Dublin, Ireland is the perfect one-day non-rev quick trip. It is just a little longer than going to Los Angeles. This city is easy to travel to in that Delta flies twin 767–300 and A330 aircraft to Dublin from New York, Boston, and Atlanta.
We feel that Dublin has two sides to the city. One side of Dublin is the elegant Saint Stephen’s Green Area, virtually Central Park in New York and Central Park South. There are several excellent hotels and restaurants right on the park. Also on this side is the famous Grafton Walking Street and the Saint Stephen’s Shopping Center, a beautiful glass-topped European-type multi-level mall.
On the other side of the city are Trinity College and the Temple Bar Area. Trinity College is beautiful and a great walk through the college campus. The famous Trinity College Library (reservations in advance) is not to be missed.
The Temple Bar Area is just fun, with plenty of bars and restaurants that dot the area. This is the entertainment place to be at night. This area also includes the famous O’Connell Street. You must go to the original Temple Bar, which is enormous, packed with college students and tourists, and provides live music all the time.
Not to be missed is the famous Guinness Brewery Tour, where you not only sample Guinness beer but learn how to manufacture, serve, and properly drink Guinness beer. Also, two restaurants that should not be missed are Bewley’s Restaurant for lunch on the Grafton Street Pedestrian Mall and Milano Restaurant on Fleet Street in the Temple Bar area.
There is an excellent and inexpensive bus system. Round-trip bus transportation from Dublin airport to ten stops within the downtown area costs proximately €10 ($10.75 USD), and it departs both the airport and the city every 15-minutes.
Generally, hotels in Dublin are much less expensive than in other European cities. For example, we stayed at the new Marriott Moxy hotel on this trip just off of O’Connell Street. On past trips to Dublin, we have stayed at the Arlington Hotel on the river just across from the Temple Bar Area and off O’Connell Street, and the Morgan Hotel directly on Fleet Street located in the Temple Bar Area.
