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

RueCambon I liked Copenhagen too. It's actually one of the few places that I've thought I could happily move to. Although yy it was expensive.

Eh? The Jail isn't difficult to get via public transport at all. DH and I went very easily from our city centre B&B

Also OMG about someone who says they love Liverpool (I'm from there) and then not knowing what country Dublin is in. Embarrassing. I feel embarrassed that you love my city when you say things like that! I know a lot of other Liverpudlians that really rate Dublin too.

There is loads to do in Dublin depending on what your interested in.
The guiness factory being high on the list it's got an amazing view of the city from the sky bar. If you want a whiskey tour I would lean towards teelings over the Jameson factory. Temple bar is ok, there will be traditional live music in the vast majority of bars in there but it is very overpriced. There are plenty of other nice bars / restraints and clubs around the city ( trip advisor will be helpful here)
On another side the history of Dublin is amazing so I would advise something like killmanham goal but it can be busy so you might want to book this in advance. The hop on hop off tours will also give you a historical description of the city and tell you why certain building are protected such as the general post office or gpo ( the site of one of the biggest rebellion prior to the war of independence).
The down side is that it is a very expensive city. Think on par with London or Paris and if you are going you need to budget for that.
It does rain alot in Ireland, not much you can do about that except bring a rain coat.
I am from Dublin but DP is English. Him and his family have been over multiple times and love it.

Grey, expensive, not much to do except drink. Galway is beautiful, go there instead!

I see those defending Dublin saying people need to research it more, but most people do what I do and have a quick google and look on trip advisor. That has worked for every other City in Britain I have made a short trip to or weekend trip. If it does not work for Dublin but there really are fabulous places, then they need to be better advertised to tourists.

As a pp said, if you base your tourism on a quick glance at the lowest common denominator website and google 'Top Ten Things to do in X', and you have also failed to understand that Dublin is not in Britain, then I think we're answered as to why you failed to have a good time.

And the unrealistic expectations are out in force. The poster who expected it to be 'like a mini-London' might really want to do some reading on Irish history to understand why Dublin is not London.

The National Museum on Kildare Street, Natural History Museum on Merrion Square and National Art Gallery on Nassau Street are all free entry and really interesting. Some exhibitions in the gallery have a fee but main gallery open access.

Some ready interesting history.
There are mummified tombs in the crypt of a church to visit.
Bram Stoker lived there, and thee is a ghost bus tour at night of various spooky type things.
St Patrick’s Cathedral is interesting too.
Trinity College and the Book of Kells.
And Glasnevin Cemetary.

Get the DART out to Dun Laoghaire, Howth it Bray. All have lovely walks along seafront. Howth great seafood. Dun Laoghaire the largest harbour in Europe and can walk around it along both East and west Piers ((there’s an old naval battery and soldiers quarters at the end of the East Pier, and Teddy’s ice cream now have an outlet there, Teddy’s is a DL institution!)

All sorts of bus tours - including the Splash Tour which has quirky guides doing a potted history of Dublin and has a trip on the water around Grand Canal Basin as part of it (amphibious vehicles from WW2).

Lovely parks in city Centre - St Stephen’s Green and Merrion Square in particular. Ducks in the pond are greedy on the Green, Sunday morning artists set up around Merrion Square and some good paintings on offer.
And walking along the canals is lovely too.

A mix and high street and more quirky shopping.

Great food in any style you want, and from artisan food markets up to michaelin stars.

The Phoenix Park is lovely - huge for walking, deer roam free, our President and the US Ambassador both live there, and the zoo is cool.

Dublin's great, it's not London or NY, it's Dublin!

I lived in Ireland for five years and always loved a trip to Dublin. The point of it is there are a lot of keen minds and creativity, it's a very literary city and if Georgian architecture is your thing it has it in spades.

Cork is also a great place to go, so much history in both places, but they're places you have to discover, and once you do you'll love them, a PP likened them to Copenhagen and I agree, they're modest, not showy, but, have so much to enjoy if you approach them honestly and don't just see it as somewhere to go for a piss-up as many people mistakenly do.

Someone mentioned it’s not a beautiful Georgian city.

No, it’s not because it’s not a city that has stood still in 200 years. There are still lots of Georgian buildings and the ESB has restored a house to what it was then as a Museum (i think it’s called No 29, it’s just off Merrion Square).

But has London stood still either in the Georgian style or Edwardian style or any other style - or have people continued to maintain some buildings while building other new ones to take account of changing needs and tastes?!

