Dublin from London

[cprincess]

Hello,

 

Can anyone give advice on what would be the best way to get from London to Dublin? And is it worth a short stay there to see the sights?

 

I was checking airfare and noticed how much cheaper it is to fly from Dublin to DC than from London. So I'm wondering if this would be a better option for us.

 

Thanks in advance.

[cberge]

Hello,

 

Can anyone give advice on what would be the best way to get from London to Dublin? And is it worth a short stay there to see the sights?

 

I was checking airfare and noticed how much cheaper it is to fly from Dublin to DC than from London. So I'm wondering if this would be a better option for us.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I know there are other's that can give much better info than I can,but we flew from Dublin to LHR re flt.back to DC(after cruise a few years ago).,and we spent 5 days there..I loved it,and yes,it would be worth spending some time there to see the sights.Dublin is a great walkable city and the HO/HO bus is a great way to see a lot of the city and sights.I guess I would say flying into Londo on one of the low cost carrier's would be the way to go,but you may find a weight restriction re luggage on them big time as opposed to flying from US to London.Not sure who all the carriers are now and hopefully someone will reply to that part of your question.Globaliser where are you??????:D

[Kevbirch]

Check our Ryanair to get to Dublin - don't know which airport in London it uses. Another option would be to hire a car, drive to Wales and get on a ferry from Holyhead on the island of Anglessey.

 

The drive is lovely once you get west of Birmingham.

[Globaliser]

Can anyone give advice on what would be the best way to get from London to Dublin? And is it worth a short stay there to see the sights?

Fly.

 

Unless you have all the time in the world, there is no reason to do it any other way. At the moment, there are about 42 non-stop flights a day from London area airports to Dublin:-

• Aer Lingus flies from Heathrow
• Air France flies from City
• bmi flies from Heathrow
• British Airways flies from Gatwick
• Ryanair flies from Gatwick, Luton and Stansted

The most convenient airport for central London, if that is your origin or destination, is City airport.

 

Whether it's worth doing depends on how much time you have in London, and how well you know the city: London needs about 4-6 weeks to see properly, before you start on other parts of the UK. Do you want to give up some of your time to do Dublin?

I was checking airfare and noticed how much cheaper it is to fly from Dublin to DC than from London.

It may be cheaper, but is it better value? In air travel, low prices are not everything.

 

The same goes for booking the London -> Dublin flights. Don't just look at the headline price of the ticket alone. Ask yourself: What is the total end-to-end cost, including additional fees that I will have to pay the airline for the type of travelling that I am going to do and the amount that I am bringing with me? And what sort of travel experience will each airline provide?

[skybird123]

There is a special train that does that city to city trip, and it is very inexpensive. We were going to use it, but we've decided to take the ferry/train to Amsterdam after the cruise and then fly to Dublin. We'll spend 3-4 days before flying home. By taking the train you won't have the hassle with baggage. I couldn't believe the ridiculous restrictions! No free luggage and you can prepay for only 2 bags. Very low weight 50lbs. Any weight above that is 50E-100E more. One carryon that can only weigh 6kilos. Just Google London-Dublin train and it should come up.

[Globaliser]

There is a special train that does that city to city trip, and it is very inexpensive. ... Just Google London-Dublin train and it should come up.

It's only a combination ticket, as far as I can see. Train from London to Holyhead, ferry from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire, train to Dublin. But it's likely to take between 7 and 9 hours end-to-end.

I couldn't believe the ridiculous restrictions! No free luggage and you can prepay for only 2 bags. Very low weight 50lbs.

There are some airlines on which you have to pay something to check any luggage - but even here, the fees are usually very low for the standard allowance.

 

And there's nothing "ridiculous" about a 50 lb per person baggage allowance. This is about the standard free baggage allowance for economy class international air travel in most places in the world.

[Paul S]

If flying on from Dublin, be aware that the Ryanair baggage allowance is 15 kg (33lbs), which is likely to be much less than the allowance for the onward flight.

 

The "no frills" airlines tend to restrict carry on baggage by size not weight, though you have to be able to lift it yourself into the overhead locker. The restriction on one carry on bag out from the UK is nothing to do with the airlines, it is a Government imposed limit connected to increased security, to speed up flow through the security checks. One ladies' handbag would also count as the single carry on item, so its best to have a partly empty hand case tht you can put your puse/handbag, camera, etc. into until you clear security. There is talk of the single item limit being relaxed in the next couple of months.

 

We visited Dublin from London via Ryanair last month for a four night short break. We found it to be a delightful place well worth the visit.

 

Paul S

[cprincess]

Thanks for all the useful information. I think we're going to opt to take the train from London to Holyhead, then the ferry to Dun Laoghaire, then the train on in to Dublin. Even though it will take a long time we're looking at this as a chance to see some lovely country that we would otherwise miss.:)

[Culater]

We flew from Dublin via Air Canada to Toronto (then UA on to SFO). So there are a lot of choices for airlines from Ireland back to the US (DC). Here's something we didn't expect, though, we had to fly from Dublin then to Shannon before flying on to Canada. It didn't make sense and we were delayed. As for Dublin itself, if you have a day or two, by all means you must visit. I know that London takes weeks to see everything, but we all have to manage within our time and our budgets. If you think you may never have a chance to go back to Ireland, I think you really need to spend a few days in Dublin.

[ex-Freeporter]

Aer Lingus has flights from Dublin to Boston, Washington, Chicago and LAX. It is sometimes cheaper to fly from other UK airports to Dublin and then on to the USA, Canada, or other parts of the world as Irish airport taxes/charges etc are less than those charged at Heathrow and other UK airports.

 

Delta flies into Dublin from Atlanta, you would need to check if US Airways and American still have routes, they used to do. Then do the maths!:) (and check baggage allowances) As someone pointed out, if you use a budget carrier from Dublin to London they have lower allowances than the transatlantic carriers.

 

Here is a good website for Dun Laoghaire harbour - lots of information, as well as three live cameras. Try to catch the HSS as it arrives (Irish time is five hours ahead of US so 5.50 am and 12.30 pm your time) ... quite spectacular....

http://www.dlharbour.ie/webcam/dlh1.php

[Globaliser]

Here's something we didn't expect, though, we had to fly from Dublin then to Shannon before flying on to Canada. It didn't make sense and we were delayed.

As things stand at present, there is a rule that 50% (IIRC) of trans-Atlantic flights must depart/arrive at Shannon. That's probably why your flight took the route that it did. I believe that the rule will be abrogated when the open skies agreement comes into force in March 2008.

[Culater]

Globaliser, thanks for the info. That was a few years ago, but I don't remember exactly if we knew that the flight would stop in Shannon. Had I known that, maybe we would have tried to catch a flight from Shannon.