Long weekend in Dublin

My wife and I are going to Dublin for a long weekend (arrive early Thursday morning and leave mid-day Monday) in August. Any suggestions for hotels, restaurants, must-see attractions? We'd love to be able to get out of the city at least once and see the lush green Irish countryside - but not sure how we feel about an all-day bus trip to the west coast. Thanks!

We loved our Ireland trip!! We flew into Shannon and drove from the west, so I can't help much with daytrips, but I'd suggest sticking with the east coast as you really won't have all that much time. We were there 4 nights and it was just right to fit everything in.

We're not huge guided tour people usually, but we did a few and really enjoyed them all. They were a great way to see the city and the guides all had such personality! I'd highly recommend them.

Musical pub crawl -http://www.creativeevents.ie/events/musical-pub-crawl/

The 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour - http://www.1916rising.com/

Literary Pub Crawl - http://www.dublinpubcrawl.com/

(side note, our trip was in 2006 and I'm thrilled to see all of the guides are still doing them!!)

We also enjoyed the Guinness Factory and Kilmainham Gaol, the prison.

The west is great, but I generally advise against bus tours because while much may be seen, little may be appreciated. If you really want to get out of Dublin, find the closest village and go for the day, while admitting that whatever "authenticity" there was may have really disappeared decades ago, at least if you have to limit to a day trip. I second everything TarheelsInNj said, and especially Kilmainham; just remember that Gaol is pronounced Jail, and you'll avoid some of my college mistakes.

I should explain a tad; I spent a summer there, that's all, but it was mostly in Galway and Cork, not Dublin, so I'm biased. Even so, Dublin is fine in its own right. My general thought for travel is to find what's worthwhile close by, rather than trying to do "everything." I rather wish I had seen more of Dublin, but after feeling that I "knew" Galway, I found it intimidating and limited my sojourns.

we stayed at Buswells Hotel in Dublin. Old world styling, great location-full bar & restaurant. Reco by rick steves-his tour group was there for a night when we visited in june 2013.

we took a day tour down to wicklow and the powerscourt gardens.

also took a tour at trinity college and an historical walking tour in dublin.

can recommend -the farm restaurant and carluccio's (a european chain of italian restaurants-was very good)

oots

I am Irish and lived in Dublin for a few years. I think a trip to the west coast is too ambitious for such a short stay (pity, though!) I would recommend renting a car, or taking a bus trip to Wicklow - nice scenery, mountains, etc. Powerscourt House and Gardens and Powerscourt Waterfall are nice to visit, and there are lots of quaint little towns like Delgany, Enniskerry and Newtownmountkennedy.

I get asked about Dublin a lot so here's a previously-compiled list of bars/restaurants:

Restaurants (Irish food served in a contemporary way):

The Woollen Mills

The Winding Stair

Fade Street Social

Camden Kitchen

Whitefriar Grill (for lunch/brunch)

Avoca Cafe (for lunch or coffee – located in a store that sells nice modern Irish design/crafts)

Coppinger Row (good cocktails)

Pubs/bars – touristy but fun (with traditional music etc.):

O'Sheas the Merchant

The Temple Bar

Pubs/bars – traditional/authentic:

Kehoes

The Stag's Head

Doheny and Nesbitt

O'Donoghues

The Palace

The Long Hall (impressive Victorian interior)

Grogan's

Pubs/bars – trendy/cocktails:

37 Dawson

The bar with no name (on Fade Street)

The Liquor Rooms (open til 5am)

Drury Buildings (also does good food)

I think it's a bit of a local chain but I had a great time at Porterhouse in Temple Bar and saw the awesome band Sliotar.

http://www.porterhousebrewco.com/bars-dublin-temple.php

http://youtu.be/jO8yn29ZuGM

If a match is on while you are there I recommend you take in the hurling

https://www.gaa.ie/fixtures-and-results/national-fixtures/gaa-hurling-all-ireland-senior-championship/

Rent a car and drive down (not far) and check out Glendalough. That was the one piece of advice I was given by a Dublin bartender when I was there for a weekend. I did it and it was good advice. Tour of the gaol (featured in "In the Name of the Father") was pretty cool too.

Radisson blu city center, the conrad, the merrion, the marker all good. The marker out in the financial district so a bit of a walk, the others are more central, especially radisson blu. Guinness storehouse for attraction, jameson distillery althoguh they dont actual distill there anymore, temple bar district, walk along river liffey, st. Patricks church, trinity college st. Stephens green, for food try pub food i at the plethora of good pubs in or around temple bar --if you must do high end shanahans is good,

My husband is from Dublin and we go there every summer. (Past 25 years!) I agree with Kate above re Wicklow. Powerscourt is well worth a visit. Avoca Weavers and Cafe has several locations but one is right in the house at Powerscourt. Reliably good food and a cute shop.

Glendalough is worth a visit ... Ancient monastery with grounds to walk around. It is impressive and interesting.

Also in Wicklow is Parnell's house and museum. It is a stop of an hour or two ... It is not large, but interesting.

In Dublin, make sure to visit Grafton Street in Dublin and take a walk in St. Stephens Green. If you like bookstores, Hodges-Figgis on Dawson St. is great. We make an annual pilgrimmage there. It is right near Trinity College which is a great place to walk around. It is beautiful. These things are all very close together.

Dublin Castle is also worth a visit, my husband says it is about a half mile from Trinity.

Going the other way, north of Dublin, is the prehistoric Newgrange monument ... Fascinating place. Malahide castle (closer to Dublin) is also interesting. You can get the DART train to Malahide. There is a DART stop on the Trinity College campus.

Have fun! Dublin is a really amazing city.

Two of my most vivid (architectural) memories of our trip to Dublin a few years back include the Trinity College Library and The Casino Marino - a jewel box of a building. (Google them for images)

Wicklow was fantastic and Powerscourt was a great garden tour as well. We also visited the very large and intimidating Russborough House while we were in that part of Ireland.

echo the suggestions for Kilmainham Gaol and Dublin Castle -- both are great history lessons. Same for the Guinness museum, a lot of history wrapped up in the production of Guinness.

for traditional music, O'Donohue's is a can't miss spot. My friends actually ran into a few members of the E Street Band there in 2012 when they played at RDS. http://www.odonoghues.ie/bar.htm

also, much more of a neighborhood place, and a little out of the way, north of the Liffey is the Cobblestone. Trad music, and the night we were there, it seemed most of the people in the bar got up to play or sing. https://www.facebook.com/thecobblestone

last time there we stayed at The Morrison, which is quayside, north of the Liffey. It's very convenient to most of the tourist sites, but because it's on the other side from Temple Bar, it's quieter at night.

Oh gosh, I can't believe I forgot to mention the Trinity Library! It's so gorgeous. Definitely agree with everyone that it's worth a stop there for sure.

Thanks for all the advice. This is fantastic.