I originally scheduled to drop our car in Kilkenny and taking the train to Dublin.I did this because I thought that would be easier than dropping at Dublin Enterprise city center location. After our experience of returning a car in downtown Paris we’re a little leery of big cities.
can you share your experience of dropping a car at the Dublin city center offices?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6790 posts
I have not dropped off a car in Dublin so can't comment on that specifically.
That said, I would nave no particular concerns about dropping a car at that particular office. But I would avoid driving in Dublin, or in any old, large city (in Ireland or elsewhere). Not because of the agency office, but the experience driving to and in the old (and large) city center.
Do you really need a car for that last bit of your trip? Is there any real benefit in doing so? Unless you have a good reason to keep the car until then, I would dump the car at your earliest convenience (Kilkenny or elsewhere) and hop on the train. Remember, you pay by the day for cars...the sooner you cut it loose, the less it costs you.
A car is great for the far southwest, and other parts of Ireland. But once you are ready to head back to Dublin (or other places where public transit works for your plans), I'd drop the car at my first opportunity, and take the train. We had a car when we were in western Ireland and were glad we did, but we dropped it as soon as we no longer needed it - in Cork - and hopped on the train. Dropping it at the airport in Cork was easy and stress-free, the train was relaxing.
Posted by
1583 posts
It appears that there are at least two enterprise offices in Dublin city center. One is very close to St. Stephens Green, the other on the north side. I would not want to drive to the St. Stephens Green location. Too congested. Too many things to navigate around. Can you drop the car at the airport then take the bus or taxi to your destination?
Posted by
Mountains of S. Oregon
741 posts
Drop off fees, if my experience are 2-3 days worth of rental, so turning in your car one day earlier doesn't make (financial) sense. The fee is not car dependent, so if you're renting a large or luxury car, the above isn't true. I made the same decision last year, although I was coming from Dingle and debating the train (or RyanAir) from Kerry Airport versus driving, and driving was a no-brainer. We ended up arriving after 5pm so we went to DUB.
By the end of your trip, you should be pretty comfortable with driving, so if you have a good navigator (I use a Garmin dashboard GPS) that can coach you with all the turns audibly, you shouldn't have a problem. Returning to DUB and a taxi/bus ride back to town is also an option.
Posted by
12 posts
I picked up a rental and dropped off at the same Dublin City Center close to St. Stephens Green. Traffic around that rental place was not bad at all. The other alternative is to drop off at Dublin airport car rental lot.
Posted by
187 posts
We needed our car because we were going to tour the Curragh Racetrack and The Irish National Stud. So we drove the 30 miles in and dropped the car at the Enterprise outside the city on Kylemore Road. My sister did not want to drive in town. Then we took a taxi to our hotel in Dublin. It was very easy.