2 Days in Dublin
Dublin is a beautiful city with so much charm and things to do. My best friend and I visited Ireland for a long weekend (Thursday - Monday) and felt like we had the perfect little bite-size visit for Dublin. Below are the essentials :)
Where to Stay
We stayed at The Hoxton, Dublin located at the corner of Saint George’s Street and Exchequer (pronounced “Ex-check-er”). It’s at the opposite end of the street as Brown Thomas, and across the street from a Dunnes (grocery store). We found it to be in an amazing location, surrounded by pubs, restaurants, shops we like (COS, & other stories, Arket, etc).
We lucked out and stayed when they first opened, so our stay was 553 Euro for 4 nights. The hotel included an on-site Peruvian restaurant, a sandwich/coffee shop, pub, and higher-end cocktail lounge. They also let us check-in around 9am so we had early access to our room and showers!!
I highly recommend this hotel!
Where to Shop
I really thought I wouldn’t shop as much since we were there for only 4 days + were road-tripping for half of the trip… but we did do some damage…
Sweaters - they’re expensive (around $120 per sweater), but they are sooo well-made and so beautiful. They have a variety of patterns, cuts, and colors. I bought 3 and love them all so much.
Perfume - we stopped by Cloon Keen and I was blown away by how beautiful their scents are. I bought the scent “Bel Etage,” inspired byt the light- filled rooms in Dublin’s Georgian Buildings. The notes are:
Top: Bergamot, Orange, Neroli, Petitgrain
Heart: Lavender, rosemary, coriander, mate, jasmine, orange
Base: Oak moss, vetiver, musk, amber
Jameson - there are plenty of options for alcohol, but I chose the Distillery Edition of Jameson. You can only buy it at the distillery in Cork or Dublin, and I’m a sucker for something exclusive and unique!
Trinkets - additional little things we got were a wool ornament of a sheep, a book on the troubles, prints of local art!
Where to Eat
Cantina Valentina - Peruvian restaurant at our hotel for breakfast. GREAT breakfast!!
Masa - just okay! I ordered the fish tacos and they were pretty bland :(
Hugo’s - best meal of the trip. Amazing, great quality, delicious food
Bambino - great for a cheeky slice of pizza when you hit the pubs. Line is long, but it goes quickly and is worth it
Caribou - sunday roast. Delicious!!
Sole - don’t recommend
Loose Cannon - wine bar with a toastie menu. Very good!
Things to Do
Guinness Storehouse - You should go. I know it’s on every tourist’s list, but it is a really well-made museum and the rooftop bar is worth it alone.
Jameson Distillery - again, worth it to go solely to learn about how The Troubles, etc have affected workers in Dublin and Ireland.
EPIC Irish Emigration Museum - Fascinating and well-made interactive museum sharing the multiple reasons why the Irish have emigrated so frequently. I learned so much and it was very insightful!
The Church Bar - a beautiful cocktail bar in an old church. Arthur Guinness even got married here!
National Gallery of Dublin - We went to see The Meeting on the Turret Stairs - which is only shown for 1 hour a week, two days a week.
Dublinia - great museum about Vikings!
Trinity College Library - I have yet to go… but it is always on my list!
Collin’s Club - amazing cocktail bar!!
Tips
Uber and Lyft are not active in Ireland, they use another version called “free now” - go ahead and download this app :)
Walk as much as you can! You find the best things when walking around
The pubs close kinda early!