To copy another poster and ask what you love about Dublin?

[busymum17]

In a similar situation to another poster, hope they don't mind me stealing their thread idea. We are likely to be relocating to Dublin, I've never even visited (though will before we move) and am a bit terrified. I know nothing - good schools/places to live/things to do etc etc.
Any thoughts, advice, experiences or opinions would be welcomed!

@Phuquocdreams I'm in Belfast rather than Dublin but my experience is the opposite - it's been really easy to make friends (and I'm pretty anti-social!) and in general, people are friendlier than in England. Not that I found England an unfriendly place, and not that NI doesn't have other downsides, but in my experience people are more willing to stop and have a chat.

@Quimby I agree that Belfast and Dublin are very different cities but Belfast is a great city to live in (mostly).

Peach green, I'm not sure if Belfast is different - the person I'm thinking of went from Belfast to Dublin, found it v cliquey.

Dublin is awesome but expensive.

Phoenix Park is gorgeous, Stephen's Green in the middle of town in the summer..Dublin mountains & Blessington/Baltinglass are beautiful.
Howth & Dun Laoighaire & Skerries by the sea.
Lots of big shopping centres, loads to do.
Smell of the Guinness brewery

I'm from the Northside & I miss home :-(.

D4 is a little bit like Made in Chelsea but it is really nice, on the northside Castleknock & Sutton & Clontarf are the same.

I'm pretty shocked at that. Whatever Dublin's faults I've never come across anyone who would describe it as cliquey.

I suppose if you arrive in the country and are a bit reserved and not willing to put yourself "forward" you might think everyone else knows each other, perhaps? But even if it seems that way, and even though it's true that some people have groups of friends they've known since they were children I find it hard to believe that anyone who is willing to try won't be included.

And joining anything - sports clubs, church, parent and toddler groups, parents association/school fundraising, scouting/guiding, all those are welcoming of new people and a great way to make good friends.

It's probably not as "polite" as England - if you waited until you were specifically invited to a one-to-one coffee or "playdate" you might we waiting. But if you are willing to turn up to a "let's all go for coffee/drink" type thing, it'll all be fine.

Eating out is EYEWATERINGLY expensive. OMG. Drinking less so

no it isn't! You can eat out at any budget, and there are pre theatres and early bird and group ons for everywhere. You can eat some amazing food in world class restaurants at half the price of London or Paris.

The Irish can be great fun in a pub but hard to get to know on anything more than a superficial level. Anyone who's not from there able to confirm/deny that?

You're stereotyping 5 million people, so its pretty easy to deny that. Also its not true.

I think it will really depend on your situation. If you have kids, if your employer is paying accommodation costs.
Dublin can be great. I have lived in various places around Ranelagh/Rathmines/Rathgar
You can walk or take a bus or tram to the city centre. Locally there are great shops, restaurants and a couple of cinemas within a couple of minutes walk. Good state and fee paying schools. Except for boys secondary schools where good state ones are scarce so most opt for fee paying. Lots of sports clubs and other activities.
But it is one of the more expensive areas and if you are paying your own rent on an average salary it would be tough.

I lived there for years and the best thing about it is how incredibly social it is. It's very easy to get a taxi virtually anywhere, so meeting people for drinks isn't a problem. The pub's open very late too so you can really settle into a long chat. In contrast, my friends in London struggle to meet up just because of the distances involved and then race to get the last tube home. It's a lot easier in Dublin to hang out with people who don't live in your area. Even if you're on polar opposite sides of the city, you just meet up in the middle off Grafton Street or Temple Bar.

Also, on a very superficial level, the shopping is great. I flipping love Brown Thomas and Arnotts. Homes from home!

I lived in about 10 different parts of the city. My favourite was Dalkey, which is v posh but a really lovely village with good transport links and great walks up to the top of Killiney Hill. I was renting, obvs!

Good points: shopping, nightlife, st stephen’s green, people are mainly friendly, easy access to seaside and countryside, amazing history, university city so lots going on culturally

Bad points: expensive, can be cliquey / try-hard / maybe even snobby in parts, (one of the silliest snobs I’ve ever met is a relative who lives in Dublin - that isn’t inverse snobbery btw, she really is a fool, but I digress), tourist areas can get busy and are downright unpleasant in the evenings imo. People, (even locals),are less friendly and a bit gruff in the tourist areas too - and weirdly defensive of their loos . Understandable though as there’s a bit of a hem and stag do culture which can be grim. It has the same problem as a lot of big cities in that people are newly arrived or just passing through a lot of the time, so it can be difficult to make actual friends. I also hate the look and feel of the business district, but that’s personal taste. A school friend of mine used to live in a flat there, (which she was very clear must be called an apartment ). It was gross.

