Dublin/Belfast Know How
By Hideaways President Mike Thiel
Strolling the Temple Bar area of Dublin
DUBLIN
Having suffered through the crash of 2008 and its fallout, the Dublin we
experienced this past spring seemed to be relatively booming, or at least on
the comeback. If anything, it seemed more cosmopolitan and more international
than ever.
Getting There
Aer Lingus, Ireland's national airline, provides convenient service to Dublin from Boston, New York, Chicago, and Orlando. Their Airbus 330s were fresh and clean and
provided decent legroom in coach. That said, their service, pretty much at all levels, is average to below average at best. Certainly not the usual Irish
welcome and service. Meals were below par, while they tried to upsell you to a better meal. Our service button went unanswered--always. They failed to fix
a known problem with their entertainment system before turning the plane around in Dublin, and, given their casual attitude to this issue, I'm guessing
that the next set of passengers from Boston to Dublin suffered the same problem. In spite of this inconvenience, they offered passengers no compensation,
no courtesy comp drinks, nothing! This is not the first time Aer Lingus' service has disappointed.
Getting Around
From the Airport: We found the Airlink bus quite convenient
for traveling between the airport and downtown, as it stopped just a block or
so from The Westbury Hotel. Cost is €6. A taxi is a bit quicker but costs
more, €25--€30. The Airlink 747 is no additional cost with the
Dublin Bus 3-Day Freedom Ticket. You can buy it online, in advance, and pick it
up at the airport on arrival.
While Downtown: If you are staying centrally, use your feet.
Dublin is a great walking town. We only took taxis a couple of times, and found
them quite reasonable. Use of all buses and light-rail train is included in the
Dublin Bus 3-Day Freedom Ticket.
Things To Do/Places to See
Archeology and History Buffs: The National Museum
(www.museum.ie) is Ireland's premier cultural institution and home to the
greatest collections of Irish material, heritage, culture, and natural history
in the world. Admission is free. Trinity College (www.tcd.ie)
is home to the famous Book of Kells, literary collections, and more.
Genealogy Buffs: The National Library of
Ireland' s free Genealogy Advisory Service is an ideal starting point for those
beginning their family history research. No appointment is necessary.
www.nli.ie
Culture Buffs: The Temple Bar area is
considered the cultural center of Dublin, as well as an entertainment center.
Stop in any of the local bars for a plate of delicious local oysters washed
down with a Guinness. We also thoroughly recommend taking in a play at the
Abbey Theatre, which showcases the work of Irish playwrights, both
modern and historic.
St. Stephen's Green: One of several Georgian square parks
where you can just relax amid beautiful green gardens and enjoy rubbing elbows
with Dubliners doing the same. Free.
Kilmainham Gaol: The jail which held some of the most famous
political and military leaders in Irish history, such as Robert Emmet, Charles
Stewart Parnell, the 1916 Rising Leaders, and Eamon de Valera. Go early, before
early afternoon, as entry is limited and you may be turned away.
www.heritageireland.ie
Guinness Storehouse: The showcase for the history and
operation of the Guinness family and its brewery, it's claimed to be Ireland's
number-one visitor attraction. www.guinness-storehouse.com
Irish Whiskey Museum: This was one of our favorite places to
experience. You'll learn about the history of distilling in Ireland, its place
in society, and how it's done today. A very human, multimedia presentation that
incorporates lots of information, Irish wit, and, of course, whiskey tasting.
www.irishwhiskeymuseum.ie
Little Museum of Dublin: A succinct yet informative
introduction to Dublin through the 20th century.
www.littlemuseum.ie
Literary Pub Crawl: You won't depart this experience being an
expert in Irish literature and authors, but you will come away having been
entertained and with interesting and amusing nuggets on the topic . . . and the
opportunity to sample some historic pubs and brews.
www.dublinpubcrawl.com
Recommended Side Trips: If you are in Dublin for more than a
few days and have the opportunity, take a DART light-rail train along the
coast, either north or south of Dublin. You'll see some great scenery and
typical Irish fishing villages, and you can stop off and enjoy the freshest
seafood right where it is landed.
