Originally Posted by
Raffles
... which is a thread I started.
Frankly, Dublin is a dump. No decent shopping (compared to a 'proper' capital city), very high prices because of the Euro (at least versus the £), terrible weather, no cultural sights of significance worth seeing, and the joy of having to get a bus from the airport as the trams and trains avoid it.
If you have SPG points, the Westin is a good value redemption for 10,000 points compared to the cash prices. Very convenient location as well.
Interesting. We were getting the feeling of very little to see in Dublin just reading some of the tourist books and websites... And we don't drink beer!
I mean, it's a new place, only 24 hours there, minus sleeping and transporting to and from the airport so we thought it might be doable. The savings are mitigated by the hotel and food costs too, but it's a $1300 savings for 2 people vs. non-stop! Perhaps we'll just wait and see if the nonstop prices to France from NY will drop at all in the next 60 days...
OP should also note that Air France (to CDG) and Ryanair (to Beauvais) also from to Paris from Dublin, so you could save yourself the cost of the stopover if you wanted - albeit you will have misconnect risks.
This is not feasible because we will have luggage, and Ryanair is not a good savings nor a good experience with checked luggage. AF is quite pricey, same price as a nonstop to CDG.