We are going to Paris in late March to early April. Probably a 12 day vacation. Thinking about either going to London or Dublin for sometime before heading to Paris. Having a hard deciding which place to go. We like some history, taking some tours but also having time to spend on our own, pubs, eating...... Just taking it all in. My husband is leaning more toward Dublin and I am toward London. Any advise to help us decide?
I loved London but Dublin and the Irish just stole my heart so Dublin gets my vote!
There is probably more to see and do in London than Dublin, so it may depend on how much time you have. Dublin has some great history, but you can probably see what you want to see in two full days, maybe three. You can do some easy day trips from Dublin to see places like Newgrange or Glendalough, but the same can be said of London. If you are in to museums then the British Museum is one of the best, Dublin doesn't have anything of that size. St. Paul's Cathedral in London also tops anything in Dublin, and then there is Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and a host of other places. I think Dublin would be more of a contrast to Paris as it is much smaller. You could easily spend two weeks in London and not see everything, but I spent four days in Dublin and had pretty much exhausted the list of what I wanted to see. I found a lot of the places in Dublin were easy to walk to, and it was easy to find some good music in a pub in the evening. London, being so much larger, you will probably have to use the hop on hop off bus or transit to get around.
Both certainly have their advantages. To me, London has more of a big city feel than Dublin. You should certainly fly open jaw to Dublin or London and out of Paris to home. Check out the prices for doing this. I also think you should consider the ease of going from one city to Paris. It is far easier to go from London to Paris via the Eurostar. . You can certainly fly from Dublin to Paris but if you consider this via a budget airline be aware that most of them have very strict luggage policies and also most do not fly into CDG airport.
We flew from Dublin to PAris this past june on Aerlingus. . it was easy . cheap ( buy tickets months in advance for best prices) and flew into Charles de Gaulle.. do not use Ryan air to fly in or out of Paris as they use Beauvais airport for paris and its super inconvenient.
I love London.. and Dublin..
I would probably choose Dublin for this trip as it would be a good contrast to Paris.. more homey sort of..