Thanks all, this has given us lots to think about! We'd like to be near Trinity college and were looking at Rathmines/Ballsbridge, but I don't really have any idea what these areas are like or whether different areas are better for getting to the university, or what secondary schools are like in those areas.
We'd most likely be renting as we are not from the UK so I suspect getting a mortgage would be near impossible for us.

Da floozy in da jacuzzi

You should head over to Craicnet and ask, busymum, they are very helpful over there. Living near Trinity will be expensive, and schools may be an issue if you are very close to town (especially secondary).

You should probably be asking for negatives, though, as the things that will affect you most will be cost of healthcare, high rents, general cost of living etc etc. It is much more expensive to live here than many realise.

I live in Dublin.

Pros : compact you can get from the city centre to the sea or mountains within an hour. Lovely countryside on your doorstep. The restaurant, coffee and pub scenes are great. People are friendly and if you're from the UK then the similarities in humour and culture should mean you slot in easily (generalisation of course). Shops have come on leaps and bounds. Private schools cheaper than UK, but mostly single sex. Public schools vary by area and you mostly need to be in the catchment area for the desirable ones

Neutral: Healthcare is a weird hybrid.You have to pay for some things, but can usually get a same day GP appointment with ease.

Cons: House prices (unless you're coming from London). Rental market is bonkers at the moment. Rent caps have not helped unless you're in somewhere. Temple Bar is a tourist trap, but you'll mostly avoid if you're living there.

The Northside / Southside is a rule of thumb. Costal northside is generally desirable. Good overview of some areas here dublinhousehunting.com/searching-for-the-perfect-house/2015/4/12/what-are-the-best-areas-and-those-that-you-should-avoid

I’m now crying at the idea D4 is like made in Chelsea.

It’s like an averagely well to do small town in UK at most.

I live in Ballsbridge in a residential part that could reasonably be described as “near to trinity”. I can give you an idea of rents and sale prices having recently dealt with both.

Not keen on Dublin as it has a bog standard European feel to it. Love, love, love Cork though. Tons of expats living in West Cork.

The real capital

Maryz we walked down Grafton Street Christmas Eve 2015 and someone was throwing fake snow flakes down from one of the shops...
we’d just come from the Stephens Green market - with all our bags and site feet (our hotel was on Gardiner St) it was magical and I actually shed a tear. There’s no place like it...

goes off on whimsical train of thought

Beg pardon, 2014

I am born and bred Dublin girl, grew up in rathmines where my mum and sister still live.

Dublin is a great city in many ways. The people are friendly on the whole, yes you have the cliques and the snobs but surely you will get that in any small city.

Go for rathmines Ranelagh if you can afford it as it's a godsend to be living near a Lucas stop.

I will never be able to see Dublin as cosmopolitan as I grew up there and lived there till my 30s , it's always seemed a bit provincial to me, but that's one of the things I liked about it as it's not too big and and it is easy to get around it, when traffics not too bad.

Downsides of living in Dublin (and anywwre in Ireland) is cost of healthcare, housing and food and drink.

But these are outweighed by the positive stuff, lovely parks , historical buildings, National museum and gallery free entry, great place to bring kids up. I'm jealous of you moving there! I live in Northern Ireland and miss Dublin soooo much (and sorry to any Belfast people but Belfast just doesn't compare in any way to Dublin!😀)

Luas not Lucas!!

The Irish can be great fun in a pub but hard to get to know on anything more than a superficial level. Anyone who's not from there able to confirm/deny that?

Sounds like a stereotype straight out of that film the Departed "This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever."?

I'm Irish and I can confirm that we are all different people, some are friendly, some are not, some are superficial, some are not.........

For easy access to Trinity (i.e. walking distance) Portobello or Ranelagh would be perfect. Costs €€€ though. Ranelagh is where I want to live when I get rich. It's got everything.

I used to live in Rathmines and though it's technically walking distance I always found myself getting the bus. Though Rathmines has just very recently had some great updates in the form of the refurbished Stella cinema (now super fancy with a cocktail bar), a branch of Fallon & Byrne has opened there (upmarket food store/cafe), the Dunnes is very swanky and the restaurant scene is buzzing.

Actually though, cycling is the thing to do in Dublin, it's become by far the best way to get around the city. We've even got our own version of Boris bikes we don't call them that though, clearly

Easy access to Trinity and wont break the bank is Marino.Saying that most buses and now the Luas from Cabra passes by Trinity.Plus Trinity is a stones throw from Temple Bar so its never quiet.

I'm Irish myself, so don't have an objective view, that is why I needed someone else to confirm or deny! I just think we irish are v quick to say, we're so friendly etc etc and yet I've heard a couple of outsiders to Dublin say the opposite, so I was wondering what was in fact the truth. I think all the people who have responded to that point are Irish so haven't helped throw light on it one way or another!