Hello again! I’m back with a couple of new posts for you all 🙂 Those of you in the UK may know that we have a lot of Bank Holidays this year and, as was advised all over social media and the internet in general in January, I started booking all my 2022 time off around those dates. As a result, it feels like I’ve been off work more than I’ve been in so far!

A little after the Easter Bank Holiday I took my first trip to the Republic of Ireland to see its capital, Dublin. Here’s how I spent my time there!

First of all, I have to say how truly blessed and lucky I was with the weather! The UK and Ireland are not exactly known for phenomenal weather, but it was a delightful 19/20 degrees throughout my stay without a drop of rain. Can you imagine?

Let’s start with a few things that didn’t go to plan. This isn’t actually Dublin’s fault, but my travel to the city was a nightmare. I flew, as I often do, with Ryanair, who by now have a reputation for being a bit of a nightmare. I’ve never had any issues until this trip. The flight to Dublin should have taken 40 minutes, but we were delayed outbound and inbound, with nobody explaining why we were delayed by hours until take off (the reason was to do with very bad coordination of Ryanair and the airport). The staff at the gate were rude and unhelpful, so it really fell to the passengers to keep each other informed and make sense of things. A bit of a shame, but these things do happen sometimes!

As a result of the above shenanigans, I arrived into Dublin later than I planned to, but luckily the airport is not very far away. I do wish Dublin’s airport was better connected, however. The only way into the centre is by bus or by taxi. The bus comes fairly regularly but it does take somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour to get to the main stops in Temple Bar. The only upside to this was that I was bang on time for when I could check into my hotel. Just bear this in mind, particularly if you’re arriving very late or will be a in a rush for a transfer or something.

I’m going to set this post out a little differently to help people find the information they might be after 🙂

Where I stayed

I usually opt for Airbnb, but this time I went with a hotel. For my dates, there wasn’t much price difference between the two options and since it was only two nights, I figured a hotel would be fine. I found a room via Booking.com at The Belvedere (click here to see their site). As I’ve used Booking a fair few times before, I get a small discount on bookings which can be helpful. To my delight, I was actually upgraded on arrival! They put me in a huge double room with a lovely, wide bathroom. Not sure why, but this was a great surprise after the trials of travelling. The hotel was quite close to the centre, the staff were lovely and I found my room satisfactory. It’s a mid-range place, so you can definitely stay in Dublin for cheaper (important in a city famed for its expensiveness), but if you have some wiggle room in finances, this isn’t a bad choice.

What I did

Given this was a short trip, I was a little pressed for time, but I’m happy with what I managed to see. I skipped usual sites like Dublin Castle (many folks have told me it disappointed them) and visiting the Long Room at Trinity College. The 18 Euro price tag seems a bit steep to me, especially when many other universities across Europe will let you see their buildings for free. That being said, these are some things I might do on a return visit. One thing I’m sad I did not get time for was the EPIC museum; a museum documenting the history of Irish emigration around the world. The concept sounds so interesting and this would be top of my list on a return visit. I’m actually very proud of myself for not getting too caught up in hitting every tourist spot on this trip.

So, what did I do instead? Well, my first day was spent hunting down the city’s vast network of street art – mostly with the help of this excellent map. The creator of this map has also put in a filter option to show their favourite spots for coffee, so if you fancy a coffee crawl, this might also be the map for you. Hunting down the street art also allowed me to walk around a huge amount of the city, which is quite small for a capital to be honest, and allow me to acquaint myself with the main areas. I also spent some time in the lovely Dubh Linn gardens. After dinner (more on that below), I had an early night ready for an adventure the next day.

Most of my second day was spent over in Howth, a coastal village popular with day trippers. This lovely village offers boat trips as well as cliff walks, the latter of which I went there to do. I initially planned to follow the shortest route on the cliffs, which should have got me back to the village in no more than 2 hours, but I diverged from the path and ended up out there a fair bit longer. This wasn’t a problem though as the sun was shining, the scenery was gorgeous and I unexpectedly befriended a fellow solo traveller along the way. We finished the rest of the walk together then returned to the village for lunch.

Howth is only a short train ride from Dublin and can be reached on the DART, which are Dublin’s trains. The journey takes about 40 minutes and it’s the last stop on the line so you pretty much can’t go wrong. I am directionally-challenged and get lost all the time but I had no issues with this 😀 After we got the train back to Dublin, we spent a little time exploring the HUGE city park, Phoenix Park. You could literally spend a whole day here. It’s allegedly the biggest park in Europe! I wanted to see the herd of deer that live there but that requires a bit of planning. If you want some tips, I found this guide quite insightful and would use it if I went back.

