The city looks so rough and run down these days too.
Ring a ring a rosey as the light declines…
Not shocking really. I live in the inner-city and even with local knowledge I have to use every ounce of it to not get gouged. Other Irish people coming to Dublin for a weekend have been stunned by how badly they were put through the ringer, for the crime of not knowing the entire centre like the back of their hand, nevermind foreign tourists.
Hard to argue, the city is being run into the ground, it’s crazy expensive, and even as a Dub I’d say tourists are better off just going somewhere else in the country.
The most shocking thing in this article is the allegation that Lonely Planet might actually provide useful, practical, and unbiased tourist advice
Next week Dublin will be Lonely Planet’s number 1 destination. They’re right this time though
Try living here
Every city has problems, Dublins problems just happen to be living very close to where the tourists go which means you get an overlap of people coming to the country and more willing to pay higher prices and people who can’t afford to pay those prices living nearby.
Tourists are always a target for criminals too, more likely to be carrying something valuable or cash, less likely to get a result from the Gardai because dealing with a victim that will be leaving makes any case much harder to deal with.
City doesn’t make for pleasant visiting either. Smelly kip of a place
a travel guide doing more investigative journalism then irish times or independent have ever.
After spending the past few weekends staying in Dublin City centre, the amount of rubbish is shocking. The paths are all dirty and it smells of piss at every corner. I wouldn’t wanna touch anything walking through there. Do they not clean the place?
Turns out all of those people saying Dublin had too many hotels were lying.
Finally Dublin council will stop seeing hotels as a money fountain if this kees up
Dublin City Council in particular needs a huge reboot and kick up the arse, it seems like they just don’t care because they’re not accountable to anyone. I’m thinking more of the unelected senior management than staff on the ground.
It’s time for a directly elected mayor with real power and budget. The mayor should be able to levy fines on derelict and dirty buildings and direct garda management on local policing matters for instance.
Heard some tourism guy from failte Ireland on morning Ireland discussing it and he basically dismissed the whole thing and said it’s one article. So don’t expect this to result in any policy changes
Head of Tourism Ireland: Ah that’s not fair, they’re using facts against us!
I visited Dublin 12 years ago and had the time of my life,went back 5 years ago and didn’t recognize the place,lots of drug addicts around the river.Galway was still brilliant
Sure the place is a dirty, over priced, dangerous kip..
​
whats not to like???
The city just lacks all logic and planning. Dame street and O’Connell street should be the main streets for people shopping, not Grafton street and Henry street. Grafton is too thin to be getting that many people, it’s a fucking pain and the facilities in the area are very poor for that amount of people, less so Henry street but definitely Grafton street. We need more compulsory purchase orders for all of those 4 streets and renting the areas back with proper planning. Especially O’Connell street, it’s not actually a main street for a capital, a main street should show the best your country has to offer but instead it’s got only fast food restaurants, a few banks, a casino and a hotel.
Wife said we should go in June. I won the discussion and we arrived in April at 5AM and hotel had our room for that night ready at 7AM. Only line in 2 weeks was Book of Kells. Never go to a place at peak season. Hitting Moab/Arches in October. Insanely beautiful.
Screw crowds of people when it is 100F (38C) every day.
The constant begging. Literally walking around town being approached all the time asking for money and trying to eat or drink outside and having to tell beggars 5-6 times during a meal you don’t have any cash.
I don’t even have to read it to know what it’s going to say. For the past few years, whenever foreign friends ask me if they should visit Dublin, I categorically answer ”no”.
“The vast majority of hotels were offering good value and a good quality experience, he claimed.”
The vast majority of hotels are price gouging without lube. There, fixed it.
Truth hurts, I literally can’t rent an apartment or anything, too expensive, now the simple commodities are becoming mad expensive, coffee shops are becoming extortion, what’s even the point of living here, ill probably just do a degree and get out tbh
Yes, and neither does living in Dublin right now. Government gonna be pointing the finger at everyone but themselves next year when the tourism industry drops dead
No no, this is all fake news the Times already checked and all is well with the tourists.
