An idea to visit Dublin was as spontaneous as most of my city breaks in Europe, and honestly it’s my favourite way of travelling – no overthinking, no planning, just a chilled weekend away in a new country with an awesome companion.
Known for Ireland’s oldest library, traditional pubs, Guiness and whiskey, Dublin is a modern city with a warm and friendly atmosphere – it’s lively yet intimate at the same time which makes it an amazing city-break choice.
Here’s my 48 hours in Dublin:
Trinity College
We had only 48 hours to spend in Dublin but I knew that one of the places I definitely don’t want to miss out is Trinity College, it was on my ”to-see” list for quite some time and after seeing it on ”Normal People” on Netflix I wanted to visit this place even more. This beautiful university is spread over a 51 acre campus, and combines historic architecture with state of the art facilities.
Trinity Library
One of the most famous features of the Trinity College is its amazing Library, which is also the largest Library in Ireland. The entrance (30min access + free Audio-tour) costs €18.50 pp (depending on the day/time). You’ll be able to see the remarkable Book of Kells and of course the main chamber: Long Room, that made me gasp.
Temple Bar
Temple Bar Pub is firmly on every visitor’s bucket list so I’m sure it seems familiar. In fact, Temple Bar is so famous that they actually named the entire neighborhood after it. Temple Bar area is famous for its colorful, vibrant buildings, pubs and tourists getting super drunk and super loud but Dublin’s lively nature is undeniably part of its charm and appeal.
Dublin Castle
We didn’t go inside the Castle because the queue was enormous but Dublin Castle offers insightful tours of the history of the city, as well as the opportunity to view the beautiful state apartments.
National Gallery of Ireland
Museums and Art Galleries are my thing, one of my favorite museums was the SMK – Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen and the structure of the National Gallery of Ireland seemed somehow familiar.
Colorful doors of Dublin
The colorful doors of Georgian houses in Dublin honestly brightened up our trip. Luckily our hotel was based on one of those pretty streets, but most common areas to see them is Dublin 4 postal district (Leeson Street Lower, Leeson Street Upper, Fitzwilliam Square) or Rathmines area.
Guiness, Whiskey and Irish coffee with Live Music at the local pub
If there’s anything sentimental about our trip to Dublin, it’s us singing to the live music at Peadar Kearney’s Pub, such an amazing experience! I’m not a fan of alcohol but I tried the iconic Irish coffee and it swept me off my feet – and people say us, Polish people are heavy drinkers, I wouldn’t be so sure haha! Another great place with live music and traditional, Irish dance performances is The Church Café, Late Bar & Restaurant.
Restaurants & Cafe’s
Angelina’s Restaurant and Deli
* Some of these places were recommended to me by Eliza, who lives in Dublin and certainly knows the best places loved by locals.
Is Dublin expensive?
It’s probably one of the most expensive places I’ve ever been to (except Copenhagen). Eating/drinking out in particular is not cheap, but also taxi, hotels, even groceries at the local stores.
Hotel
We’ve stayed at the Clayton Hotel Burlington Road and it was okay, pretty basic but we just wanted a place to sleep – however I looooved the location. Dublin in general is a walkable city, but staying in the area full of pretty houses with colorful doors was Clayton’s main highlight.
Public transport
As mentioned above, Dublin is a walkable city – just make sure you stay at the hotel that isn’t extremely far from Dublin City. I was very surprised when I found out you can’t pay by card on the buses, that’s quite uncommon nowadays (according to Google, this option should be available late 2023).
The taxis were rather pricey, especially from/to the airport. I paid 40eur for a 20min ride to the airport because I had my flight at 6am. But there’s a cheaper alternative that we’ve used on our way to the hotel, Aircoach that goes from/to the airport and departs up to every 15 minutes 24/7 (about 10Eur pp.)
Is Dublin safe?
Just like any other, large city – going out on your own at night is never a good idea, however Dublin felt like a very safe place to visit as a solo, female traveler. I wandered around the city on my own when my friend had her beauty sleep. It was an early, Sunday morning and apart from few, hungover or ”still kind of drunk but slowly recovering from a night out” people in the Temple Bar area, I didn’t feel uncomfortable or unsafe at all.
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