you require further information on any of the places, let me know and I will do my best to help.
-
For that price you won't find an hotel of anywhere near comparable quality in Dublin city centre. Three hotels that I would choose above the Westin are the Shelbourne, Merrion, and Westbury. You will find all three via Google. Do a dummy booking for the date of your visit and see how much more expensive they are.
By the way, it appears that the road works outside the Westin, due to the construction of a tram line, are completed.
Dermot
-
I have no experience of Paddywagon, but they are a well-established company. My only thought is that both of these tours last twelve hours and a lot of that time will be spent sitting in a coach. If you feel up to that amount of travel in a day then that's fine.
-
Dermot,
I looked at the dart transportation you suggested and realized the hotel is to far from the stadium with luggage. We are staying at the doubletree Burlington which is near the stadium at Burlington rd and lesser st upper. I'm guessing it's easier to take a cab from either the bus terminal or train terminal to the airport?
Can you tell me the closet central bus station I should book. Is it Europa buscentre Belfast to Dublin city bussras? Also the train is Belfast central to Dublin Connolly?
Thank you for your help
Yes, the hotel is too far to walk to with luggage from Lansdowne Road. There is a taxi rank outside Connolly railway station. If you take the bus, Busáras, the central bus station, is across the road from Connolly station. If possible try to arrive in Dublin before 4:30pm to avoid rush hour traffic.
As already stated, book your ticket via the Translink website. For a bus ticket, click on Goldline in the Preferences box. For a train ticket, click on Enterprise. You are correct in the departure/arrival points for both bus and train. After Dublin airport, the bus runs non-stop to Busáras. Connolly station is the train's only stopping point in Dublin. I prefer train travel, but that's a personal choice.
-
Here is a link to the bus timetable.
http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1425310153-001X.pdf
As you can see, there is an hourly service. The terminus in Dublin is at Busáras, the central bus station. From there, it is a three minute walk across Amiens Street to Connolly rail station where you take a southbound DART (local train) heading towards Bray or Greystones. Get a ticket to Lansdowne Road station, four stops down the line, where the Aviva stadium is located. Note that the stadium is named after an insurance company and not the birthplace of the saint. There is a DART every fifteen minutes and the journey only takes ten minutes.
If it were me, I would take the train from Belfast Central station to Dublin Connolly station and then the DART. Here is a link to the train timetable.
http://www.irishrail.ie/media/dublin-belfast-web.pdf
I have taken the train journey many times and there are no formalities whatsoever when travelling between the two jurisdictions. If you require any further information just ask.
Dermot
-
Many thanks Steve, that's exactly what I wanted to know. (The quote option wouldn't work for your message)
-
So don't bother with Oyster, use contactless, it's the same price.
Not for me it ain't :D I am in the fortunate position of being entitled to a privilege rate on the Tube which is registered to my Oyster card.
But even if I were paying the standard fare, my bank charges a fee on all credit card transactions in foreign currencies which, as a resident of Euroland, sterling is for me.
Dermot
-
Thank you turnip eater and insanemagnet, I have learnt something about the operation of the Oyster card that never struck me before. I am strictly a once a year visitor to London and consequently never top up my Oyster card by a large amount.
I was returning home on Monday after a wonderful weekend in London and my last journey on the underground was from Euston to Tottenham Hale. I knew I had enough credit to cover the journey, but never thought if I had enough to cover the maximum journey fare. In fact I had, but not by much. In future, I will top up my Oyster card by a larger amount on arrival at Tottenham Hale to avoid the possibility of having to join the permanently enormous queues at the ticket machines in Euston on departure.
I now realise that the way the pricing works can be clearly seen by logging into your Oyster card account, going to journey history and clicking on the '+Show all charging detail'/ '-Hide all charging detail' box.
Dermot
Two Nights In Dublin
in British Isles/Western Europe
Posted
The three restaurants I will recommend are within a ten minute walk of the Westin. Eating out is expensive in Dublin and, in my opinion, you will not get a decent meal in a nice atmosphere for less than they charge. All three offer an early bird menu and, if the timing suits, this is the most economical option.
My first recommendation is The Winding Stair:
http://winding-stair.com/about-us/
As its name suggests it is situated at the top of a flight of stairs and does not have a lift (elevator). The dining room is plain and the tables are close together. If you manage to get a window table, you will be looking out over the river Liffey.
Next option is The Pig's Ear:
http://www.thepigsear.ie/about-the-pigs-ear/
A word of warning, though. It is situated at the top of two, steep flights of stairs. If you have any mobility issues, it is not suitable.
My final choice and my number one recommendation is Peploe's Wine Bistro:
http://peploes.com/
It is located on St. Stephen's Green and access is down a few steps. It is open all day from noon and the early bird menu is available if you order your meal by 6:15pm. I have eaten here several times recently and the food and atmosphere were excellent.
If you have any questions about these restaurants, please let me know.
Dermot