Short break. Why is Dublin so bad

[IfIShouldFallFromGraceWithGod]

I'm looking for a city break and Dublin was on my list. It scored highly on the worst holiday thread, can anyone tell me why

Bram Stokers Castle Dracula out in Clontarf ( Northside Dublin)
Book of Kells Trinity College Dublin.
Olympia theatre- there are some good shows coming up, just check the Olympia Dublin website.
Gaiety Theatre, Tivoli Theatre,
Vicarstreet theatre- Sinead o Connor is in concert there on October 28th,
and Ardal o Hanlon comedian ( Father Ted) November 9th.
3 ARENA Simply Red- that Concert has passed, however Jools Holland and Andre Bocelli are in concert there-check the website.
National Museum of Ireland,
Dublin City Gallery
Royal Concert Hall-
Dublin- Viking and medieval Dublin exhibits
James Joyce cultural Centre
Phoenix Park- Bikes can be hired and you can go through via bus and see the park and the beautiful deer.
Dublin Zoo
Kilmainham Gaol,
Viking splash tours on the Liffey.
Dublin Literary Pub Crawl.
Shopping- Grafton street Brown Thomas or Dundrum Centre

There is a lot to do in Dublin if you want to.
There are plenty of decent upmarket hotels and eateries.
As people have said, avoid Temple Bar because it has turned into a Stag and Hen venue.
As with any major city it has its issues and it is expensive but then so is London, Paris, etc.

We did walk around Merrion Square, I think. And yes, some of the buildings were pretty. But the Oscar Wilde statue is an abomination (if this is the square I'm thinking of)!

We’ve been to Dublin for short breaks.
Booze, food, laughter. Last time we ended up on a train to Bray which was quick but lovely.
My dh goes there on business quite a bit. But it’s usually a drinking meeting 🙄

Dh works in Dublin and has a flat there. I go once in a while to visit but I just don’t get the appeal as a weekend destination. To me it’s like a dull version of Manchester, Birmingham or Leeds (all of which I like). I do like the fact that you can easily get on a train and go to the seaside, but that’s not Dublin. Very expensive, always cold and wet, lots of litter.

Much prefer Belfast.

Firstly I'm not a tourist I am a Dub born and bred. Dublin city is expensive and yes it rains a lot but no more than any other city on our latitude. There is plenty to see and do history wise but do your homework on the internet and plan ahead. Sadly we do have a problem with junkies and undesirables on our streets as we don't hide them like other cities do, but the majority of people are sound. Guinness brewery, Jameson brewery, Rock Museum in temple bar and the immigration museum in the IFSC are places to visit or even Kilmainham jail for Irish history. Drinking try the Boars head, Bowes of Fleet at or for the cheapest beer in town the Silver Penny ( Witherspoon's) in lower abbey st.

It's funny that everyone is commenting on the weather. I'm from north of Belfast and DH and I love going to Dublin partly because even though it is only 100 or so miles down the road, the weather is so much better!

We were there in February and it actually didn't rain - was lovely and sunny.

Agree with the Birmingham comparisons. The Trinity area is nicer than anything in Birmingham, but most of the rest of Birmingham is much better than the rest of the centre of Dublin, imho.

I live in Dublin, and I work in tourism.

Hotel prices would be about comparable with other European capital cities and should come down now as more hotel rooms are being built. During the recession, most new builds ground to a halt, and developers are now playing catch-up to meet demand. But definitely the perception is that it’s pricey.

Many museums and galleries are free, which isn’t always the case internationally. As it’s quite a small city, getting a taxi or airport coach is fairly competitive compared with other capitals.

Food and drink would be a bit steep, or at least there seems to be fewer cheap-cheap options or meal deals/prix fixe options, which is a pity. City rents are very high, and that is a cost that restaurants really struggle with. It’s a real problem for them, and for customers, who end up absorbing the cost.

Homelessness and drug addiction is visible on the street, and this is a problem we have failed to tackle, to our shame.

Dublin has a fantastic live music scene, and theatre is very affordable. However, in the summer when there are many big concerts on, it can be impossible to get hotel rooms at a reasonable price. Again, that should improve, but for now prices frequently spike which is very offputting for visitors.

