We suggest a four day Dublin city break in Ireland should be spent taking in all the sights and sounds that the city has to offer.
Youtube link to the JustRetired50Plus recommended Dublin-City cycle tour Video:-
To view the video select:- https://youtu.be/WT4LFKiXSpY
Dublin, Ireland’s capital city a vibrant city, with mountains, countryside, and the sea, all within 20 minutes of its centre
For a four day city break, Dublin cannot be recommended enough. It is friendly and intimate, yet bursting with life and energy all year round, with luxury hotels, trendy restaurants, cafes, shops and nightlife as well as a thriving arts and culture scene. There is lots to see and do, with its Dublin Bay boat trip from Dun Laoghaire to Howth; Guinness Storehouse and Jameson Whiskey Distillery tours; shopping opportunities; theatre and cultural events; and the easy laid back attitude of the people of Dublin, adding to a sense of well being and the general up-beat nature of the Irish.
A sense of Dublin, Ireland 2019
Over the years, we have hosted many friends who have visited Dublin, sometimes as part of their European tour. We recommend that they stay in any one of the numerous city-centre hotels. They are all just “around the corner” from the main shopping area, including Grafton Street, and within easy walking distance of the cobbled alleyways of the Temple Bar cultural quarter, which is a nice place to wander during the day and “do lunch” in one of its many lovely and quirky restaurants. However, be warned, it takes on a very different loud pub scene at nighttime. There are a multiplicity of coffee shops and bars, in which to relax, when retail therapy gets too much.
We reckon that Dublin is a safe city relative to others we have visited around the world, provided of course that you take common sense precautions.
Recommendations for Dublin, Ireland 2019
A great way to spend four days in Dublin, in our opinion, would be something along the following:
Day 1: Explore Dublin City - get a ticket online and do the hop-on hop-off double-decker bus tour of Dublin, taking in all the sights, be sure to get off the bus for a bit of history, of the blood-and-guts kind, at Kilmainham Gaol, the scene of some of the most important and tragic episodes of Irish history, including the imprisonment and execution of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. Take in the near-by IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Day 2: Do the Guinness Storehouse tour and take in a Jameson or Telling Distilleries Whiskey tour. The Guinness Storehouse provides an interactive experience that fuses Ireland’s brewing heritage with Irish history. The Storehouse is Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction, where thousands of eager-eyed visitors make their way up through the exhibits until they reach the Gravity Bar at the top – and the free glass of what the cognoscenti consider the best Guinness in the world. The Jameson tour is the longest established while the newish Teeling Distillery in the Liberties, is the first distillery to open in Dublin for 125 years.
Day 3: Take a full day Wild Wicklow Tour up the Dublin and Wicklow mountains - It is possible to do day trips to the Cliffs of Moher; the Giant’s Causeway or Blarney Castle, however, all of these destinations are over a 100 miles from Dublin. The wild Wicklow Way is within 15 miles of your hotel. Dublin lies on a secluded bay in the foothills of the Dublin mountains, less than half an hour by coach.
Day 4: If you are interested in cultural attractions, take in the Museums, Art Gallery and the Trinity College tour and if possible try to get to see the Book of Kells in the Library.
If you are more of a music and alcohol buff then do the Dublin Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl.
On anyone of the nights, be sure to book either Taylors Three Rock or The Merry Ploughboy for organised dinner and Irish night stage entertainment, or freestyle it in Johnnie Fox’s pub. All three have buses that do hotel pickups and they are each a great nights entertainment.
I suppose all good things come to an end. So its time to pack up. If your flight is in the evening, it should be possible to leave your luggage in the hotel’s designated luggage room and perhaps hit the shops for the last minute gifts, or you can always linger on a bar stool with your glass of preferred wine or beer……………..”What’s not to like about that !”
Our must see recommendation for a trip to Dublin, Ireland 2019:-
(1) A one day Wild Wicklow coach trip, around the Dublin-Wicklow mountains.
