Hello;
I'm looking into traveling to Dublin mid February. Is 4 to 5 days ok to visit the important attractions at Dublin for the first time?. I'm assuming the weather at that time is similar to the East coast of the US?. I'm traveling from Los Ángeles. Thank you community!
José Salinas
Yes, 4-5 days is enough for Dublin. You may want to consider a day trip or two, for example take the train up to Belfast, NI for a day, lots to see there. Cold and rainy is the forecast, I imagine, for us SoCal dwellers it's a welcome change!
Don't miss the Archaeological Museum in Dublin if you have any interest, it's great.
Thank you Dave for the information!.. Yes definitely!.. It will be great to experience that climate for a few days over there!!.. By the way, you could fly directly from LAX correct?. Do you recommend to exchange money from here as well?. Thank you
You can bring a few Euro with you if you like, or make a cash withdrawal from an ATM when you arrive. You need to advise your banks and credit card providers that you'll be in Ireland from x to x. Bring a debit card and at least one credit card (or min two credit cards) so you don't have to depend on just one. Your bank will definitely charge you a fee for exchanging USD for Euro, but it's not a bad idea to arrive with at least some cash.
Yes, flights can be directly to Dublin from LAX. There's also a major airport in the West at Shannon, should you elect to arrive there and work your way around (or across) to Dublin.
Do you have a good guide for planning? Ricks Ireland book has a ton of very practical info in it:
Hopefully your "4 to 5 days" is 4 to 5 days there, on the ground, not counting your arrival or departure days. Most flights from the US leave late in the day, fly overnight and arrive in Ireland in the morning (ie a "redeye" flight). Note that your arrival day will typically be in a jet-lagged fog, so don't count that as usable time. Likewise, on your departure day, no matter what time your flight is scheduled, that whole day is going to be consumed with tasks around getting to your return flight.
Are you really planning to go all the way to Europe for just 4 days or so? If that's all you can manage, and that's all you want, OK, but...you know it's a long way to go for what effectively works out as a long weekend. The cost of your airfare will be better spread over a longer stay if you can swing it. There's plenty to see and do in Ireland, to me it seems a shame to go all that way and only be there for a few days.
Your bank will definitely charge you a fee for exchanging USD for Euro, but it's not a bad idea to arrive with at least some cash
You really do not need to (and don't want to) "exchange" any money. Just bring your ATM/debit card linked to your bank at home. Upon arrival, you will find plenty of perfectly functional ATMs in your arrival airport. You can't miss them. Just use your ATM/debit card in one of those machines to pull some cash (in Euros) from your account at home. Yes, give your bank(s) a heads up so they don't suspect fraud and lock your card. Many of us always travel with at least 2 ATM cards and 2 credit cards (each linked to separate accounts...avoid having all your eggs in the same basket).
One last consideration: however many days you do stay, in February, the days are going to be on the short side, so be sure to factor that into your plans (and how much you plan to accomplish each day).
Ireland's great. Have fun.
Cant comment on the weather then but we just returned from two plus weeks there. Spent our first three nights in Dublin to acclimate and see the area. From Seattle it "wasted" a day for travel but we had 2.5 days to see the sights and that let us do a number of museums in the city - the Gaol, EPIC immigration museum, Trinity college tour I highly recommend. If you truly have 4 or 5 days there are tons of day tours you can book from Dublin - Powerscourt gardens, Belfast, even West but means more time in transport and less time seeing things. Good luck!
The National Museum of Ireland in Dublin was a nice surprise for us, because we were not expecting to see a Bog Bodies exhibit. Very educational, it was the highlight of my day.
If you are in LA - Bretton Woods in Brentwood is a good and fair currency exchange. It is on San Vicente.
The highlight for us in Dublin is Kilmainham Goal. I believe you need advance tickets but maybe in February that might not be necessary. We were there end of October last year and were able to just walk in and there were nine of us. Have been there three times and it stil! amazes me.
