Dublin is expensive, and visitors are frequently surprised by how expensive, because the city does not look it. The cost is concentrated in accommodation, alcohol and a handful of paid attractions, and two of those three can be managed down substantially without making the trip worse.
Transport is cheap. A great deal of the best of the city is free.
Accommodation, which is the problem
The largest line by a wide margin. Ireland has a severe housing shortage, hotel supply has not kept up with visitor numbers, and Dublin room rates are high for the standard delivered — frequently above Berlin or Madrid for a worse room.
What brings it down:
Stay outside Dublin 2. The Liberties, the north quays, Stoneybatter, Rathmines and the Docklands are all walkable or a short tram ride and materially cheaper. The city is two kilometres across; you are not saving money by suffering.
Avoid the fixture list. A rugby international at the Aviva, a concert at Croke Park or the 3Arena, or St Patrick’s weekend will double rates across the entire city. Check before choosing dates — this is the single biggest avoidable cost.
January and February are the cheapest months by some distance, and Dublin is perfectly good in them.
Hostels here are numerous, central and genuinely good, several with private rooms at guesthouse rates.
Full detail in where to stay.
Drink
The second surprise. A pint in Dublin costs more than in most European capitals, and the range within the city is enormous — roughly double in Temple Bar compared with a pub four streets away.
Walk four streets. That is the entire tip and it is worth a great deal over a weekend.
Ireland has high excise duty on alcohol and a minimum unit price on off-licence sales, so buying in a supermarket saves less than you would expect.
Attractions
Several of Dublin’s paid attractions are expensive relative to what they are. The Guinness Storehouse in particular is the most expensive standard stop on most itineraries, and its price is dynamic and rises through the day and the week.
Book online and early for anything ticketed — the walk-up price is higher.
The distilleries — Teeling, Roe & Co, Pearse Lyons — cost a fraction of the Storehouse for a smaller group and a person rather than a screen.
The free list, which is unusually good
This is where Dublin earns back its reputation. All of these are free and all of them are genuinely worth the time:
National Museum of Ireland — Archaeology, which is the best museum in the country.
National Museum — Decorative Arts and History at Collins Barracks, and Natural History on Merrion Street.
The National Gallery, with the Caravaggio.
The Chester Beatty Library in the Dublin Castle grounds — Islamic and East Asian manuscripts, and one of the finest small museums in Europe.
The Irish Museum of Modern Art at Kilmainham.
Phoenix Park and the deer, St Stephen’s Green, the Iveagh Gardens and the Botanic Gardens.
Trinity College campus — you pay for the Book of Kells, not for the grounds.
Arbour Hill, the Famine Memorial, Marsh’s Library for a nominal fee.
Choral evensong at either cathedral — free, and the better way to see both.
The Cobblestone and every other traditional session in the city.
A perfectly full three days in Dublin can be assembled almost entirely from that list.
Transport
Cheap and not worth optimising. The Leap Visitor Card covers unlimited travel including the airport bus for 1, 3 or 7 days, and usually pays for itself if you use the Airlink both ways. See getting around.
Most days you will walk anyway.
Tipping
10 to 12.5 per cent for table service in restaurants. Nothing at a pub bar — see the pub guide. Taxis: round up.
The rough shape
For two people, the hotel will be the biggest number, food and drink second, and attractions third. If you need to cut, cut the neighbourhood and the rounds before you cut the museums — and note that in Dublin the best museums are free anyway.
Two habits that save the most
Eat your main meal at lunch. Dublin restaurants run set lunch and pre-theatre menus at a fraction of the à la carte price, out of the same kitchen. This is the single largest saving available on food and it costs nothing in quality.
Do the free museums on the expensive days. If you are here on a weekend when the city is full and rates are high, that is exactly the time to spend a morning in the National Museum and an afternoon in Phoenix Park rather than paying peak prices for a queue.
What not to economise on
Shoes and a waterproof. You will walk everywhere and it will rain, and a wet, blistered day in Dublin is a wasted day that no saving compensates for.
The Kilmainham ticket, if you can get one. It is inexpensive and it is the most substantial hour and a quarter in the city.