Mid 40's couple & 17 yr old daughter - arriving August in Dublin after 18 hrs. travel from West Coast of Canada - booked at Four Courts Hostel in heart of Temple Bar for 3 nights. Wondering, will it be noisy and exhausting for us with 24 hour access for guests? We have tentative reservations at centrally located Anchor Guest House, and ABC Guest House north of the city centre...any thoughts as to what might be best choice? Hostel is cheapest of course, and central, which is definetly in it's favour! Thanks for your help!
If you want cheap and central, why not book a room at Trinity College? They rent accommodation to tourists during summer months. It's as central as you can get for Dublin, clean and quiet. Definite step up from a hostel - you can book standard room with shared bathroom or get an ensuite room with your own private bathroom. Breakfast included in price. Not familiar with Anchor or ABC, but a guest house outside of Temple Bar has got to be quieter than a hostel in the thick of Temple Bar. Central Dublin is not that large, so it's pretty easy to walk, bus or taxi to Temple Bar from most neighborhoods if you are looking to experience the nightlife there.
Temple Bar is noisy - especially at night and particularly on weekends.
How do you find out about booking a room at Trinity College before leaving for Dublin? I couldn't find any information about it on the web site.
Judy
Seattle
I would definitely recommend staying elsewhere. Dublin is not that big so staying outside the city center is not a big deal. Temple Bar is a madhouse at night, esp. on weekends. Picture living in a frat house.
I don't have the details on Trinity, but that would be one good option as it is centrally located and others have said that it is quiet.
I suggest getting a quiet spot versus a hostel if you can..............others are right.......the inner city of Dublin is quite busy and noisy.......... I know the dollar is in the tank but sleep after a long journey will be welcome.
Getting around from other parts of the city is very doable.
Hope all goes well!
Thank you so much for all your valuable input. We've cancelled with Four Courts - and have booked with a lovely B&B highly recommended on TripAdvisor! Man, how did people ever do this before the internet!! Keep Travelling! :-)
As always, it depends on what you're looking for. I would second everyone's comment about Temple Bar area being noisy and expect the hostel there would be more of a party hostel than clean, quiet and cheap accomodation.
If a party hostel is what you want, go for it.
If clean and quiet is what you are hoping for, Trinity college would be a good choice and a reasonable walk to everything.
If you go with a B&B, check for availability to public transportation. As long as it's near a bus or rail station to get you downtown, it will work well for touring town in daytime.
The public transport doesn't go round the clock. I was out until late one night in Temple Bar area. The only choice was a taxi or walking and there was a lot of competition for the taxis. I was heading home about 11pm when I met some Irish gents who were determined to show me their Dublin. We pub crawled from Temple Bar to my hotel. When we got to my hotel at 3am, I asked the doorman to call a cab home for them. His response was, "There's no point, they're all too busy, they won't come." They had to try to flag something down.