Pls advise me on a Dublin trip

[RestorativeTravel]

I'm thinking of visiting Dublin and anywhere reasonably accessible from Dublin on a day trip.

I have had some really difficult and sad times recently so this is a fresh start sort of trip. I am looking for a bit of a luxury splurge - 5 star hotel would be nice but only if it is worth it. No real budget as like I said this is a present for me.

Looking for advice about anything and everything - best places to go and what to do. Happy to travel out of Dublin if it can be done in a day or anywhere unmissiable close by. Will be travelling alone if that makes a difference.

What would you suggest?

Recommended hotels? Unmissable experiences? Things to avoid? Tourist traps?

Thought I would start here as likely to get more expert advice but if you think I should ask for this to be moved to travel, pls let me know.

I'm not in the habit of staying in 5 star hotels, so I can't really advise you on that score. I've stayed in the Davenport Hotel which is 4 star and quite central. It's a lovely hotel.

In terms of things to do in Dublin itself, what are your interests i.e. history/museums, art galleries, shopping, pubs, theatre, shows etc.? I'm happy to come back with some recommendations for any of the above.

Steer well clear of Temple Bar - it's full of hen and stag parties and the pubs and restaurants charge above average prices.

For trips outside of Dublin, I would recommend the following:-

• Glendalough - a monastic site in the Wicklow Mountains National Park. Very scenic spot.

• Powerscourt Gardens - beautiful gardens in Wicklow, surrounded by mountains. The gardens were recently voted No. 3 in the world's top 10 gardens.

• Newgrange - Neolithic monument in Co Meath. It's a World Heritage site.

You can also take the DART (tram) from the city centre out along the east coast. Howth and Bray are popular spots with Dubliners, especially on a sunny Sunday. There's a lighthouse in Howth and some good seafood restaurants. You can walk along the promenade in Bray or tackle Bray Head if you fancy a tougher walk. If you're in staying in Dublin mid-week, you'll miss all the weekend daytrippers and it will be relatively quiet.

The Shelbourne and the Westbury are both lovely. The former has a very lively bar and a beautiful treatment and post treatment relaxation rooms. The Westbury has a fab bistro and small more intimate bar. Both well appointed for shopping around grafton street.

Bray head walk is currently closed I think

What are your interests?

Does it have to be Dublin? It really isn’t a nice or safe place.
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There are far nicer areas to visit - could you fly to Dublin and stay in Wicklow or fly to Cork or Galway or Belfast or Kerry?

God yes the shelbourne and Westbury are fab.

But if you want 5 star or a luxe feel, what about the Ritz at Powerscourt? (30 mins from Dublin). There's a spa etc. Absolutely beautiful surroundings.

Dublin isn't safe? Felt pretty safe when I lived there!

Dublin is as safe as any other capital city in Europe (so safe enough).

Go to the theatre while you are there

Powerscourt hasn’t been a ritz for at least a decade. I visited for a work event recently and whilst the location is fab the hotel is a bit tired.

No not any more sadly.

People have been avoiding visiting the city centre as much as possible for the last couple of years. The North side of the city is pretty much a no go area. There are continuous campaigns for more policing.

I listened to a phone in radio show a month ago and a woman called in complaining about human faeces near Trinity college. When I was walking near Grafton St last weekend, I also had to step over a lump of human faeces. I couldn’t believe it.

It was disgusting.

Sounds horrendous @Anewyearanewday

I think Galway is far nicer than Dublin, but possibly tricky to get to if you’re stuck for time

Dublin is about as exciting as going to Birmingham. If you’re going to Ireland you should go to Cork or Galway. There are some beautiful spa hotels in Kerry as well.

Ha ha shows that I've not kept in touch! Still, Powerscourt a gorgeous day out.

Stay somewhere on the south side. I can't recommend particular hotels but I would stay Killiney/Dalkey type area, near the sea or with a sea view.

You can DART in and out of the city then in about half an hour.

