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

I’ve reported that for you Mike!

Holy shit. Thanks Terrible
Of all the things to accidentally paste.

The other party has been informed.

Thanks @MNHQ!

Why did we always used to get Cork but nowhere else in Ireland on the weather map?

I think you go to Ireland for the countryside and the people really, dont you?

It's fine it's mostly like everywhere else in all the new bits a bit airporty. I was there last month as it happens. It's not really where I'd choose to go in Ireland on holiday. One Picot is a very good restaurant, though. I'd go there again.

But no one is writing off a whole country or island. People largely go to Dublin on a weekend city break, and its is not interesting enough for that kind of break at the kind of prices you have to pay.. There are far better options.

According to the opinion of one particularly ill-informed tourist who, after a Google, spent all of one day and one night in the place she claims is ‘not interesting enough.’

Dublin is expensive and there's not much to do there if you don't go for animals in captivity (zoos) or drink like a free flowing tap (temple Bar et al)
Also the chronic homeless and drug problems in Dublin are evident everywhere.

I've got to go back to this comment:

Phoenix park is the biggest park in Europe

No it's not. Not by a long shot. Certainly a common misbelief by many a Dub, it's not even the biggest urban park (another misbelief). It is however the biggest walled urban park.

It's also really nice to visit! There's a good bit to do, and not all of it involves drink.

Depending were you stay or walk around Dublin is beautiful or full of junkies.

There's also a lot of visable homelessness all over, which is a depressing site no doubt. Sadly a reality in many cities.

The countryside in Ireland is lovely, but I prefer the countryside in N Ireland.

Sorry to be pedantic but it's the Guinness Storehouse or Brewery, not a factory. All the Guinness for the UK and Ireland is made there.

I used to work there and the walk through the front arch made my heart soar with pride every day.

As PPs say, stay away from the tourist traps, avoid Temple Bar like the plague and maybe post on daft.ie for some tips from locals. There's tonnes to do.

Fond memories of the Market Bar :). Trinity is lovely, shopping is good, restaurants and bars are usually heaving, but it is expensive.

Belfast is another good shout (native) and tonnes to do as well with more for your money.

My favourite things to do in Dublin

Kilmainham Gaol (book in advance)
National Gallery (free)
Boojum for lunch (cheap as chips)
Collins museum (free)
Iveagh gardens/Stephens green for nice place to sit and hang out.

Find a decent bar in the evening that a tourist wouldn’t dream of going too because they cost a fortune. There are absolutely tonnes of them.

Day two get on Dart and head to Howth or Dalkey or do the Bray to Greystones cliff walk. Eat seafood and have ice cream.

So your favourite things to do in Dublin involve in day 2 getting out of the city? Kind of says it all.

I went to University in Dublin over 20 years ago. It was much dirtier and run down then but had a lot of heart. Unfortunately when I go now I feel like it has changed for the worse. It is dreadfully expensive and the commercialised Irish tweeness is grating but it has somehow changed and lost some of its soul.

However I will always love the city and disagree with many on here, there is tonnes to do if you research it properly.

My English DH on the other hand hates it and refuses to go unless there’s a rugby match on.

I also think (currency aside) it is fair to compare Belfast and Dublin given they are both on the Island of Ireland. There are Irish people, Irish pubs and Irish music in NI too you know.

We absolutely LOVE Dublin and always, always have a great time there. We visit several times a year and each visit we find new things to see and do. I cannot understand why it gets such a bad time on MN

I quite liked it but I found the taxi drivers to be awful. Very rude, using the wrong meter settings arc, this is 5 different drivers.

Jenny, for someone who was only there for a day, you seem very invested in trying to run the place down.

Also, places like Howth and Dun Laoghaire are part of Dublin but outside the city centre. Lots of cities have nice places to visit a little bit further out. Some cities are so big you'd spend the same amount of time trying to get from one side to the other. So I'm not sure what your point is tbh.

Also FWIW, I'm pretty sure if there was a thread asking why Manchester, or Glasgow, or Cardiff were 'so bad', it wouldn't have lasted too long on here.

Sakura7 I agree, there is always huge bias against Dublin on MN and even the very premise of this thread is objectionable - 'so bad' ! It is pretty eye opening to read the comments on here.

As I said it is the exact opposite of my experience of visiting Dublin several times a year over the past 20 years or so.

In fact we were there this past weekend and had an absolutely wonderful time which included a drink in Fallon & Byrnes on Friday evening, a look in the Georgian Assembly Rooms, a tour of 14 Henrietta St Tenament Museum (just open since September - highly recommend), seeing a sculpture exhibition in the RHA Gallery, a look around Design Yard jewellery gallery, cocktails in Peruke and Perriwig on Dawson St and a nightcap in the Long Hall, coffee and cake in the Powerscourt Townhouse, an excellent cheesburger in Bunsen,

We did not see any visible junkies, or needles, excessive litter on the streets, we were not pickpocketed, mugged or ripped off by taxi drivers. We did not run out of things to do. It didn't rain, it was not grey, in fact we had blue skies!

We did run out of time and in fact didn't get to see / do all that we wanted and are already planning our next trip.

Ironically, Dublin is far from my favourite city in the world, but it's nonsense to say that there's nothing to do. Last time I was in Dublin for a few days, I saw an astonishing Yeats exhibition at the National Library and the 1916 exhibition at the Decorative Arts museum (which I could have spent twice as long in), went to the National Gallery, the Hugh Lane and IMMA, saw a piece of site-specific theatre, went to a lunchtime concert by the RTE symphony orchestra, and had a couple of decent meals. I left with a list of things I still wanted to do but had run out of time for.

It's not pristine, but to be honest, neither are many cities you might visit as a tourist. I had a brilliant five days in NY in January of last year, despite it snowing so heavily the trash wasn't being collected and was piling up in mucky snowdrifts on the kerbs with the abandoned Christmas trees. Paris, where I go often and which I love, is particularly grubby at the moment, and has an ever-growing visible homeless population, like a lot of cities. Rome and Naples were both filthy when I've visited, without impacting on my enjoyment at all. Venice, where I went recently for the first time, has a major graffitti problem, and the courtyard of where we were staying had the occasional rat, but you'd expect that. I'm not the International Tidy Towns Awards judge. Unless I'm actually wading through used needles or blinded by flying McDonalds wrappers, cleanliness is not top of my criteria for an enjoyable city break.

@sakura Manchester and Glasgow both have loads to do there as a tourist. Not at all comparable to Dublin. I don't know cardiff though, been to wales a lot, but for the countryside.

@sakura On google it says Dun Laoghaire is a coastal suburb. It looks perfectly pleasant, but that is all.

Sakura there have been horrendous threads on here about Glasgow and Scotland. Every independence thread has posters lining up with anti-Scottish and anti-Scotland sentiment. Every thread about moving to Glasgow will have some posters trotting out 'no mean city' cliches.

I'm curious now jennymanara I have been to Manchester, and Glasgow and indeed Belfast (several times) and yes, they all have interesting things to do there and I have enjoyed visiting them but I don't compare them unfavourably to Dublin. What is the big tourist attraction Belfast has over Dublin (besides the Titanic Museum, which was dull in large parts)?

As I said I am a fan of all of those places, in fact I find things to enjoy wherever I visit, but I can't see why you think Dublin doesn't compare?

I see Galway mentioned by other posters as being 'more Irish' and I would fundamentally disagree with that. We have visited Galway many times and for me it is fundamentally toursity, in a way Dublin just isn't.