“we asked the richest tourists in the world if the prices in Ireland bothered them, and they said ‘only a little’. So it’s all fine, stop complaining pleb”
this is a fair assessment. And it’s not a new phenomenon – Ireland has always been a rip off. The government always take a pro business approach and is extremely soft on consumer protection, making sure adequate competition is in the market or just generally tracking prices aggressively.
Definitely can’t argue with the article. I had friends visiting from the states and they wanted to rent a car for 2 weeks and Hertz wanted €3000. €3000! Fortunately I discovered the Toyota Fleet app and they were able to rent a car directly from a Toyota dealership for €900. The state of things as they stand is an absolute disgrace.
Dublin is as expensive as London but not nearly with as much to do.
Keep in mind there are I believe 3 different groups of people traveling to Dublin who many be less worried about prices. There’s the European city break type people. The ones from the Nordic countries are probably less price sensitive about the price of a pint. There’s the Americans coming over in large numbers as Ireland is a bucket list destination for good reason. Travel has been put on hold for so long and the U.S. Dollar is VERY strong right now – so the EUR prices don’t seem as bad. Then there’s the business traveler who is slowly returning. Dublin is the home to dozens of Big Tech EU HQ offices and as these workers are on expense accounts they can pay higher prices. So in many cases people are willing and able to pay these extremely high prices. For the rest of the people and families planning a visit (and domestic travelers too), the article is a sad but necessary warning.
What makes the Lonely Planet article even more concerning is that for many dates hotels are close to fully booked in Dublin. You don’t want to book flights and only then find out that you can’t find a decent place to stay near city centre at “normal” peak big city prices. The place is full! And if you want a rental car to independently explore the many scenic parts of Ireland (a must), the prices are surely insane. I wish there was a simple solution.
Ireland is still and will always be a very desirable place to visit, but perhaps 2022 is not the year for many if demand is so much greater than supply along with the lack of hospitality workers returning to the job. It’s honestly quite sad that Tourism Ireland has lost a lot of its good reputation.
Hahaha, anyone who traveled around a world a bit will tell you dublin is a superficial pumped up snobbish grey soulless miserable fucking kip… been sayin it for years..
Besides the ‘Irish charm’, Dublin no longer appeals to people as a tourist spot, it’s not a major capital like London or NYC, it’s not a cheap getaway, it’s not a sun trap like Spain and parts of France/Italy, it doesn’t offer a strong night life / art community like Berlin. Why would people come here when it offers nothing they can’t get from their local Irish theme pub
Restaurants are dumping bags of food waste onto the footpath and it’s leaking organic liquids out of the bags. The rubbish gets collected and this layer of disgusting black seeps into the footpath.
This is rife in Temple Bar, South William Street, Dame Street, Talbot Street, almost any street that has restaurants.
The shitty little ground scrubbers machines can’t get it off the footpath though because it’s a liquid that has seeped in and it accounts for a huge amount of the bad smell and dirty looks of the footpaths.
Two weeks ago I noticed Temple Bar had been doused in a chlorine smelling liquid, I guess before summer tourism peaks but this is the first time I’ve seen this in 6 months since starting my job and passing these areas daily.
Restaurants and rubbish collection not using rubbish containers that are suitable to task is the cause of the problem. It’s a liquid, plastic bags left out for birds etc are not going to do it. The council doing fuck all actual cleaning of the streets is what let’s the dirt stay.
It’s fucking disgusting. Imaging an industrial kitchen that gets the floor cleaner once a year.
Edit: I know this because I worked in a fast food restaurant before and the food waste wasn’t disposed of properly. The yard at the back stank the exact same smell that lifts off the footpaths of Dublin. It’s completely unnecessary and easily avoided.
So depressing. Going home for two weeks in August with the family. Their first time visiting and I’m just stressed to bits about it. We’re not going to be able to afford anything basic like a place to stay or car rental and it’s hard to think of anything interesting and affordable for young people to visit.
Staycationing during Covid opened my eyes as a Dub. There’s precious little the city has to offer tourists over the rest of the island.
“Mr O’Mara Walsh said he did not believe the headlines arising from the article were fair”
Oh no, someone telling the truth about a country that has the shittiest and most expensive nightlife in Europe…
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Link
The city looks so rough and run down these days too.
