Dublin brings a lot of ideas to the front of this American’s brain. Mainly, the idea that you can drink until your heart’s content! This trip was a lot of that but it was nice to get out and see a few things. While the purpose was more for visiting old friends, I was still able to get out and enjoy the town. Here are a few things to expect!
Useful Links
Dublin FAQ
The Merchant’s Arch was a real highlight of the trip with a good breakfast and wonderful interior design! It’s a really cool bar and restaurant to visit while you’re in Dublin.
Getting To Dublin
The airport is to the north of town and there are several options to get into town. You have cabs which are found all over the airport. You can even use Uber and other apps but they are connected to the cab companies and advertised a price of about €30 to go into town. I didn’t use the apps or a cab so results may vary.
I picked the Dublin Express which is a bus that goes into town and other places around Ireland several times an hour. You can prepay for your tickets or you can pay on the spot if there is space. That’s what I did. We landed and just went to the bus stop and paid with the attendant that was manning the station. You can also pay directly with the bus driver for when you return or again, pre-pay.
Lodging
We stayed in the Handel’s Hotel near Christ Church and it was an average stay. We stayed due to friends picking that hotel. It also has a digital check-in so be ready to run through an iPad and make your own key. Luckily, there is someone working there all the time but it seemed expensive for the service and amenities.
The location is super prime and it was nice to be on the west end of Temple Bar but I’d like having a bit more space. It was nice to pop out right next to the church and to be in the historic spot of the old opera house. All-in-all, I’d classify the spot as an average hotel.
Things to Do in Dublin
Teeling Distillery Tour
The Teeling Distillery is one of the few distilleries still operating in Dublin making great Irish Whiskey. We took the tour and got to enjoy the select tasting tour. This offered 4 different whiskies at the end of tour to taste.
The tour is a bit scant with a visit to only 3 different rooms in the distillery. The rooms were a general welcome area, the actual distilling room, and then finally a barreling room. There’s actually only minimal product in Dublin because all the new-make is sent off to a warehouse outside the city limits. You end in the bar and get to enjoy 4 different types with some narration of why each drink is unique.
The tour is good and I like these kind of things but it wasn’t the most exciting or adventurous. I went to the Jamison Distillery a decade ago and still have fond memories of that very immersive and fun tour. The Teeling tour was only 20-30 minutes and a few drinks. The Jamison tour was longer, more detailed, and seemed just better from my memory. The one redeeming factor is they actually make whiskey at Teeling and not at Jamison.
The Dublin Portal
We also visited the new art installation called “The Portal”. It’s just a giant circle with a screen in the middle and a live stream to New York City. I’m not really into avant-guard modern art but it was fun to see a group going back and forth between Dublin and NYC so we had to make sure to stop by and see the excitement for 15 minutes.
The portal has since been shut down on the Dublin side due to inappropriate behavior. It might be reopened with some safeguards for the future. Maybe we had too much fun and NYC just couldn’t handle us!
Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral is on of the main churches in Dublin. It’s a former Catholic Church that was taken over by the Church of Ireland. There is a provisional catholic church that acts as “pro-basilica” but these churches have since been taken over by the Irish Church.
There’s a beautiful park area that you can enter without restriction but to enter the church you’ll have to pony over €11.50 at a minimum just to go in unguided. We didn’t do that but maybe on another trip I’ll head in for the right price. The church and the park area do have a quintessential Irish feel to them!