(2) the Guinness Storehouse tour and take in a Jameson or Telling Whiskey Distillery tour
(3) On anyone of the nights in Dublin, book either Taylors Three Rock or the Merry Ploughboy for dinner and an Irish traditional music and dance extravaganza, they are a great nights entertainment. Alternatively, a trip to Johnny Fox’s, reported to be the highest pub in Ireland, is a must - the food is delicious, entertainment great, with lots of old memorabilia to feast your eyes on.
The average cost per person / per week is €800 (depending on type of hotel/ accommodation selected)
All of the tour tickets are available over the web where some savings can be made.
“You should travel away from home, to really appreciate the value of what you have at home, on your return.”
Chapter One restaurant, located at 18-19 Parnell Square, in the basement of the Writer's Museum.
We do not normally write reviews on specific restaurants during our travels, save recommending ones we have visited and personally liked. We have decided in this instance to wear ‘the green jersey‘ and recommend without reservation (if your budget can rise to the occasion and you definitely have a reservation) “Chapter One”, restaurant for a memorable fine dining experience.
The Irish government decision to start the re-opening of Ireland, post COVID-19, was initiated on Friday, October 22nd 2021. This decision was taken with the knowledge that over 89% of the Irish population over the age of 12 years are now vaccinated against serious illness should they contract COVID-19 in the near future.
Within the context of the above and with what some might call ‘an early adopter mind set’……….
We left our leafy suburb of Dublin 14 on the invitation of friends to meet for a meal in Chapter One. The autumnal feeling and leaf covered paths added to an atmosphere of surrealism as we wended our way to Dublin City centre via the LUAS green line. In more recent years, taking a car into the city has become increasingly less of an option as proximity parking to venues of interest is now a rarity. Bolstered against the autumn chill, sporting scarfs and wooly hats we sat fully masked (the new norm) with the other early adopters of our new found freedom. The open light rail carriage is nowhere near to capacity with its now familiar musk of perfumes and old spice et al expectancy of a Friday night out in Dublin town.
A Dubliner in his drug induced twenties, looking the worst for ware, works the centre of the carriage between the last two stops before Stephens Green stop. “Any auld Odds ?”, he asks as he non-threateningly looks to capitalise on the buzz of the euphoria that was a palpable in the air. This upbeat feeling amongst the expectant revellers and late finishing workers making their sleepy way home, after their long days work, was a feature of the previous two years of uncertainty, isolation and worry all being released on their first night of the town for a very long time.
The quite conversations taking place around us, as a result of Dublin’s multiculturalism, are now tinted with Chinese, Spanish, Urdu and even the occasional Irish country drawl. We escaped into the chilly night on O’Connell’s street north rail stop. Our walk up along Parnell Square reinforced our overall impression of the really welcome diversity of people we passed-by on our way.
Our experience of Chapter One began with our descent down the subtly light external basement staircase. They obviously believe in the principle that ‘you only get one chance to make a first impression’. Our welcome into the warm restaurant entrance hallway was both comforting and friendly, comparable to an Irish person welcoming visitors into their own home.
As this meal was effectively a celebration of friendship between our dining partners and ourselves, it also took on the unexpected heightened sense of a freedom celebration. Not unlike a cancer patient being given the all clear or a prisoner being released from longterm incarceration, our meal took on a life of its own deserving of pushing the boat out and going all out with the ‘Taster Menu’.
The meal itself was a tour de force, befitting its Michelin star status.
The company and the conversation flowed on a steady, timely pipeline of culinary fusions.
Our taste buds were exited, titillated, massaged and satisfied throughout, from start to finish.
The staff and service were notable for their efficiency and general cheeriness.
It was a sporting perfect ‘Ten’, a musician’s joy of feeling the mellow sense of a tune, a comedian’s owning and conducting of an audience. Suffice to say that, we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.
We feel that our special fine dining experience at Chapter One was comparable to the taster meal we previously enjoyed in the Burj Al Arab in Dubai or the Cliff in Barbados. The best thing about Chapter One is that it is in Dublin and we are proud to say as Dubliners…….OMG………..”C’mon the Dubs”.
The fish chowder at Johnny Fox’s is superb.