Dublin hotels

Avalon House

55 Aungier Street. Phone: 475 0001. Fax: 475 0303. Price: £45 ($70) with breakfast. All major cards. 38 rooms. (A2).

An inexpensive hotel in a very central location. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Blooms

Anglesea Street. Phone: 671 5622. Fax: 671 5997. Price: £71 ($111) with breakfast. All major cards. 86 rooms. (A1).

The reasonable and small hotel, named after the main character in Ulysses by James Joyce, is perfectly located on the slope from Dame Street to Temple Bar, just 100 meters from the latter and 300 meters from Grafton Street.

This is a comfortable and just a little worn hotel in old-fashioned modern style, with good concierges. The lobby is minuscule but the rooms are ample. Room service is for 24 hours, and there are amenities for businessmen and an indoor car park.

Room 506 is high up in the hotel, with triple glass in the windows, efficiently cutting out noise. It is divided into a sleeping and a sitting section on the two sides of a balcony. It has a good writing desk, a trouser press and a hair dryer, a direct phone line, a welcoming bottle of red wine and a newspaper of the day. The quality bathroom is well equipped.

Buswells

Molesworth Street. Phone: 676 4013 & 676 4016. Fax: 676 2090. Price: £102 ($159) with breakfast. All major cards. 70 rooms. (B2).

The main hotel of atmosphere is old and worn and small, with parliamentarians as clients, standing opposite the entrance to the Irish Parliament in Leinster House, near most of the important museums in Dublin and 300 meters from Grafton Street. In spite of the location, the street in front is quiet.

The staff is especially friendly and efficient, some of the best staff in town. The rooms are variable in size and comfort.

Room no. 103 is old-fashioned, small and worn. It is well equipped, has a trouser press and a hair dryer. The bathroom is also small, fully tiled and with all amenities, except for a rather weak shower.

Central

1-5 Exchequer Street. Phone: 679 7302. Fax: 679 7303. Price: £100 ($156) with breakfast. All major cards. 70 rooms. (A1).

As centrally located as possible. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Christchurch Inn

Christchurch Place. Phone: 475 0111. Fax: 475 0488. Price: £60 ($94) with breakfast. All major cards. 183 rooms. (A1).

Opposite Christchurch and a few steps from Dublin Castle. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Clarence

6-8 Wellington Quay. Phone: 662 3066. Fax: 662 3077. Price: £200 ($312) with breakfast. All major cards. 50 rooms. (A1).

Refurbished luxury hotel centrally located on the Liffey. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Conrad

Earlsfort Terrace. Phone: 676 5555. Fax: 676 5424. Price: £200 ($312) with breakfast. All major cards. 191 rooms. (B2).

An expensive luxury hotel near St Stephens Green. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Davenport

Merrion Square. Phone: 661 6800. Fax: 661 5663. Price: £160 ($250) with breakfast. All major cards. 120 rooms. (B2).

A neo-classical hotel on one of the most charming squares in central Dublin. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Fitzwilliam

41 Upper Fitzwilliam Street. Phone: 660 0448. Fax: 676 7488. Price: £60 ($94) with breakfast. All major cards. 12 rooms. (B2).

An inexpensive, small hotel in a 18th C. city house on the corner of pubby Baggot Street and Fitzwilliam Street, 400 meters from St Stephens Green and 800 meters from Grafton Street.

The family-owned hotel has friendly and pleasant staff. Guests are provided with keys when they go out in the night. Breakfast is served in the basement. Many guest rooms are furnished with antiques.

Old-fashioned room no. 32 is rather large, faces the street, furnished with three beds. The bathroom is also old-fashioned but functioning well.

Georgian House

20-21 Lower Baggot Street. Phone: 661 8832. Fax: 661 8834. Price: £81 ($127) with breakfast. All major cards. 33 rooms. (B2).

A romantic and rather inexpensive hotel in four city houses directly on the main street of renowned pubs, 300 meters from St Stephens Green and 600 meters from Grafton Street.

The family-owned hotel has a tiny lobby below narrow stairs. The staff are friendly. Breakfast is served in the basement Ante Room restaurant, which is respected for seafood.

Room no. 124 is spacious, with large windows to the street, well equipped with heavy and solid furniture of the dated kind. The bathroom is rather well furnished.

Grafton Plaza

Johnsons Place. Phone: 475 0888. Fax: 475 0908. Price: £80 ($125) with breakfast. All major cards. 75 rooms. (A2).

A new hotel near the pedestrian Grafton Street. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Gresham

23 Upper OConnell Street. Phone: 874 6881. Fax: 878 7175. Price: £120 ($188) with breakfast. All major cards. 200 rooms. (B1).

One of the most traditional hotels of central Dublin. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Grey Door

23 Upper Pembroke Street. Phone: 676 3286. Fax: 676 3287. Price: £95 ($148) with breakfast. All major cards. 7 rooms. (B2).

A very elegant micro-hotel in a residential street of embassies in the center, really a renowned restaurant with some added rooms. It is 300 meters from St Stephens Green, 400 meters from Baggot Street and 700 meters from Grafton Street.

There is scarcely a lobby, only some space around a staircase. The sitting room upstairs is stately and spacious. The staff is excellent. The front door is always locked and guests are fitted out with a key. Breakfast is served in the venerable restaurant of the same name.

