Dublin City Break

Dublin City break

Dublin is like a laboratory for a warm welcome. A handshake here, a ‘How’s it goin’! there and you’ve found a new home. TripAdvisor agree, too, calling Dublin ‘Europe’s friendliest city, with the friendliest locals’. Sure where else would locals line up to bring visitors out for a drink and a welcome to the city. Dubliners love a good chat you see, and grab any chance to share their worldly wisdom with visitors. Everyone from the barman pulling your pint, to the old lady in the shop will have a few words of advice to see you on your way. As well as uber-friendly locals, the city is a magic sack of quite awesome things to do to keep your head happy. Festivals, gigs and exhibitions run the whole year round and once the sun heads for bed, the evening air starts to fill nicely with tunes from cosy pubs , clinking cutlery in restaurants and people making their merry way to the night of a lifetime. So leave your cares and worries in a dark corner of the wardrobe, grab your glad rags and pop over to ‘Europe’s friendliest city’.

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Good Taste

Eating out has become a bit of a sport in the city, with restaurants wielding Early Bird wars via special menu blackboards lining the likes of South William St and Parliament St. Eating on a budget in Dublin is a most mouth-watering and penny-saving experience. The Farm whips up delicious meals from the finest Irish ingredients with fercious pride. While down the street, the Fire Restaurant matches jaw-dropping interior with marvelous munchables for the finest date-night spot in the city. The Elephant & Castle off the cobbled Temple Bar Square is known for their seriously more-ish chicken wings (thank god for wet wipes) and a vibey atmosphere. For desert try Death by Chocolate – all the joy of chocolate and none of the, eh, well, the death. Sadly, time travel is still impossible, (hurry up science!) but Dublin’s Palace Bar is the next best thing. With an interior that hasn’t changed much since 1823, The Palace was the favoured watering hole to some of Ireland’s literary titans, like Patrick Kavanagh and Harry Kernoff. With overflowing flower boxes hanging outside and a cosy atmosphere inside, The Palace’s character is as strong as the whiskey behind the bar. If the walls in O’ Donoghues bar on Merrion Row could talk, they’d probably sing. O’ Donoghues was the famous meeting place of trad music icons The Dubliners. The pints are still flowing inside today where pumping trad music and mighty craic are dished out in equal amounts.

Fun for Free

The Fair City can easily be done on a budget, and in fact, has a shed load of attractions that are absolutely free. The blockbusters are our world-class museums and galleries. A priceless Caravaggio masterpiece at The National Gallery – free. Francis Bacon’s entire studio reconstructed from London at the Hugh Lane – gratis. Science made interactive by the bright minds at Trinity’s Science Gallery – not a button. Colossal whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling at the National History Museum – well, you get the idea. Pockets of green dot the captial, with city parks and gardens perfect for a picnic, a stroll by the flowerbeds or a lie in the sun. Feed the ducks in St Stephen’s Green, soak in the surprising tranquility at the Iveagh Gardens, or cycle by deer in The Phoenix Park (Beyonce’s favourite thing to do in Dublin!). Even the majestic National Botanical Gardens in Glasnevin are totally free. Yes wallet, you’re welcome.

Festival Frolics

Ok, guilty! We in Ireland (and especially Dubliners) love a good party, so it’s no wonder that rarely a month goes by without a festival hitting the streets of our capital. The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival runs annually and sees all the glitz and glamour of the film industry wash over Dublin (we have Al Pacino this year, after making him an offer he couldn’t refuse). Then there’s the mammoth party extravaganza that is the St Patrick’s Day Festival. The highlight of which is a parade that Lady Gaga would be doing well to out-do. Outside the parade, the city turns party capital of the universe for three glorious days with comedy gigs, day-time events for the kids and a massive ceílí where you might even meet your own green-eyed love. In autumn, the Fringe Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival rock the town in seriously dramatic style bringing cutting edge drama so sharp that it needs to be packed in bubble wrap (a metaphor of course but you get the idea).

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