Staying In Touch
We were astounded by the prevalence of free Wi-Fi. All the hotels reviewed
provided free Wi-Fi, certainly not an automatic thing for many/most upscale
hotels, and every bar, restaurant, bus, train, etc., offered it as well, so it
was easy to stay in touch. In fact, after the first few days, we wondered why
we had opted for the U.K. roaming package offered by Verizon, our own local
carrier. We certainly made poor use of it.
Dining
Ireland's dining has gone very up-market in the past decade, and Dublin is home
to four Michelin one-star restaurants and one two-star, Patrick Guilbaud,
housed at The Merrion Hotel. We ate there on our last visit to
Dublin and have been raving about the setting, food, and showmanship since.
Beyond the starred restaurants, Dublin is awash in other Michelin-recommended
restaurants.
On this visit, we were busy enough that we did not incorporate an evening
devoted to dining. In fact, we found that we could usually get by with two
meals a day--the almost-always-included full Irish breakfast at the hotel, and
then dinner, with perhaps a snack of bar food, Guinness and oysters, cheese,
etc., or afternoon tea.
The Irish generally tend to eat earlier than continentals, so don't count on
being served after 10 p.m.
Where to Stay
With limited time in the city, we did not focus on checking out a lot of new
hotels or on re-checking old favorites, but we did visit a few.
The Westbury Hotel: We stayed here and can heartily recommend
this very well-located 5-star hotel. It offers just 205 rooms and suites in an
up-to-date mid-rise building, a half-block off elegant, pedestrian Grafton
Street, shopping central for Dublin. Its rooms are spacious, bright, and
beautifully decorated in a contemporary decor. The Westbury is part of The
Doyle Collection, a family-owned group of eight hotels. The service reflects
this family heritage--it's exceptional and personable. The hotel also showcases
an extensive collection of the family's private art collection.
The Merrion: We stayed at this elegant, 142-room hotel on our
last visit to Dublin and certainly enjoyed it. A boutique hotel for city
purposes, it was created from four adjoining Georgian townhouses and now
incorporates a newer wing at the back, all surrounding an attractive garden
where on a sunny afternoon you can enjoy a drink or tea. Its public areas and
rooms in the older townhouses exude a homey and traditional atmosphere with
high ceilings and traditional period decor. It also displays an extensive
collection of original art which adds to the residential feel of the hotel. The
Merrion incorporates a spa and fitness center with an attractive pool and an
overall relaxed ambience, like a city oasis. While it is well located, just a
few minutes from St. Stephen's Green and across from the government buildings,
it is a bit further from Dublin's center and hub of activity than The Westbury.
The Fitzwilliam Hotel: This is in what is, perhaps, the best
of all settings for an upscale boutique hotel. It is at the base of Grafton
Street at one corner of St. Stephen's Green, overlooking it. Its public areas,
hallways, and 138 rooms and suites feature a decor that is more modern than The
Westbury and certainly more so than The Merrion. In fact, you could say it is
rather funky and colorful. The hotel tends to be a bit boisterous and active.
Citron, its attractive primary dining venue, won the award for best hotel
restaurant in Ireland a few years back, and the Fitzwilliam is also home to
Thornton's, a Michelin-starred restaurant. We found its rooms somewhat compact
but with all the amenities you might like. Its premium deluxe suites on the 4th
and 5 th floors offer attractive terraces overlooking the Green. We
would definitely recommend reserving a room or suite on the St. Stephen's Green
side of the building and as high up as possible for the best view. We thought
the Fitzwilliam was probably the best value for the money of the hotels we
checked out.
Dublin Resources
Make sure you get a Dublin Sightseeing 3-Day Freedom Ticket,
offered by Dublin Bus (Dublinsightseeing.ie ).