The elegant room no. 3 is divided by a kind of an arcade into a sleeping part and a sitting part. It has very good furnishings, including two TV sets, a trouser press, a hair drier, a coffee machine, a good writing desk and three easy chairs. The bathroom has elegant, white tiles, golden taps and thick robes.

Harcourt

60 Harcourt Street. Phone: 478 3677. Fax: 475 2013. Price: £80 ($125) with breakfast. All major cards. 40 rooms. (A2).

A few steps from St Stephens Green. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Kellys

36 South Great Georges Street. Phone: 677 9277. Fax: 671 3216. Price: £57 ($89) with breakfast. All major cards. 24 rooms. (A2).

A good quality to price ratio is available in this small and cozy, clean and old-fashioned hotel in the center, 200 meters from Dame Street and 400 meters from Grafton Street.

The first floor lobby adjoins a sitting room, a good breakfast room and a nice bar with high windows and leather chairs. Service is good in this family-owned hotel. The front door is locked at night and guests push a bell to be admitted.

The tiny room no. 23 is furnished in taste and has the normal conveniences, including a hair-dryer. A thick carpet covers the creaking floor. The small and tasteful bathroom has also a carpet and is well furnished.

Leeson Court

26-27 Lower Leeson Street. Phone: 676 3380. Fax: 661 8273. Price: £80 ($125) with breakfast. All major cards. 20 rooms. (B2).

Near St Stephens Green. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Longfields

Lower Fitzwilliam Street. Phone: 676 1367. Fax: 676 1542. Price: £80 ($125) with breakfast. All major cards. 28 rooms. (B2).

A few steps from Merrion Square (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Mont Clare

Merrion Square. Phone: 661 6799. Fax: 661 5663. Price: £125 ($195) with breakfast. All major cards. 74 rooms. (B2).

On one of the most charming squares in central Dublin. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Royal Dublin

40 Upper OConnell Street. Phone: 873 3666. Fax: 873 3120. Price: £95 ($148) with breakfast. All major cards. 117 rooms. (B1).

On the main street north of the Liffey. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Russell Court

21-25 Harcourt Street. Phone: 478 4066. Fax: 478 1576. Price: £80 ($125) with breakfast. All major cards. 42 rooms. (A2).

A few steps from St Stephens Green. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Shelbourne

St Stephens Green. Phone: 676 6471. Fax: 661 6006. Price: £170 ($266) with breakfast. All major cards. 150 rooms. (B2).

The most expensive hotel in the city is an historical landmark since 1824 with a St Stephens Green address and a location only 300 meters from Grafton Street. The constitution of the Irish Republic was written in this palace of red and white and some episodes in literature are situated there.

It is old and revered, lively though, with creaking and sloping floors under thick carpets. The comfortable public rooms have been restored to their original appearance and the guest rooms are appealing. One of the best known pubs in London, the Horseshoe bar, is on the ground level. Service has come down since the Forte chain acquired it, especially the porterage.

Room no. 222 is enormous, divided in two parts, a bedroom and a sitting room, tastefully and splendidly furnished, with large windows on the green. The bathroom is unusually elegant.

Stauntons

83 St Stephens Green South. Phone: 478 2300. Fax: 478 2263. Price: £88 ($138) with breakfast. All major cards. (B2).

A solid, expensive and rather sound-conductive small hotel alongside the Foreign Ministry, 500 meters from Grafton Street. The front rooms face Stephens Green and the back rooms face Iveagh Gardens.

The lobby is tiny, there is no lift and the stairs are steep. The views add space to the smallish rooms. The breakfast room is in the basement.

The very small no. 301 has thin walls and the normal conveniences, including a coffee machine. The tiny bathroom is neither tiled nor stylish but has all the amenities, including a good shower.

Stephens Hall

14-17 Lower Leeson Street. Phone: 661 0585. Fax: 661 0606. Price: £150 ($234) with breakfast. All major cards. 37 rooms. (B2).

Near St Stephens Green. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Temple Bar

Fleet Street. Phone: 677 3333. Fax: 677 3088. Price: £100 ($156) with breakfast. All major cards. 108 rooms. (A1).

A lively hotel in a very central location, 50 meters from Temple Bar and 400 meters from Grafton Street.

It is new and sparkling, furnished in taste and quality, including the breakfast room behind the small and sometimes crowded lobby, overflowed with groups leaving and coming. The employees are friendly and relaxed but not experienced enough in the breakfast room.

Quality and style mark room no. 115. It has a good writing desk, a trouser press and a coffee machine. The bathroom is handsome but the shower is rather tepid.

Westbury

Grafton Street. Phone: 679 1122. Fax: 679 7078. Price: £149 ($233) with breakfast. All major cards. 195 rooms. (B2).

The best and the best situated hotel, expensive, large and modern, only 30 meters from Grafton Street. The Powerscourt boutique shopping center is just behind the hotel.

No less than three of the best restaurants in Dublin are inside the hotel, Russell, Sandbank and Rajdoot. There is also a shopping arcade in the hotel, so that the hotel becomes a self-contained world in heavy rain. The lobby on two floors is a large and cold marble palace with an impressive staircase.

Room no. 606 is unusually spacious and of unusually good quality, with mahogany furniture and blue colors, good lamps and wide mirrors, impressively stylish. The bathroom is fully tiled, in two parts, with a bath and a toilet in the inner part. The shower was not very efficient.

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson