Dash for Dublin: Cheaper prices and less stag dos make the city a delight once again

Buzzing: You can always find a crowd enjoying the craic in The Temple Bar


Midnight in Dublin's infamously boozy Temple Bar area, and the secret of the city is about to be revealed.

In one glance, I can see a man vomiting against a wall, a hen party (oblivious to the chill in the air) sauntering by in micro- skirts, a thousand drinkers raucously plundering the night's darker pleasures and a couple of middle-aged tourists wandering bemusedly through this mayhem looking like genteel actors auditioning for entirely the wrong film.

And the secret? the key to the fair city of Dublin is in the timing.

Six hours earlier, I was standing in exactly the same spot as city workers stopped off in this 48-acre spread of dodgy Bohemian charm for a sharpener on the way home.

And it was fabulous: live music drifted from a dozen pubs, narrow streets bristled with charm, wise old barmen were happy to chat, visitors of all ages eagerly savoured their Guinness and the craic. Now look at it. Or rather, don't.

A friendly bouncer directed me to Dawson Street where the beer was just as lovely and the crowds were gentler. I had a wonderful time.

Apparently, Brian O'Driscoll, the heroic Irish rugby captain, and his beautiful actress wife Amy Huberman are regulars in this part of town.

The truth is that if you get the timing right, Dublin will reward you handsomely. And right now is the perfect moment to visit the city of Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and booze.

An explanation lies on the lips of every barman, guide and pundit in town, all telling a story that begins with the Celtic tiger driving the city mad with its ferocious, price-hiking, economic roar, and ends in financial disaster, of course. But two magical things have happened.

First, many of the bigger, more troublesome stag parties that were turning the centre into a broiling mass have drifted to cheaper locations. Then, as the tiger died, so did the greed that had pushed up prices so fiercely.

'Everything's down 10 per cent,' says city guide Martin Reilly flatly. 'Visitors, hotels, prices.'


Going with the flow: The compact city centre is easy to walk around


You hear it everywhere you go. in the red-fronted eponymous Temple Bar pub in the centre of the area itself, barman John leaned close to shake his head and opined: 'Stag dos? down a lot. this place would have been heaving.'

And though still busy at 6pm, it was certainly no longer heaving, and all the better for it.

Glamorous Grafton Street is speckled with special offer meal signs (three courses in decent bistros for €15 (£12) or less). There are still high prices to be found, but the overall tone is now one of control, almost relief.


Legendary hangout: Brian O'Driscoll and his wife Amy Huberman often spend time in Dawson Street


But we're not talking dead City here. Dublin continues to develop culturally, but in subtler ways. The push is eastwards now, into docklands, where an intriguing series of projects have gathered around the new, gloriously harp-shaped Samuel Beckett Bridge.

Here, the north side of the Liffey flared into fresh life just over a year ago with the re-launch of the old theatre, the Point, as a hugely expanded O2 venue that's now attracting stars such as Ricky Gervais, who was performing during my visit.

Nearby, the Dublin Convention Centre - a modernist confection that lights up the river - has just been completed and can host events for up to 8,000 people.

On the south side, meanwhile, the spanking new 2,000-seater grand Canal theatre flung open its doors in March.

It's early days, but new bars and bistros are beginning to emerge here like tentative mushrooms after the recession. Of course, there's still no beating the old favourites when it comes to rubbing shoulders with Dublin's famous craic-heads.

Sipping a pint in McDaids in Harry Street on Saturday night I was overwhelmed by conviviality that had nothing to do with stag parties or wild financial splurges.

Strolling the bars and eateries around the parallel roads of Dawson Street and Grafton Street, I encountered scenes of drinking joy: Bailey, John Kehoe, Davy Byrnes, Ron Black's, Café en Seine . . . didn't they know there was an economic war on? Apparently not.

Dublin is dolling herself up in less conventional ways, too. Amid the tranquil
Georgian charm of my hotel, the Merrion, for instance, I sampled a £30 Art Tea comprising cakes designed to reflect pictures from the hotel's own enormously valuable 19th and 20th century collection. Cakes inspired by pictures? Wasn't that a bit, well, post-boom decadent?

Head chef Ed Cooney disagrees: 'It's as much a statement to Dublin as anything else, that it's business as usual.'

Eventually, of course, even city joys can seem wearing, but that's exactly when the less obvious side of Dublin's charm takes charge - because it's easy to get out of the place. I signed up for a day's walking with Footfalls, a local company that kits you out with boots, jacket, pack, the whole caboodle, then whisks you an hour south to the golden silence of the Wicklow Mountains. What a joy.

Travel Facts

The Merrion Hotel (+353 1 603 0600, www.merrionhotel.com) offers double rooms from £169. Packages, including two nights B&B plus a day's walk in the Wicklow Mountains with Footfalls (+353 404 45152, www.walkinghikingireland.com) cost from £298pp.

Ryanair flys from London to Dublin from £33 return (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com). For more information, contact Tourism Ireland (0800 039 7000, www.discoverireland.com).



source: dailymail