Ring a ring a rosey as the light declines…
Not shocking really. I live in the inner-city and even with local knowledge I have to use every ounce of it to not get gouged. Other Irish people coming to Dublin for a weekend have been stunned by how badly they were put through the ringer, for the crime of not knowing the entire centre like the back of their hand, nevermind foreign tourists.
Hard to argue, the city is being run into the ground, it’s crazy expensive, and even as a Dub I’d say tourists are better off just going somewhere else in the country.
Article in question
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/dublin-travel-questions-to-ask-before-you-go
Dublin was always a kip.
The most shocking thing in this article is the allegation that Lonely Planet might actually provide useful, practical, and unbiased tourist advice
Next week Dublin will be Lonely Planet’s number 1 destination. They’re right this time though
Try living here
Every city has problems, Dublins problems just happen to be living very close to where the tourists go which means you get an overlap of people coming to the country and more willing to pay higher prices and people who can’t afford to pay those prices living nearby.
Tourists are always a target for criminals too, more likely to be carrying something valuable or cash, less likely to get a result from the Gardai because dealing with a victim that will be leaving makes any case much harder to deal with.
City doesn’t make for pleasant visiting either. Smelly kip of a place
a travel guide doing more investigative journalism then irish times or independent have ever.
After spending the past few weekends staying in Dublin City centre, the amount of rubbish is shocking. The paths are all dirty and it smells of piss at every corner. I wouldn’t wanna touch anything walking through there. Do they not clean the place?
Turns out all of those people saying Dublin had too many hotels were lying.
Finally Dublin council will stop seeing hotels as a money fountain if this kees up
Dublin City Council in particular needs a huge reboot and kick up the arse, it seems like they just don’t care because they’re not accountable to anyone. I’m thinking more of the unelected senior management than staff on the ground.
It’s time for a directly elected mayor with real power and budget. The mayor should be able to levy fines on derelict and dirty buildings and direct garda management on local policing matters for instance.
Heard some tourism guy from failte Ireland on morning Ireland discussing it and he basically dismissed the whole thing and said it’s one article. So don’t expect this to result in any policy changes
Head of Tourism Ireland: Ah that’s not fair, they’re using facts against us!
I visited Dublin 12 years ago and had the time of my life,went back 5 years ago and didn’t recognize the place,lots of drug addicts around the river.Galway was still brilliant
Sure the place is a dirty, over priced, dangerous kip..
​
whats not to like???
The city just lacks all logic and planning. Dame street and O’Connell street should be the main streets for people shopping, not Grafton street and Henry street. Grafton is too thin to be getting that many people, it’s a fucking pain and the facilities in the area are very poor for that amount of people, less so Henry street but definitely Grafton street. We need more compulsory purchase orders for all of those 4 streets and renting the areas back with proper planning. Especially O’Connell street, it’s not actually a main street for a capital, a main street should show the best your country has to offer but instead it’s got only fast food restaurants, a few banks, a casino and a hotel.
Wife said we should go in June. I won the discussion and we arrived in April at 5AM and hotel had our room for that night ready at 7AM. Only line in 2 weeks was Book of Kells. Never go to a place at peak season. Hitting Moab/Arches in October. Insanely beautiful.
Screw crowds of people when it is 100F (38C) every day.
The constant begging. Literally walking around town being approached all the time asking for money and trying to eat or drink outside and having to tell beggars 5-6 times during a meal you don’t have any cash.
I don’t even have to read it to know what it’s going to say. For the past few years, whenever foreign friends ask me if they should visit Dublin, I categorically answer ”no”.
“The vast majority of hotels were offering good value and a good quality experience, he claimed.”
The vast majority of hotels are price gouging without lube. There, fixed it.
Truth hurts, I literally can’t rent an apartment or anything, too expensive, now the simple commodities are becoming mad expensive, coffee shops are becoming extortion, what’s even the point of living here, ill probably just do a degree and get out tbh
Yes, and neither does living in Dublin right now. Government gonna be pointing the finger at everyone but themselves next year when the tourism industry drops dead
No no, this is all fake news the Times already checked and all is well with the tourists.