It gives you 72 hours of unlimited travel on the green Hop-On/Hop-Off bus
(there is also a red Hop-On/Hop-Off bus not associated with this ticket), all
Dublin public transport including the DART for trips outside the city (e.g.,
along the coast north and south), as well as the AirLink 747 Express buses from
the airport to the center of town and with convenient stops throughout downtown
Dublin. It also provides free entry to the Little Dublin Museum (normally
€7) and a free walking tour provided by Pat Liddy Tours (normally
€10). Cost is €33 for adults, €16 for children. You are best
off ordering it online and picking it up at the airport information booth if
you plan on using that for transport to town.
Dublin Pass (Dublinpass.ie)
sightseeing card, available for 1-, 2-, 3-, and 6-day increments, provides free
entry to 30 of Dublin's top visitor attractions. It's also available at the
airport.
BELFAST
While it is rather cosmopolitan, Belfast is not quite so much so as is Dublin.
It is smaller and more intimate, and I think even a bit friendlier than
Dublin--and Dublin is already pretty friendly. Its pace still seems to be a
step behind and it's a bit quirky, all of which is in its favor as a place to
visit and experience.
Getting There and Around
If you're only focusing on Ireland's larger cities and not touring Ireland by
car, Belfast is an easy and inexpensive (about €25), two-hour train ride
from Dublin. While you are enjoying the passing scenery, you can be sipping a
Guinness and enjoying a lunch snack. The train puts you into Belfast Central
Station, on the far banks of the Lagan River but just a five-minute taxi ride
from most anywhere you are staying.
Belfast is a great town for walking. From your hotel--either along Great
Victoria Street, around Donegal Square, or in the Cathedral District--most
everything you want to see and all shopping is within a 15--20 minute walk.
Other than doing the famous "Black Cab" tour, the only cab rides we took were
from our hotel to Titanic Belfast in the old shipyards and to the Belfast City
Airport on our departure, each about 10--15 minutes and €8.
Things To Do/Places to See
You can easily and enjoyably spend two to three days in Belfast--more if you
want to use it as a base for side trips to other parts of Northern Ireland.
Titanic Belfast: This is the newest and hottest experience in
Belfast, a glitteringly modern multi-media tribute to Belfast's shipbuilding
tradition and its most iconic and well-known product, the White Star liner RMS
Titanic. It is housed in a most dramatic building, reminiscent of a
ship, and sits right at the dockyard site where the keel of the Titanic
was laid and the ship built. The experience sets the scene of Belfast at the
turn of the 20 th century and takes you through the design,
building, launch and ultimately the disaster of that famous "Night to
Remember," when it ran into an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden
voyage. Plan on spending a good half-day here to see it and the SS Nomadic,
the only surviving White Star Lines ship, which was built as a tender for Titanic
supplies and passengers boarding in Cherbourg, France.
www.titanicbelfast.com
Titanic Studios: Belfast, and Northern Ireland in general, are
becoming hotbeds of movie making, and if you are a fan of the Game of Thrones
series, you'll want to visit this studio, where much of it is shot. It is part
of the old dockyards now called the "Titanic Quarter," and just a
stone's throw from the Titanic Belfast experience.
http://blog.visit-belfast.com/game-of-thrones/posts/game-of-thrones-filming-locations-belfast-northern-ireland
"Black Taxi" Tour: This is a must when visiting Belfast. For
just about €30--€40, two or more of you can ride in a traditional,
very comfortable cab and get a personal guided tour of the best parts of
Belfast. You'll have an introduction to its traditional bars and iconic murals
and visit the famous Shankill and Falls Road districts, the hotbeds of the
"Troubles," with an explanation of the history and politics of Belfast and
Northern Ireland along the way. The tour will take about one-and-a-half to two
hours, but you can also customize it. Our cabby, Billy Scott, was humorous,
knowledgeable, and very flexible--although occasionally, his discussion of the
"Troubles" did come across as a bit canned. E-mail
billyscott12@hotmail.co.uk, or just Google "Belfast Black Taxi tours."
