Car rental in Dublin

I would advise you should return your car to the Dublin Airport upon your return, for the simple reason that Dublin is very difficult to drive in...one way streets, congested, and very limited parking. Drop your car, and rely, instead, on a very good bus/public transportation system to get around in Dublin, and also to return to the airport for your flight home. I would suggest that the car will be of very little use to you in Dublin proper, it is a compact city and easy to get around in, either by bus or on foot.

Hertz may be different, but I think the airport fee is only charged when you pick the car up there, not when you drop it off. And I agree that you would be better off dropping the car at the airport first, before going into the city center. Even if you aren't planning on parking, traffic can be a nightmare. And depending on where your hotel is, you might run into the problem of one-way streets, which you can't foresee from a map. Most of the car rentals (if not all) have their airport offices offsite, so you don't have to actually go up to the airport proper. Again, Hertz may be different.

Yes, Hertz tells me the airport service charge is a one-time fee assessed on pick-up. Thanks for the correction. The Hertz Dublin City office is at 151 South Circular Rd; is this hard to get to? I guess we could drop off car back at airport instead; then all (4) of us would have to get round-trip airlink bus tickets into the city, with return to airport a couple days later. Guess that would probably be best. Thanks for your help!

You don't say where you are staying or where you are coming from, so I can't judge whether it's near the city center office, but just looking at the map I really wouldn't suggest dropping it off there. If you are coming from the north you'll have to go right through the busiest part of town and across the river. Knowing which direction you'll be coming from would help.

We will be coming in from Galway on the M4 (becomes N4, in Dublin). It intersects with the R111, a ring road that swings around the city to the south, becoming Parnell Rd on the south side. We would exit at Donore Ave, turning left (north) for about 1 block, to S Circular Rd, turning right (east) for 1 block to Hertz City Center office. There appear to be bus stops located at the corner of Donore Ave and S Circular Rd (one block away). We would be arriving on a Saturday afternoon. Since our lodgings are at Trinity College, we probably would avoid driving into the heart of the city to drop-off the family; just drive straight to the Hertz office and everyone take the bus into downtown. Does this make any difference regarding your advice?

Yep, that makes a world of difference. If you plan to all go to the car rental and then take the bus, that would be your best option since Trinity isn't all that far from there. But I wouldn't suggest trying to drive to Trinity to drop everyone off, as you originally suggested. There is massive traffic around that area and one way streets (as well as Grafton St, which is pedestrian). Be aware that part of that drive is a toll road, too -- have some change ready.

We've decided to go ahead and drive straight away to the Hertz City Center office to drop-off car; then take bus into downtown to Trinity College area. (Not sure where this "permit only" driving in city center begins, but surely not out where the rental car office is, since their customers have to be able to return rented cars.) I understand from the Dublin Bus company that the fares (EUR 1.50/each) and time it takes to get into city center from the Hertz location is about half as long as from the airport, so this is the preferable plan for us. Then we'll just catch the airlink bus out to the airport on morning we fly out, Thanks for your input, all!

We are also planning our 4th trip to Ireland, noticed the location of the Hertz downtown branch on s Circular rd. is about 1 ml south of the liffy and west of center, they don't pick you up, would need a taxi or bus to get there.Enterprise has an downtown office and will pick you up, simular rates, I still have'nt decided what car company to rent from, we want an Automatic for 12 days. Also, we always buy the super cdw to cover any damage, and not have the 1200 euro deductable held on our credit card.