Someone mentioned it’s not a beautiful Georgian city

No, and again, anyone who expected it to be one should remember that many of the significant public buildings and streetscapes of central Dublin were damaged or outright destroyed just over a century ago. After the 1916 Rising what is now O'Connell Street looked more like Coventry after a visit from the Luftwaffe than a 'beautiful Georgian city', from fire as well as the shelling. About 80 buildings were partly or completely destroyed in the Rising, and many more were damaged during the war of independence and the civil war.

I haven't been for years but I used to have a boyfriend in Dublin so flew in every other weekend. It was fab! It is a bit run down in places but I have such fond memories (maybe because I spent most of the day in bed 🤭). The nightlife was awesome.

Jameson's factory was good, rib ride good fun,

Also, I don't understand the comparisons earlier in the thread with Belfast. Belfast is in the UK.

You can’t understand why two cities on the same small landmass, relatively close together, are being compared? Really?

@Terrible, several posters have been labouring under the delusion that Dublin is being promoted by the Northern Irish tourist board, and someone else compared Dublin unfavourably to 'other British cities' -- I think this is what is being complained about, posters who don't understand that Dublin isn't in either Britain or the UK, and who have managed to overlook the existence of the border.

I don’t think anyone is under the impression Dublin is in the U.K. 😱 No one is that stupid surely 😭 it’s just for a city break you tend to want to go somewhere different, and as others have said Dublin is unfortunately like any U.K. city so it doesn’t seem like a really special visit. Especially as Ireland as a country is such an amazing place to visit- why waste the flight on Dublin?

I’m going to Ireland for a fortnight next year (with a six month old ). In our trip we’re planning to spend a few nights in Dublin, we’re going to be consuming a lot of Guinness! Personally the weather situation doesn’t bother me but I can see why it would put others off. I think it’s about personal taste, as it’s your trip and not anyone else’s

I don’t think anyone is under the impression Dublin is in the U.K.

I hate to disillusion you, but at least one poster on this thread has compared Dublin to 'other British cities', and another has complained that Dublin has been overhyped by the Northern Ireland tourist board.

And when I first moved from Ireland to England and applied for an NI number I had to go to some lengths to convince both my Job Centre interviewer and her supervisor that no, I couldn't 'just use my number from home, because it's all the same system'.

Weren’t those two comments from the same poster?

I hate to disillusion you, but at least one poster on this thread has compared Dublin to 'other British cities'

That doesn’t mean they think it’s in Britain! 🤣 they are just making the point about travelling somewhere that’s the same as they have at home

Don’t know what the NI tourist board stuff was all about, that one poster would have to come back and explain it.

Dublin is emphatically not like any UK city, if you think that you're a bit of an idiot.

The whole point of Dublin is the culture, and if you're of a mind to engage you will be richly rewarded. I've never been to a city where intellectual conversations can be so easily engaged in, it's a lyrical and deep city if you actually see it and Ireland itself for what it is. I always thought the craic was a bit of bluster hiding a very thoughtful heart.

Most cities have culture. Dublin certainly isn’t one of the major culture centres, no. There is plenty more culture in other parts of Ireland.

@Jennymanara,

If you don't like Dublin then you don't like it. Myself and DH have gone to shows/concerts when we have gone on weekend breaks to London and either had a meal before or after. That being said if I was only going to be somewhere for one day/ night, I would choose and narrow down what I wanted to do.
With regard to travel and not having a car, There,s car hire at Dublin airport.
Someone mentioned the currency exchange rate of 1.08 euro for a pound and Brexit. Well thats not the fault of Dublin.

I went with my mum a few years ago. Ugly, dirty, dreary, and unfriendly locals. I'd wanted to visit Ireland for years and was so disappointed.

I'd rate Dublin over most of the UK cities mentioned! I've been a few times, most recently last year for the racing. We had a day's racing at Punchesdown which was great and reasonably priced, spent a day in the cityhad a great brunch, saw the history museum, then went to a pub and watched the rugby that was on. We also spent a day exploring the surrounding countrysidehired a car and drove out to the hill of Tara.

I do think if I went again I might base myself a bit outside of the city and hire a car for the whole time - but that's just because I've done the city itself a few times now!

I've never been to a city where intellectual conversations can be so easily engaged in
Really? I'm not saying there isn't culture in Dublin. There obviously is. But it's hardly the most cultured city in the world and despite visiting 'literary' haunts, I didn't find the 'intellectual conversations' any more scintillating than any other city that has a literary heritage and a decent university.