Hello everyone! My partner and I are headed to Ireland tomorrow (arrive Thursday afternoon). We'll be in Dublin from Thursday afternoon until Sunday morning. Effectively, this leaves us Friday and Saturday to do all the sightseeing and tourist stuff that we can. Sunday is literally wake up and to the airport. And I'm not sure how we'll be doing Thursday afternoon after the overnight IAD-LHR flight. That aside...

I've searched and read through a bunch of threads here, and other resources online. Here are my thoughts...please chime in if you think I'm wrong on something, or if you have something to add...

We are planning on taking Aircoach from DUB to our hotel (Mespil Hotel). Per the hotel's instructions, we'll be taking the Lepardstown line to the Leeson Street Bridge stop...then making the 3-5 walk over to the hotel. Sound right? Are there other, better, options for transferring from the airport to the hotel?

Like I said before, I'm considering Thursday a wash. We'll probably be fairly exhausted. Once we arrive at the hotel and get checked in, I was thinking about venturing out on foot to find local pubs or other places of interest that are very close to the hotel. The hotel is located at 50-60 Mespil Road. Does anyone have suggestions for pubs or restaurants close to the hotel?

Friday and Saturday are our tourist days...and yes, I'll have my camera out. I've been told the Blarney stone is about 4 hours south or so, so that's definitely out. Don't want to spend my time traveling once we reach Dublin. So I'm thinking we'll be limited to essentially places in City Centre. I've printed out what I believe is a good map from the hotel's website:
http://www.mespilhotel.com/fileadmin...map_mespil.pdf

We've pre-ordered tickets for the Guinness storehouse to save 10%. That is valid any day, so I'm not concerned whether we do that Friday or Saturday. I definitely want to get to Dublin castle, and I've read that the restaurant inside of the library inside the castle is a good place for lunch. Yes?

What other places of interest should be visit? (preferably in walking distance...we're young so a mile or two walk is reasonable.)

How would you compare the Old Jameson Distillery tour and tasting to the Guinness storehouse tour? (I don't like Jameson or Guinness, but you better believe I'll be gulping it down!)

If it's any help, we're both in our mid (getting to our late) 20s. Very interested in seeing castles, some architecture, and of course...drinking!

Thank you all for your (quick) replies. Sorry I posted this so close to the time we are leaving!

-Chris