You'd need to say a bit more about your interests really for people to advise you. There's quite often good/interesting exhibitions on, excellent live music and sometimes good theatre. Good but pricey restaurants too.

I don't live in Dublin any more but when I visit I certainly feel less safe in the centre than I did, say, ten years ago.
Big areas of the city are still lovely though, so I think it can be a great weekend destination.

The national gallery is excellent. St michans church too.
I stayed in Blackrock once, on the coast, and that was lovely.
There was/is an amazing veggie cafe in Dublin called Cornucopia. If still there it's worth a visit. Delicious food.

How long are you thinking of for your break? If you could afford it, I think staying in the Intercontinental in Ballsbridge would be lovely
https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/hotels/gb/en/dublin/dblic/hoteldetail
but I'd only stay there for a day or so as it's quite expensive.

If you needed a budget hotel which might allow you to stay longer you might like The Mespil Hotel

If you're planning on doing a bit of sightseeing and you want to use public transport (Luas/DART/Bus) get yourself a LEAP card (you can buy them in newsagents and load them with €10 or more) as our drivers don't accept Euro notes as payment, only coins. This will then allow you to hop on whatever mode of transport and if you wanted to you could use another mode if it's in the same 90 minutes that you started your journey all for the princely sum of €2!

I'd recommend going to EPIC which is in the Docklands area.
Not sure if it's back up and running again but the Viking Splash tour is usually good craic.
Then outside of Dublin you literally have the rest of the country.

You might want to check out Paddywagon Tours for details on coach tours from Dublin all over the country to see other tourist locations.

Ooh I lived in the Intercontinental for a couple of months weekdays for work. Lovely pool etc and famous people in the bar. Remember the porter telling me that Colin Farrell had just checked out of my room - such a shame :) Breakfast was wonderful. It was a bit out of town and a bit old fashioned though.

Slightly alarmed by the suggestion its not safe!

I'm interested in anything artsy or history really - I enjoy galleries and museums and theatre. Architecture if there is anything interesting to see. Very open minded really when it comes to visiting a new city - always keen to experience its particular features and local quirks if there are any.

also a big fan of eating and drinking/fine dining and not phased about dining alone so would welcome restaurant recommendations

Is the Guinness tour worth doing?

@LookItsMeAgain I googled Viking Splash expecting some Vikings but it looks like the equivalent of Duck tours in London - is it good then?

I live in South Dublin (Dublin 6) and go often-ish into town, never felt not safe.

If you like galleries and museums stay in town, lots of them there.

Lots of beautiful Georgian and victorian architecture around Dublin city centre.

Howth is lovely, highly recommend and easy to get to on dart, or you can take a taxi if money is no object.

I did a literary pub tour with once that was really fun.

If you like art and history, then I've lots of recommendations for you:-

• The National Gallery of Ireland

• The Hugh Lane Gallery - a highlight is a stained glass window by Harry Clarke ('The Eve of St. Agnes'). You can also visit Francis Bacon's studio.

• The National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street - highlights are the Ardagh Chalice, the Tara Brooch, the Broighter Collar, the Derrynaflan Chalice etc. As schoolkids, we were fascinated by the bog bodies.

• The Little Museum of Dublin is quite good for more modern history.

• Kilmainham Gaol is an unusual museum. It tells the story of some of the prison population who were incarcerated there. This included some of those who fought and died for Irish independence. It's a really popular tourist attraction and I gather it's quite difficult to get tickets these days.

• EPIC is a museum dedicated to Irish emigration. I'd heard good things about it and visited with a friend last year. She lives abroad but has Irish ancestors. We ended up spending about three hours there. There's so much to see and do - a lot more than I had anticipated. My friend found it very moving.

• The Kilkenny Design Shop is a lovely shop and sells genuine (if expensive) Irish souvenirs. For cheap made in China tat, you'll find lots of Carrolls gift shops.

• For shows check out the Abbey, Gaiety and Olympia theatres. For musical shows, check out the Bord Gais Energy Theatre.