St. George's Market: I love markets, and this vintage shopping
experience dating back to the late 1800s is a great one. A Belfast institution,
it occupies a one-story brick building--with vaulted, sky-lighted
ceilings--that dates back to 1896 and covers an entire city block. Inside,
you'll find colorful displays of all the fishy products from the surrounding
coast, farm-to-market meat products, other food specialties, handicrafts of all
sorts, and artwork. The market operates Friday through Sunday, from morning to
mid-afternoon. www.belfastcity.gov.uk/stgeorgesmarket
City Hall: Surrounded by ample lawns and statues, Belfast's
City Hall dominates the downtown area. Completed in 1908 at the height of
Belfast's prominence, it has been variously referred to as the "Granite Titanic"
for it solidity and the "Wedding Cake" for its elaborate ornamentation inside
and out. Free tours are offered Monday through Saturday, and it's one of the
best tours we've ever had, paid or otherwise, giving you a good perspective on
the city's history and politics.
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityhall/index.asp
Botanical Garden: I wish we had had a chance to visit this
28-acre botanical garden that dates back to 1828, set in the lovely "Queen's
Quarter" of the city, site of the famous Queen's University. Its Palm House
conservatory is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear, cast-iron
glasshouse in the world. The Garden is also home to the Ulster Museum (www.nmni.com),
which recently underwent a £17 million refurbishment of its 80,000 square
feet of exhibits of art, fine and applied, archaeology, local history, and
more.
The Bars!: Belfast has no shortage of traditional bars, and
"bending elbows" with the locals is an experience not to be missed. You'll find
that everyone is very approachable and friendly and, while sharing a brew,
you'll get lots of insight into the local scene, politics, and more. Many pubs
have traditional music in the evenings. Belfast also has an active club scene.
Side Trips
Drive along the Antrim Coast: See the famous Glens of Antrim,
small fishing villages, the Giant's Causeway, and of course,
the Bushmills Irish Whiskey Distillery. If
you are a golfer, plan a little more time and play a round at the famous Royal
Portrush Golf Club with its two fantastic links courses bordering a
beach and the wild North Atlantic.
Drive to where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the
sea, through bucolic Co. Down. Visit quaint New Castle andDownpatrick,
where you can stand by the grave of St. Patrick. If you are a golfer, play a
round at the famous Royal Co. Down Golf Club, home course of
Rory McIlroy and this year's Irish Open.
If Game of Thrones is your thing, you can find a
variety of tours to various filming locations including Winterfell, Robb's Camp
in the Riverlands, the ruined 12th-century abbey where Robb's
bannermen pledged fealty to the King in the North, and the old-growth forest
where the Starks found a dead direwolf and her pups. Just Google "Game of
Thrones tours, Northern Ireland."
Staying In Touch
As with Dublin, free Wi-Fi is prolific throughout Belfast, in the hotels, bars,
restaurants, etc.
Dining
While Belfast's dining scene does not rank as high with Michelin stars as does
Dublin's, it is coming along. We enjoyed good service and steaks at Deane's
Meat Locker, one of several themed restaurants run by Michael Deane,
which include Love Fish, with a seafood focus, and Epic,
its most formal and gourmet, as well as a deli and more (
www.michaeldeane.co.uk) . We also sampled a nice seafood menu at Mourne
Seafood, a popular casual dining venue on Bank Street
(www.mourneseafood.com). Make sure you have a drink before or after (or both)
at Kelly's Cellars next door, Belfast's oldest traditional pub
and a great place to meet locals (www.kellyscellars.com).
