What are the best tips for driving in Dublin? This question recently came from a reader, and here I will try to answer it … keeping in mind that many of these answers also fit other cities in Ireland that you might consider visiting with a car.
Can you share tips for driving in Dublin?
Oh yes, I may, have driven to, through and in Dublin more times than hot dinners (well, maybe not, but you get the point). And there is some great advice that I have to put first when the question of driving in Dublin comes up:
¡NO!
You don’t really need to bring your own wheels to Dublin – you can get to Dublin by plane (plus a bus ride), by ferry (plus a bus ride), by train or by bus. Not everything can be easy and convenient, depending on where you started from, but you don’t need to come by car. And as for getting around in the big smoke: Dublin has a pretty good public transport system with buses, trams, and trains. Add in the small (often surprisingly) size of the actual city center and the wide variety of tours on offer, and you won’t need a car to get around.
Time course.
But what if you need a car? Either because you cannot go by public transport (for example, because you or a traveling companion have mobility problems) or for other reasons (you are only traveling, you need to pick up goods or passengers, you need to return your rental … Or do you just have the pig head?
These are the most valuable tips and suggestions I can think of, and they come from long experience:
- If you can, avoid rush hour , basically between 7:30 and 9 a.m. and again between 6:30 p.m. and you can expect a traffic jam in many places. No more than anywhere near the Liffey.
- When driving in Dublin, don’t try to beat the locals . You are always the weakest link here.
- If you can, stay on the main thoroughfares and avoid shortcuts you haven’t driven before – you’ll more than likely end up in a maze of one-way, dead-end streets, in which many tourists have visibly aged. behind the wheel. Even experienced drivers are sometimes confused by another temporary or permanent route change that Dublin City Council has thought of.
- Don’t look for free parking spaces , you won’t find any (and yes, I would have some secret spots where one might get lucky, but I won’t scatter them all over the WWW). Instead, try to find a parking space on one of the many multiple floors (marked). Most have a competitive daily rate anyway.
- Always take note of where you are parked (or easily take a photo on your mobile phone). This goes for the exact parking space on a multi-story, as well as the address (and opening hours) of the multi-story itself. Trust me, you don’t want to search for your silver compact in endless rows 90% filled with silver compacts.
- And avoid metered street parking – it’s expensive and the dreaded clamps will hit your car the second the meter runs out. Which, as a rule, will be at least three minutes before you get to your car.
- Also, never park where it is prohibited – you will be restrained or even towed, and a foreign registration will not save you from this either.
- Make sure you have enough gasoline or diesel in your car; if it runs out, you are in big trouble. Out of my head I know exactly one gas station in the center of town, and even that is quite far out in an inconvenient location.
- It may be a good idea to keep your car doors closed while driving; Opportunity crimes such as theft of bags from the rear seats and even car thefts are not unknown.
Dublin public transport