• The Good World on Georges Street is a really good Chinese restaurant.

• Diwali on Camden Street is a really good Indian restaurant.

• La Caverna is a really good Italian restaurant in Temple Bar. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the food is amazing. I told you to avoid Temple Bar but I'd make an exception for La Caverna.

As for safety, Dublin has gained a bad reputation over the past 18 months or so. There's a lot of poverty and and deprivation in the north inner city and it flared up into a riot in November '23. For that reason, I'd avoid the area north of the river Liffey. However, Dublin is a city of over half a million people. You might well encounter homeless people and drug addicts. But you'll also encounter businessmen in suits. And all manner of people in between those two extremes. And lots of tourists. As a solo (female?) traveller, I'd imagine you'll exercise the same caution as you would in any large city, especially after dark. Anyway, sounds like you can afford to get taxis here and there.

I stay in the Fitzwilliam when I pop up for rugby/shopping/shows.
I really like the atmosphere in it and so very handy where it's located

I was in Dublin on an EDT in December with my daughter. Ive been to Dublin a few times and never felt unsafe. Take obvious precautions, like you would in any city and dont hang about the River Liffey area ( unless crossing bridges) , and dont take shortcuts up alleys and youll be fine.

this looks fun if you like architecture https://14henriettastreet.ie/whats-on/georgian-walking-tour/

Heard good things about that museum, must get there one day!

I'd agree with @Taytocrisp recommendations and add the Writers' museum, which is next to the Hugh Lane Gallery. Definitely a Dart trip either north to Howth or south to Bray or Greystones, where there's an amazing Indian restaurant called Chakra.
In the city centre, Hugo's on Merrion Row is a great restaurant with a lovely atmosphere.

For hotels I like the Fitzwilliam or Iveagh Garden, both near Stephens Green.

Dublin is like any city, with good and bad areas, but it's no less safe than any other. Have a wonderful trip. Oh and, if you don't have breakfast at the hotel, the cafe at Kilkenny Design is amazing and really good value.

@RestorativeTravel - I guess the Viking Splash would be similar to the Duck tours in London. I wasn't aware of them when I was last in London.

If you visit the National Museum on Kildare Street (just a short stroll from St Stephen's Green) you can see the Bog people. These are the preserved remains of people who died several thousand years ago. Fascinating to see. There are other artifacts in the museum but our National Museum is based in a few locations (the "Dead Zoo", our Natural History museum is currently closed for refurbishment) - there is more information on www.museum.ie
Check out www.visitdublin.ie for lots of information on what to do, where to eat and a lot more on your visit.

It really annoys me when people post that Dublin is not safe. It is. It's as safe as any other place you may visit.
Yes we have a housing problem and we have a drug use problem but I wouldn't feel unsafe going on to Henry Street or up by Parnell Square which is where both the Hugh Lane Gallery and the Writers Museum are located.
I wouldn't go along the Boardwalk any more (this is a walkway that runs for several bridges along the wall of the Liffey river).

I have been to New York and to London and in both places I had an underlying feeling of actually being less safe. Why? Well in NY I had no idea if someone was carrying a gun and could have been having a bad day and wanted to take it out on some stranger and in London, I had a similar feeling but the person would have been carrying a knife. It's a personal feeling and while I enjoyed my time in both cities, I felt safer when I got home to Dublin.

My advice to any tourist is to not wear their camera around their neck as that to a potential thief is like a red rag to a bull. I'd also be conscious of keeping my mobile phone safe and use whatever lanyard or method to keep it on my person.
Travelling from the UK to Ireland - you should be able to pick up a network service provider as soon as you land in Dublin so you shouldn't need to get a new SIM or anything like that. Just be wary of your data allowance and use WiFi where you can (perhaps use it at the end of the day in your hotel to upload your photos).

Just a few tips and I really do hope you enjoy your time in our city. As a Dubliner, I'm quite proud of where I call home!

What @Taytocrisps said, but add IMMA and MoLI.