Places to stay in Dublin and Belfast

bill, in Dublin we stayed at Tinode House B & B and loved it. It's on Upper Drumcondra Road a bit North of the city center-a mile or two. Numerous bus lines go right by Tinode and PJ is a wealth of info on transport and anything else you might imagine-I had a fascinating conversation with him on the Troubles. And, he makes a great breakfast. Reasonably priced, excellent stay.

The best dinner we had in Dublin was at The Pigs Ear, a bit of a splurge and very good, open for lunch too, near Trinity College.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186605-d263269-Reviews-Tinode_House-Dublin_County_Dublin.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g186605-d1371315-Reviews-The_Pig_s_Ear-Dublin_County_Dublin.html

Premiere Inns in Belfast. Clean, good price. I stayed in the most recently built one in the Titanic Quarter. Easy walk to the Titanic Museum, and then across the bridge into the city centre. Doesn't miss the seafood chowder at Mourne's seafood next to the Kelly Cellars pub. Oh my!! Might be worth singing up for email blurbs from Belfast Exposed. www.belfastexposed.org. And themaclive.com for gallery and theatre options. you can travel by bus or train to Belfast. I've done both. Each very nice ways to travel. Both about two hours travel time. Remember. It's Euros in Ireland and Pounds in NI so once you've arrived in Belfast find an ATM. Happy travels.

Hotel Buswells in Dublin. Walking distance to Trinity/Book of Kells, Grafton Street, etc.

When we were in Belfast in 2012 we had a very nice dinner at the Malone Lodge Hotel, one of Rick's recommended places to stay. Although it looked like it would be quite nice, we were really happy with our Belfast B and B (Avenue Guest House) which was located just down the street from the hotel. The room was lovely and breakfast was excellent! We had a car however--I don't know what the public transportation is like in that neighborhood.

We were there in February...five of us, so we needed a larger place. we rented a Staycity Apartment (it was excellent), which was a 3-minute walk from The Brazen Head, where we had two marvelous dinners.

Hi Bill:

I was in Dublin from March 23 to March 29, and in Belfast from March 29 to April 2 of this year. In Dublin I stayed at the Pembroke Townhouse which is the favorite high end establishment of a well known guide book (not Rick Steves). This place cost $150/night for a single person. It was located in the Ballsbridge neighborhood of Dublin (read: quiet, so-called ritzy). The accommodation was great except that it was not centrally located: it took about 25 minutes to walk to central Dublin. However, a station of the DART commuter train was about two blocks away, and that train plus the LUAS light rail transported me to just about every part of Dublin that I wanted to see. Had I not visited Dublin during the 1916 Rising weekend I might have gotten a decent hotel room for less money.

One place that I considered was the Trinity City Hotel which cost about $200/night. This is across the street from Trinity College. What they don't tell you is that they are next to a fire house. Glad I skipped this one.

In Belfast I stayed 4 nights at the Europa Hotel, the place that has been bombed 30 times by the Irish Republican Army because it is so elegant,. This was a bargain: $100/night booked through booking.com. This is a really high class hotel though the rooms were a bit smaller when compared to an American hotel. By way of comparison I paid almost the same amount to stay in a fairly new university dorm in London two years ago. Europa is in central Belfast and is next to the depot that serves the bus lines for Northern Ireland which helpful when I arrived from Dublin and when I took a day trip to Derry.

I second the Europa and the breakfast buffet was excellent. So convenient for walking to many areas.

I really liked staying at Trinity College's on-campus housing that is offered to tourists during the summer months. You can't get a more central location. The Book of Kells is right on campus, Grafton Street, Merrion Square, Temple Bar, O'Connell Street all within a very short walk. It's a great experience being able to be on the main campus at night after all the crowds have gone. They offer a free continental breakfast (more than ample) in their dining hall (which looks like Hogwart's from Harry Potter) with an option to get a full, hot breakfast if you pay a small amount, and there is also coin-op laundry facilities on-site, enabling you to pack lighter as you can do a load of wash in between Dublin and Belfast. Do understand that there are some lodgings offered that are part of Trinity, but are in buildings outside of the main campus, and not all rooms have full ensuite bathrooms (some are just a sink in the room with the toilets and showers down the hall).

In Belfast I have done something similar, staying at Queen's University Elms Village campus. The campus buildings there are not historic, but all their rooms had full ensuite bathrooms (sink, toilet and shower). Similar amenities on campus such as coin-op laundry (except the free breakfast served was a full hot one), plus they provided access to communal kitchen facilities so you could store snacks, drinks or cook a basic meal. Queen's University was within easy walking distance to the Ulster Museum and the Botanical Gardens, as well as a number of restaurants and shops. Other sightseeing (and the train station) was a quick taxi or bus ride away, or you could walk there in about 30 mins (about 1.5 miles to the city center).

Buswells in Dublin or Harding in Dublin are our favorite hotels there.

We actually stayed at Travelodge in Belfast but would go for Premiere Inn city center next visit.

We were in Dublin last October and I just booked our return visit. We really liked the Trinity Hotel, located across the street from Trinity College, in one of the fire station rooms. On the other side of Trinity College is The Farm Restaurant...we liked it so much we ate there twice.

The Clarence Hotel in Dublin is a very central location if you want to overlook the River Liffy and have Temple Bar outside a private back door. It's a four star boutique hotel. When we stayed there it was owned by Bono, but I don't know if that's true anymore. You can have river view room or a Temple Bar view room. We loved it.