I will be traveling with my 18 Y/O daughter to Ireland in July and plan on spending 4 days in Dublin. We will spend some of the time with relatives but I would like my daughter to enjoy some of the pubs in Temple Bar area and music from her Irish heritage. She is a college student and looking forward to her first trip abroad. We would also like some recommendations for good Irish food. Also, is there any areas we need to avoid for safety reasons. Everyone has been very helpful with our travel and cell phone questions. Thanks for all of your recommendations.
If I were to be honest which is my nature, Templebar on a Weekend is not a place the locals go. Too many pre wedding flings on short flights into Dublin and straight to TB. Just take the usual precautions, Dublin is a safe city. The Brazen Head is a place that springs to mind with the Music and Food link just up river from Temple Bar. By Stevens Green, The Farm is an upcoming restaurant if slightly pricey, Sinnotts is good for pub grub.
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Two rules for Ireland, Take your time & bring a sense of humour
Thanks for the recommendations. Would it be feasible to stay at Eliza Lodge the night before our 8:30am flight back to the states.....we would take a cab to the airport.
Should work! Remember to allow 3 hours at the airport if you will be doing customs and pre-clearance if going back to the US. That would probably be a 4:30 wake up call, and a 5 AM cab pickup appt. Ask the cab if 30 minutes is suitable for morning rush hour when scheduling the pick-up time and it should be fine! If you stayed near the airport, you would only get to sleep in an extra 30 minutes or so!
A good airport hotel is the Premier Inn. If you book on-line well in advance, you can sometimes land a 39 Euro double room.
Temple Bar is Tourist Central in the afternoon and early evening. About 9-ish and onwards it turns a bit rowdy and seems to indulge the 'Binge Drink' crowd -- particularly on the week ends when the Stag and Hen parties invade.
Your daughter might actually prefer the Smithfield area and places like the Cobblestone, if she's looking for 'Authentic' Dublin.
We prefer not to be around rowdiness and binge drinking so maybe we will go to Temple Bar earlier in the evening. I did read on trip advisor where some tourists staying in the Temple Bar area had difficulty sleeping at night due to the noise. However, we will be there on a Sunday night...not sure if that makes a difference. I forgot to ask, we like smooth jazz as well and enjoy a good place to relax and listen to relaxing jazz...any recommendations for jazz in Dublin? Thanks in advance.
Just read about a pub crawl in trip advisor with two musicians. They play traditional Irish music and take you to three pubs for 2.5 hours.....have to pre-book only $15/person. Highly recommended With good reviews. http://www.viator.com/tours/Dublin/Dublin-Traditional-Irish-Music-Pub-Crawl/d503-2932MPC