This week 10,000 visitors will be coming Dublin for the Web Summit to celebrate all things tech & startup!  I thought I would welcome our new friends by giving them a few hints and tips in terms of getting around and some of my favorite places to eat, drink and be merry!

Getting in from the Airport!

Whether you arrive into Terminal 1 or 2 at Dublin Airport you have three main ways of getting into the city.

1. Grab a taxi from the rank. There should be plenty (we have about 20,000 in Dublin) and expect to pay in the region of €25-€40 depending on where you are staying.
2. Aircoach. This is a great service that goes through the city and into the suburbs.  There are several routes and between them they pass by most of the major hotels in the city. When you leave arrivals look out for the big blue signs. A return ticket is about €16 and travel time is about 25 minutes.
3. 747 by Dublin Bus. This is another bus service, although this one tends to run straight through the city and doesn’t cater for most of the suburban hotels.

Getting around the city!

Grafton Street

By Foot:

One of the greatest things about Dublin is how compact the city centre is. This makes it very easy to get around as a pedestrian. The key areas of the city can be traced from Ballsbridge, over to the IFSC, down to Capel Street and back over to Christ Church. Within that (almost) triangle shape you will find all the restaurants, bars and museums that you could care for. Getting from one side to the other would take about 60 mins walk.

by Bus, Trains and Tram:

Dublin has a good bus/rail and tram system if not as regular as one would like. I would strongly recommend picking up a Leap Card from Eason’s (Terminal 1) or Spar (Terminal 2) at the airport on arrival. They cost €5 and whatever amount of credit you put on it (I’d suggest €20). Leap card is contactless like Oyster Card in London and is accepted on all Dublin Bus, Tram (the Luas) and Rail (DART) services. It works out about 17% cheaper per trip to pay this way so well worth it. Also saves on trying to find change at the bus stop 🙂

by Taxi:

Dublin has over 20,000 registered taxis (more than New York, LA and Toronto) combined, so getting a  cab isn’t a problem. However as most Dublin Taxis do not accept credit card OR charge excessive  processing fees I would suggest that you download and install the Hailo App. Not only will this enable  you to pay be card seamlessly, but you can hail the cab while you are finishing your pint and should you  leave anything behind in the cab you will be able to trace it back. This is a superb service and you are  charged the exact same as a normal street hail but with many more benefits!

Additionally if you follow @HailoIreland on twitter and tweet “I’ll be getting around Dublin with  @HailoIreland during the @WebSummitHQ“ you could win €100 worth of trips while you are here. And no I  am not on their payroll!

the RDS:

In terms of getting to the RDS (where the Web Summit is being held) Dublin Bus routes 4, 7, 8, 18, 27x and 120 all pass by the venue.  Weekdays this is normally a very busy route for traffic getting into the city so give yourself some extra time on the Wednesday for getting in! Should you be coming in by DART The Sandymount Dart station is only a 10 minute walks from the venue.

Eating and Drinking! 

If last year is anything to go by Paddy and the Web Summit team will have enough to keep everyone busy and merry into the wee hours. However you may want to strike out on your own and if so here is my list of favorite bars and eateries.

Drinking:

If you are looking for some great pints of Guinness and Irish hospitality you could not  go wrong with any of the following The Duke, O’Donohues, Doheny & Nesbitt’s, The  Palace Bar and The Long Haul. For my money though the best place in town for a social  pint is Mulligans of Poolbeg Street!

If you prefer  cocktails you wont do wrong by going to The Lost Society, The VCC  (Vintage Cocktail Club) or the The Mint Bar.

Eating:

To makes this easy I will just list of my favorites and the cuisine they serve!  There are of course fancier places but for good affordable food on the go these are pretty damn good!

Elephant & Castle Chicken Wings

Elephant & Castle – Steaks, Burgers (and the best chicking wings anywhere!!!), Nico’s – Italian, Izakaya – Japanese Tapas (and regular hangout for startups!), Yamamori – Japanese Noodles, Crackbird – all things chicken, The Port House – Spanish Tapas and for the vegetarians, vegans, gluten intolerant or coeliac  among you Cornucopia is pretty damn good too 🙂

Finally, I would like to wish all who are travelling into Dublin for the Web Summit a fantastic few days with us and if you fancy sharing a pint on one of the nights hit me up on twitter @russellbanks77, or you will find me there wearing this face 😀