My final day was not a full day as I needed to get back to the airport for an early evening flight, but I spent the morning in Merrion Square park. This park is close to the National Museum of Dublin, which I was heading to next, but I actually wanted to see some of the sculptures there, such as the famous one of Oscar Wilde and the Joker’s Chair, a tribute to the Irish actor Dermot Morgan, who was best known for his major role in Father Ted. Watching this cult classic as a child, I felt like I had to see it!

There are a couple of ‘national museums’ in Dublin, but the one I’m referring to here is the archaeological one, which houses the so-called Bog Men, three individuals who were found in various states of preservation in one of the many bog sites to be excavated across Ireland. The museum was quite interesting but I did find the signage lacking and some of the galleries were unfortunately closed-off. I think a lot of people visit, unsurprisingly, for the Bog Men as they are a bit unusual. There’s one man in particular whose hands have been preserved incredibly well and it’s easy to forget just how long ago he would have died. Something I did learn at the museum that surprised me is that in these bog sites, items as varied as books and weapons have been found, some of which are believed to have been put there for storage. It blows my mind that something as wet and muddy as a bog could preserve materials like those used in books. Incredible, no?

After a quick bite to eat, it was time to hop back on the bus to the airport. Truly, I only scratched the surface of Dublin, but I had a really wonderful time! My final tip here is in regards to the airport bus. When you’re taking it back, don’t be too confused about the direction as the bus goes in a loop. I wanted to hop on at Temple Bar but I was convinced that wasn’t possible as the bus would need to go in the opposite direction to the airport. The bus does however loop back on itself so you can hop on there or at a later stop when the bus is heading back in the direction of the airport! Do grab a return ticket on your bus journey as it’s valid for one month so you can head back pretty flexibly.

Where I ate

Just a few mentions of some places I ate at.

I’m afraid I have no suggestions for breakfast as I decided to buy simple bakery items to go with the coffee/tea in my room to save money :p

On my first evening in Dublin, I opted to visit Sano Pizza in Temple Bar. This went down a real treat after my travels and the price was quite good considering how expensive Dublin can be. I had a pizza, drink and an ice cream sundae which was DIVINE. If you go here and aren’t allergic to nuts, please order the hazelnut sundae, it’s a beautiful concoction of vanilla ice cream, Ferrero Rocher, caramel and chocolate.

In Howth, I dined with my newly made friend at the food market there. Since Howth is a coastal village, it may come as no surprise that many of the local restaurants are seafood related. There is also a very popular fish and chip shop on the main road. The food market, however, offers food from a variety of traders. On the day I visited, many of them were closed for some reason, but I still found some excellent food in the form of a chicken pesto panino, muffin and mocha. Consider giving the food market a go if you fancy keeping your options open.

I also ate at two other places in Dublin: Kimchi Hophouse and The Ramen Bar. Kimchi Hophouse is part Korean restaurant and part Irish pub. The portions were so big that I really had to push myself to finish. I ordered the yangnyeom chicken as a starter since it’s been a really long time since I ate it and I swear there were about 15 pieces of fried chicken. Definitely better shared! On top of that I ordered a kimchi bibimbap so I went to bed very full that day haha.

The Ramen Bar is close to Temple Bar and was also very good. There are actually a few Japanese people working there which is not often the case for Japanese restaurants in the UK at least. The team seemed very international from what I could gather which I really liked! The food was delicious. I had yakitori for a starter which was perfectly salted, then a katsu curry for my main. The curry came slightly different than usual with quite a large side salad on the side, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Things to consider / questions you might have

Is Dublin really so expensive?

Yes and no. It depends where you are coming from. Coming from the UK, Dublin seemed quite pricey to me. To the girl I met in Howth, who was from Switzerland, Dublin was quite cheap

Is Dublin safe?

Overall, I felt quite safe, but I did feel a little unnerved on O’Connell Street simply because there was always some nonsense going on there, either people arguing and shouting or, a one point, an individual who was threatening passers-by. Liberty Lane is another sketchy spot. I loved the graffiti and street art but it definitely felt unsafe walking down there alone. There are a number of neighbourhoods you are advised to avoid due to high crime rates. Guides for these can be found freely on Google. Finally, just be careful at night / at the weekend in places where people will be drinking e.g. Temple Bar. As in most big cities, these are spots where trouble is likely to arise.

Basically, just be sensible and you’ll be fine 🙂

Can I visit The Giant’s Causeway?

Yes, there are several day trips available, usually in a package with a visit to Belfast and/or Game of Thrones filming sites. Since I’ve been to Belfast before, this seemed counterintuitive to me and I think I’d much prefer returning to Northern Ireland and visiting The Giant’s Causeway at a more leisurely pace. The tours are usually all day affairs and I imagine the stops will be quite rapid, but it’s totally up to what you want to do and how much time you have.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Have you been to Dublin before?