Lodging outside of dublin, near train station

keo · Newbie

Lodging outside of dublin, near train station

Michele Erdvig · Host

Welcome to my forum! Malahide village is not far from the airport. From Malahide you can get DART into Dublin. From Dublin you can get a train to Galway.

Seems like your whole time will mostly be in or near Connemara. Have you thought of choosing a central base instead of packing up and moving on every day? Clifden or Galway might suit you. Are you staying at Ashford Castle in Cong? If not, you should know that it is very small and you can see the village, Abbey and woods in the matter of an hour or two.

Irrover · Veteran Member

I just stayed at the Hilton Dublin Airport after arriving late. They had a bus to/from Malahide in the evening and morning. They dropped me off at 7pm and picked me up at 10 pm. Malahide is a nice village with several good pubs and restaurants right on the waterfront harbor. You could then take their bus back to the airport the next day and catch one of the airport direct buses to Galway. Booking in advance is very inexpensive for these buses. If you decide on Michele's suggestion, the Dart is convienient and buying Irish Rail tickets online at least three days in advance will also save you money. For example, Irsi Rail from Kilkenny to Dublin one way ranges from E13 3 days out, E19 1-2 days before to E24 at the train station.

Michele Erdvig · Host

You mention you are getting in "later". What time? You could opt to stay closer to the airport. Look at the Premier Inn, which has much lower rates. They have a decent restaurant at that hotel. But it is an airport hotel so no cute village. The nearest town is Swords.

You could try a B&B in Malahide or the Grand Hotel. I usually stay at Beechwood in Malahide but it is not walking distance to town. You would have to take a taxi. Maybe the cost difference would pay for the taxi.

I would definitely do 2 nights in Clifden and not bounce around so much.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Great additional info, Irrover. I wasn't aware of the Hilton's bus into Malahide village. Makes sense though.

keo, That makes more options for your trip.

keo · Newbie

Malahide looks like a great option, thank you! I think the Hilton would be perfect except that it is a bit expensive at 200 euros per night. For such a quick stay, this might be too much for us. It looks like it would be two buses from malahide to the train station, does that sound right? Also thank you for the head's up on cong, that is very good to know. Good point on the bouncing around. We are doing that to match up the lodging with my parents who are biking from place to place. We may cut out renvyle and do two nights in clifden instead. It looks like we would still be able to do the national park and kylemore abbey on our way from leenane. Would you recommend still dropping in to renvyle? We were going to stay at the renvyle house which looked lovely but didnt see much else. Perhaps we should skip this all together? Do you have any recommended sites or restaurants/pubs in any of these locations? Thank you for the feedback! Katie

Irrover · Veteran Member

If you decide to go straight through to Galway from the Airport, better off taking one of the express buses. Cost is about E15 with free wi-fi and take about 3 hours or less. So you would be lucky to get to Galway by 9:30pm. Train would take much longer since would need to get into Dublin and transfer to the train. see http://www.dublinairport.com/gns/to-from-the-airport/by-bus-or-coach.aspx

-- Edited by Irrover on Tuesday 12th of February 2013 06:20:02 PM

keo · Newbie

We get in to dublin at 6pm on saturday. Thank you for the b&b recommendation in malahide, it looks very nice. I have emailed for availability. Unfortunately premier inn is sold out. Despite our inevitable jet lag, perhaps we should consider taking the last train to Galway the day we arrive and stay over there instead. I think it would have us there by 9pm or so. Any thoughts?

keo · Newbie

Also, we are going ahead with the 2 nights in clifden, thank you for that recommendation!

Michele Erdvig · Host

I agree with Irrover that the bus would be most efficient if you decide to go directly from Dublin Airport to Galway: http://www.gobus.ie/

tony2phones · Guru

Go bus is the best option and the Forster Court hotel is just next door so possibly a good option for the night. Budget Car rental is just down the road also on Forster Street.