Our only options for picking up a car in Dublin is either the airport or in the city. I'd rather not drive in the city, but as the airport is north of Dublin it seems I would have to drive through Dublin...is there a ring road or a Dublin bypass from the airport?
Thanks!
Kathy
Do you have google maps? There is a ring road, the M50. No need to enter Dublin.
Yes, I do. Thank you!
The Ring road is just south of the airport, and it's a toll road. The rental company will pay the toll as they use transponders on the cars.
Driving in Dublin is really no big deal--other than the streets changing names every few blocks. Our rental car had a GPS in it.
What's difficult is driving some of the backroads in the southwestern part of the country. We found roads were narrow, roughly paved and they came with ditches and either mud walls or bushes on either side of the roadways. Not to mention we were driving on the opposite side than we normally drove on. It's really not a place for marginal drivers.
Just a point of clarification. Not all rental companies will pay the M50 toll. Hertz will, but National/Enterpriise will not and you will need to pay online or at a gas station. It is not a big deal, but you need to just make sure what your rental company does.
The Hertz location on South Circular Road is actually on the southern outskirts of the city, so if you picked up a car there you wouldn't even need to drive around the city. We've picked up a car there a few times, and it's been easy. We just took a 5-10 minute cab ride from our mid-town Dublin hotel.
It's also not a problem to pick the car up at the South Circular Road location and drop it at the airport at the end of your trip.
There are a couple of advantages of renting from the airport: the concessions there open at 5 AM so you could get an early start if that matters to you, and they usually have a larger fleet of cars to choose from, making it a bit easier to get an automatic which (trust me) you'll want to guarantee if this will be your first time driving on the left.
No need to drive into Dublin, and in fact I'd advise against it until you're quite familiar and comfortable with the Irish rules of the road. Central Dublin can be a rabbit warren of one-way streets and confusing interchanges which can be a challenge even for experienced drivers.
That said, the Hertz location mentioned previously out on South Circular Road looks like a great option if you plan to head west or south from the city anyway. It's a straight shot out of town and if you pick up the R115 it eventually turns into the very scenic Old Military Road thru the Wicklow mountains all the way to Glendalough. Only thing to be aware of is that they don't open till 9 AM or thereabouts so you wouldn't be able to get a super early start. I'd double-check the availability of an automatic too, though I'm advised that typically isn't a problem at that location.
Can do a Google search to familiarize yourself with the procedure for paying the M50 toll if you're not renting from Hertz.
I'm heading north to start so I decided it was worth the 30 extra euro to rent at the airport. I'll take a bus out to the airport first thing. I haven't picked up (or dropped off) there. The Hertz reception is supposed to be in the airport itself. Do you have to shuttle to the cars? I don't know. If so, that may be a good reason for you to rent at the south ring road (along with the fact that you're heading that way.
Thanks all! I'll take a look at the South Circular Road option. I drive a manual at home and I'm left-handed so I found shifting in England to be pretty easy.