As sterling weakens, the euro comparison does worsen the pricing perception.

Galway is a far better city to visit. It's smaller but it's quirky and artsy.

I agree with Galway and Cork. For a weekend you can also fly directly into beautiful Kerry from stanstead

If you do go to Dublin, don’t miss the bog bodies at the National Museum of Ireland.

Yes! Artichoke hearts, I forgot the bog bodies.

Honestly, the problem with the vast majority of these, as with most ‘worst place I’ve ever gone on holiday’ threads, is a combination of lack of research and unrealistic expectations. Dublin doesn’t lay itself out as obviously as some other cities in terms of big, dumb attractions, so you need to do some reading before you go. And complaining about the Guinness Storehouse as somehow representative of Dublin is like thinking London is Madame Tussaud’s and therefore tacky and expensive.

Scrap Dublin if you want to see real Ireland, go to Galway or Cork!

It depends what you're after. Dh travels there a lot for work. He took me once when I was pregnant and it was ok. We had a nice meal and went back to a lovely hotel that kindly laid on free champagne that I couldn't drink . The next time, several years later, we went and had a whale of a time - cocktails, Irish music and Guinness. Brilliant night but we really suffered the next day!

LastSamurai, well said.

Well I’ve never been
I did want to go but feel right put off now.

I love it there. Have been three times now. Will definitely be back.

Aw DH and I went to Dublin for a few nights in spring 2018 while I was pregnant and we had a lovely time. Weather was alright, few showers, but we are from a very rainy part of England anyway. Everyone was lovely. It was expensive but it's a capital city so. We went over weekdays so our hotel stay was cheap in a cheapy B&B which was over a pub, was alright for the price and staff lovely. We visited a few touristy things like the jail, an art gallery, trinity college, temple bar area, museum that was about emigration. Learnt loads and had a fab time. We would have done and seen more if I wasn't pregnant as had some health limitations which meant I couldnt do as much walking or travelling as I would ordinarily have been able to. Bought our DD her first ever outfit from Dunnes which was the first thing we put on her when she was born in the summer. we event went to a lefty political meeting thing about changes to abortion laws! Which was super interesting. Think my only criticism is that in the touristy areas and even in the city centre we found it difficult to find places to eat as eating out was soooo expensive. We ended up eating mostly fast food which was meh and not what we would normally do on holiday but still paying so much money for it. There was a veggie or vegan cafe that was lovely though and very affordable compared to everywhere else, can't remember it's name. We ate there twice, it was lovely.

Well I never I thought DH and his ‘dead zoo’ joke was being original. Ha!

I love Dublin. The theatre is amazing (and I speak as someone with regular access to the west end), the pubs/restaurants are lovely.! Accommodation is varied as in any city but there are good, clean, affordable locations.

It’s nothing like the rest of Ireland imho but it’s definitely worth a visit and lots of fun.

Oh my God the bog bodies! But the National Museum is fab, as is Trinity, and St Stephens Green.

But it is very expensive; much more so than London. I have grown up kids living in both cities and London is a cheaper break with more exciting stuff to do.

Of course you can wander about Dublin and find nice little cafes and bars. Temple Bar gives me a very nasty vibe though; seems to be full of dodgy Eastern European pimps.

OP, York's nice. The Christmas market is on from 14th November - 22 December.

We just found it a boring place. Queued to see the Book of Kells with lots of other tourists, then kind of ran out of things to do. I come from a city with theatre, restaurants, cinema and great pubs, better than Dublin. The jail sounded interesting but the journey then by public transport was complicated and took a while, so we didn't bother.
There are lots of other cities that are much better for tourists. I kind of felt the NI tourist board had sold Dublin too well, and the reality was just a pretty boring city. Liverpool is way more interesting to visit.

If you ran out of stuff to do after the Book of Kells, you really needed to research Dublin more.

@catswhiskers a lot of those things are things that lots of cities have. Why would you go to Dublin to see a concert for example when the big names will do a concert closer to where a lot of tourists live?

Dublin might be a lovely place to live, is not a lovely place to be a tourist.