Dublin- where to stay

[CrocodileOenophile]

I have an amazing opportunity (family life permitting for the firt time in ages) to visit Dublin I left the hotel bookings a bit late, but like, are there any budget alternatives,like Premiere Inn or Trabvelodge? Im in my late 30s and dontfancy staying in a hostel, but the prices of what I saw were quite prohibitive. Is air bnb the only other option?
Thanks,
joanna

Dublin is extremely expensive, did you try booking.com?

if a hotel isn’t available online but you like the location etc try giving them a call to see if they have any rooms.

Dublin hotels are really expensive. There is a Premier Inn in the city centre but even that’s pricey. Maldron and Clayton chain of hotels often have ok prices. What dates are you looking for?

There is a new Travelodge in the city centre. You could also look at hotels along the LUAS (tram) routes away from the city centre, which might be a bit cheaper, but as PPs said, accommodation here is crazy priced especially if there are any gigs or sporting fixtures on. You could try Air BnB too. When are you coming?

Trinity College does summer accommodation for visitors at the student residences. A night in a student single room in July is 60-75 euro. It won't be fancy but you can't get better location in Dublin than Trinity college. If Trinity is fully booked, UCD also offers student accommodation to tourists in summer. It's out of city centre though.

There is a brand new Premier Inn in the city too, stayed there last month. It isn’t cheap, but has a lovely bar and the staff were great,

I am going end of July, so probably left it a bit late to book anything, but it's such a rare treat and last minute really...
Went with the Travelodge and shortened the stay as otherwise I would nto be able to afford going. 3 days is better than no days.
But yeah, generally shocked with the prices, I statyed in London and Paris and Stockholm before for city breaks and all are expensive but nowhere near this!
Airbnb didnt work out as the cheaper rooms are usually shared with a male host or a person that is new an not many reviews and I didnt feel very comfortable as Im going on my own and meeting friends over there.
Looked at uni accomodation, but it was all non refundable, and I wanted to have the option to cancel if needed.
The Travelodge seems nice, but yeah, my heart was bleeding a bit when I was entering my card details 😂

Dublin has always tended to outstrip European capitals hotel rates. We are small but very popular.

Currently there is a housing crises with a lack of building of new hotels for years. Add in the fact Dublin is extremely popular with American tourists and bingo rack rates soar.

It is concert season as well which due to lack of transport links involves an overnight stay. You are lucky to get availability at all. Enjoy your visit.

Thank you! Will do.
I think I was just shocked and didnt do my research. I had travelled before extensively and always thought Scandinavia to be the most expensive area to travel, the prices for hostels in particular in Dublin were a bit of a surprise, as Id be paying 1/3 of that for the same standard anywhere else in the past.

Is food etc similarly higly priced?

Yes unfortunately. Eating out is at least a third more expensive in my expensive to UK and it is usually London I am in.

Everything here is at least a third more expensive especially toiletries, clothes etc. Love my Belfast and London stocking up on makeup and clothes. We will of course though offer priceless craic!

Avoid eating/drinking in Temple Bar area.
I would be inclined to pick up something from M&S and bring back to hotel, at least on one evening.

Looking at this I may nnot eat at all 😂
Is there some sort of Lidl with cheap stuff/pastries etc?

Yes, plenty of Lidl and Aldi

Which hotel did you book, I will have a quick look at what is nearby

Weirdly, drinking is cheap if and only if you like Guinness in old men’s pubs. Literally everything else is sell your first born expensive.

Never having been to Dublin I have nothing of any use to add, but just wanted to say I love your username!!

Depending where you live in the UK, you might not find eating out, etc, that expensive - at a concert recently here in Dublin I overheard two English people telling someone they were surprised to find Dublin "such good value, compared to home". But I didn't hear them say where they lived - Knightsbridge maybe!!!

Stay in the transport line but in the suburbs. That’s your only chance to be honest.

Oh thanks!

Love,
BlushingVowel

😉

Try the hotels in kildare street-close to grafton street and look reasonable. parnell street - o connell street area is not great at night so wouldnt recommend ATALL.
What is a fab area and totally dublin is camden street - just went in there into google maps and there are lots of reasonable hotels.i love the vibe/ near st stephens green/ walking distance to Grafton st . fab restaurants / fab pubs - Whelans / the bleeding horse to name a few. i was up at a course near there and went gir food and people watched. loved it!!!

The new(ish?) Travelodge in the city centre.
Breakfast not included so I hoped for fancy Lidl croissants :)

The food hall in Dunnes (in the St Stephen's Green shopping centre) is fabulous and very reasonable. We bought lovely pastries and had them in the hotel room with coffee for breakfast. It would be perfect for picnic food too. You could cross the road to the park if the weather was good.

Second the recommendation above for restaurants in Camden Street - relatively cheap (by Dublin standards).

All ireland final end of July (30th) is probably pushing up the prices. Might be worth checking again that week encase cheaper rooms show up following cancellations depending on ticket allocations etc

There is a Lidl on Talbot St, about 10 mins walk from the hotel. You head north, across the river. Personally I don't think there is much to look at around there, so I would grab food and head back to the hotel

If you go other direction, Dunnes Stores Food hall as mentioned by pp is in the Stephens Green shopping centre and is a good option too. I'd say about 15 mins walk. Much nicer for strolling around.

Stephens Green (right beside the shopping centre) is a huge park, so ideal for a picnic and a wander.

It is close to Camden St pp mentioned too.

Don't be getting breakfast items from Lidl! There is no need.

If you don't have breakfast included, you can easily get an affordable breakfast from a range of cafes; there are several M&S cafes for example (eg Grafton St); Bewley's on Grafton Street is a nice option or Avoca (bottom of Grafton St / Nassau St) - that's a little more pricey but you could have a very filling breakfast that would do for lunch too.

In terms of meals, ditto. You obviously have the usual fast food options but also mid-price options - Milano's is the Irish trading name of Pizza Express & has the same menu. There are several in Dublin including Grafton St.

There are a number of nice, affordable restaurants eg Dunne & Crescenzi (Frederick St, off Stephen's Green). You can get tapas options there & lovely wine, Fallon & Byrne another option like that (the restaurant is expensive but the bar part downstairs is fine). I can suggest more!

There's no point in going to Dublin to eat crap supermarket food in your room & it's not more expensive than any UK city (obviously it will be more expensive than regional areas).

I think things like coffee & pastries can be over-priced but generally, the advantage of Dublin is that there are plenty of options.

(Sometimes it's eyewateringly expensive in other parts of Ireland where there's limited choice).

Amazing thank you!

Yes, eating a sad croissant in the hotel is not really the most appealing options (although owuld do with it if I had to) and I planned to check a few new things out, so noting down all of these!

Oh this is MUCH better than my suggestions... do this!!