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/travel/2022/06/04/perception-vs-reality-how-ireland-is-marketed-to-tourists-abroad/
“we asked the richest tourists in the world if the prices in Ireland bothered them, and they said ‘only a little’. So it’s all fine, stop complaining pleb”
this is a fair assessment. And it’s not a new phenomenon – Ireland has always been a rip off. The government always take a pro business approach and is extremely soft on consumer protection, making sure adequate competition is in the market or just generally tracking prices aggressively.
Definitely can’t argue with the article. I had friends visiting from the states and they wanted to rent a car for 2 weeks and Hertz wanted €3000. €3000! Fortunately I discovered the Toyota Fleet app and they were able to rent a car directly from a Toyota dealership for €900. The state of things as they stand is an absolute disgrace.
Dublin is as expensive as London but not nearly with as much to do.
Keep in mind there are I believe 3 different groups of people traveling to Dublin who many be less worried about prices. There’s the European city break type people. The ones from the Nordic countries are probably less price sensitive about the price of a pint. There’s the Americans coming over in large numbers as Ireland is a bucket list destination for good reason. Travel has been put on hold for so long and the U.S. Dollar is VERY strong right now – so the EUR prices don’t seem as bad. Then there’s the business traveler who is slowly returning. Dublin is the home to dozens of Big Tech EU HQ offices and as these workers are on expense accounts they can pay higher prices. So in many cases people are willing and able to pay these extremely high prices. For the rest of the people and families planning a visit (and domestic travelers too), the article is a sad but necessary warning.
What makes the Lonely Planet article even more concerning is that for many dates hotels are close to fully booked in Dublin. You don’t want to book flights and only then find out that you can’t find a decent place to stay near city centre at “normal” peak big city prices. The place is full! And if you want a rental car to independently explore the many scenic parts of Ireland (a must), the prices are surely insane. I wish there was a simple solution.
Ireland is still and will always be a very desirable place to visit, but perhaps 2022 is not the year for many if demand is so much greater than supply along with the lack of hospitality workers returning to the job. It’s honestly quite sad that Tourism Ireland has lost a lot of its good reputation.
Hahaha, anyone who traveled around a world a bit will tell you dublin is a superficial pumped up snobbish grey soulless miserable fucking kip… been sayin it for years..
Besides the ‘Irish charm’, Dublin no longer appeals to people as a tourist spot, it’s not a major capital like London or NYC, it’s not a cheap getaway, it’s not a sun trap like Spain and parts of France/Italy, it doesn’t offer a strong night life / art community like Berlin. Why would people come here when it offers nothing they can’t get from their local Irish theme pub
Restaurants are dumping bags of food waste onto the footpath and it’s leaking organic liquids out of the bags. The rubbish gets collected and this layer of disgusting black seeps into the footpath.
This is rife in Temple Bar, South William Street, Dame Street, Talbot Street, almost any street that has restaurants.
The shitty little ground scrubbers machines can’t get it off the footpath though because it’s a liquid that has seeped in and it accounts for a huge amount of the bad smell and dirty looks of the footpaths.
Two weeks ago I noticed Temple Bar had been doused in a chlorine smelling liquid, I guess before summer tourism peaks but this is the first time I’ve seen this in 6 months since starting my job and passing these areas daily.
Restaurants and rubbish collection not using rubbish containers that are suitable to task is the cause of the problem. It’s a liquid, plastic bags left out for birds etc are not going to do it. The council doing fuck all actual cleaning of the streets is what let’s the dirt stay.
It’s fucking disgusting. Imaging an industrial kitchen that gets the floor cleaner once a year.
Edit: I know this because I worked in a fast food restaurant before and the food waste wasn’t disposed of properly. The yard at the back stank the exact same smell that lifts off the footpaths of Dublin. It’s completely unnecessary and easily avoided.
So depressing. Going home for two weeks in August with the family. Their first time visiting and I’m just stressed to bits about it. We’re not going to be able to afford anything basic like a place to stay or car rental and it’s hard to think of anything interesting and affordable for young people to visit.
Staycationing during Covid opened my eyes as a Dub. There’s precious little the city has to offer tourists over the rest of the island.
“Mr O’Mara Walsh said he did not believe the headlines arising from the article were fair”
Oh no, someone telling the truth about a country that has the shittiest and most expensive nightlife in Europe…