We also dined at James Street South Bar & Grill, which
came highly recommended. While it was packed, we were disappointed in both the
service and the meal (www.belfastbargrill.co.uk)
Where to Stay
The Fitzwilliams Hotel: We stayed in this modern, rather hip,
and very well located hotel on Great Victoria Street right next to the Grand
Opera House. It offers 130 rooms in a modern, glassy building just a few
minutes' walk from most of downtown. Its decor is definitely slanted toward the
millennium traveler with bright, somewhat eye-popping colors. All rooms are
bright, with floor-to-ceiling windows. Our "Executive" room was on the small
side but comfortable and functional. We would recommend opting for the "Deluxe"
category of rooms, which are much more spacious and located on a corner of the
building with nice views up and down Great Victoria Street and to the stunning
church and bell tower across the street. Service is excellent, both at the
front desk and from the concierge staff. Its included breakfast is served in a
bright and attractive dining room and offers a diverse, high-quality buffet as
well as the traditional full Irish breakfast and a selection of other menu
items.
The Europa Hotel: Located just about a block further up Great
Victoria Street from the center of town, this has historically been the
"see-and-be-seen" hotel in Belfast. We stayed here on our last visit--so has
Bill Clinton and a lot of other dignitaries. At about 270 rooms, it is a lot
bigger and, reflective of its status of being the VIP hotel, its
reception/lobby and adjacent bar were buzzing with activity when we visited.
Its rooms are of moderate size and are furnished in very standard and
traditional business-hotel style.
Ten Square: This boutique, 21-room hotel is located in what
used to be a post office, very centrally located behind Belfast City Hall. Its
reception area is rather small, or intimate, you could say. All its rooms are
very different. The "Cool Corner Room" (#308) that we inspected was spacious
and comfortable with a good-sized tiled bathroom. Rooms are attractively
furnished in contemporary style, but I thought they were looking just a little
bit tired. Adjacent to the reception area is a lively bar/grill that was very
busy when we visited.
The Merchant Hotel: This relatively new hotel, opened in about
2010, is set in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast, so known because it is
anchored by St. Anne's Cathedral. Near the River Lagan and formerly the main
mercantile center of the city, the area has been evolving of late into a hip
entertainment, nightlife, and dining center. It's a little further from Donegal
Square and the shopping center of the city than the previously reviewed hotels,
but still within convenient walking distance. The Merchant Hotel is the only
true five-star hotel in Belfast. Its primary building is the gorgeous 1860s
Victorian Ulster Bank headquarters, built in brown limestone and very grand.
The main dining room and lounge area and the bank's vaulted and domed main room
exude class. When we visited at teatime, the strains of a sedate trio were
wafting around the room. This main building is home to 24 rooms all done in
period style with rich reds and gold, high ceilings, and windows with equally
tall and luxurious drapes. A newer annex, completed in 2010, adds 36 rooms and
suites with an art deco ambiance. The hotel features a rooftop deck with hot
tub overlooking the rooftops of Belfast, and the hotel also features a complete
spa with swimming pool.
The Malmaison: Like The Merchant, this hotel is also in the
up-and-coming, very hip Cathedral Quarter, and is also set in a vintage
building, in this case an old granary. While you might think that a granary
would have a rather plain façade, back in the Victorian era they were
quite fancy. Step inside the Malmaison and the decor breaks with the period
look of the building and is quite hip. The reception floor is carpeted in a
checkerboard of purple and lilac and accented with oversized love seats, a
giant old-fashioned wooden box camera on a tripod, and other interesting
touches. Its 62 rooms and suites are all a different size and shape, which is
what you often get when working with an older, repurposed building. Room decor
is admittedly funky, with bold colors and unique features. That said, they were
generally spacious and quite nicely outfitted.
Resources
For general information on visiting Ireland, go to
www.Ireland.com, the official website of Tourism Ireland, which
represents tourism interests of both the Republic and Northern Ireland.
Additional information about visiting Northern Ireland can be found at its own
official tourism website, www.discovernorthernireland.com.
Of course, you are always welcome to contact us for planning your Ireland
escapes. Over the years, we've developed a wealth of insight into Ireland's
many options, and we can help you in a very personal way to plan the trip that
is just right for you. Contact Hideaways Travel Services at: 800-843-4433
or e-mail ts@Hideaways.com.