Dublin - Whistlestop Tour and Preclearance Advice
 

Shamefully, I've never been to Dublin. It feels like a huge omission. However, I have a very brief overnight stop there before flying on AA93 to ORD, and I'm, perhaps optimistically, hoping to at least have a quick wander inbetween arriving on AF5223 at 22:35 and leaving on AA93 at 10:00 the next morning (I'll stay in the centre, as opposed to at the airport, and, predictably for me, will probably have a quick potter on a Dublinbike).

So...

With hand luggage only, how quickly do you reckon I can make it (on one of the buses) into Dublin of the evening flight from LCY?

Is there a good whistlestop wander (on foot or two wheels) I can take at an unsociable hour (either midnight, 5.30am or both) to get a flavour of the place (I'm going to be in jetlag-combatting mode, so the hours don't bother me, and I do have a particular fondness for watching cities waking up...)?

How long in advance should I turn up at DUB for a precleared flight (hand luggage, in Y with status)? Reports seem to vary between "oh, an hour is fine" to "are you joking, three hours at least!"

All advice would be very much appreciated! (Oh, and I won't be having any alcohol - not that that stops me going into pubs, but still...) I know it sounds like ludicrously short stop, but I can't bring myself to go somewhere and not at least set foot in the city...

No tour I'm aware of - and tbh most things will be closed. Personally I'd just get a hotel near the airport and crash out. Even with hand luggage, you're not looking at arriving into the city centre until 11.20 or so, and having to get to the airport for about 8am.

As for pre-clearance I'd be there approximately 75-60 minutes minimum or so before the flight. There are a couple of US bound flights at that time pre-clearing so it can be a crapshoot. You may breeze through, you may be held up for a while.

When I flew EI it took me about 20 minutes, but they started calling the flight through probably 90 minutes before departure.

I saw no differentiation between Y & C and the absence of hand luggage doesn't speed this up.

Dublin - Whistlestop Tour and Preclearance Advice
 

Oh, not looking for a tour, just a recommendation of where I can wander round. I do this quite often (you get some interesting photos, too...) :)

It is tempting just to crash at the airport Premier Inn, but it just feels wrong to me. Even if it's just an hour at 6, watching the city get up and go to work, that's good for me.

Dublin - Whistlestop Tour and Preclearance Advice
 

So basically get there for 8am. Sounds good.

0800 seems somewhat early. You'd be safe by 0830.
Arriving at 2230-ish means there's nothing organised, tour-wise, at that hour.
Airport bus from the city centre will take 20-25 mins, both ways.
Depending on where you stay, check-in and go for a walk -- assuming it's not tipping down with rain.
There will be plenty of cafes open in the morning for breakfast.
If you say where you are staying, happy to suggest which best direction to go for a walk.

Thanks! I'm probably going to end up at the Academy Plaza on Findlater Place, on the basis that it seems cheap, non-scummy, central, and on the airport bus route. Any vague directions from there would be much appreciated!

(And sorry if I was unclear, by "whistlestop tour", I meant me having a potter round by foot and/or bike, not an actual tour...)

And a bit of rain won't put me off - I'm from the West of Scotland...

The hotel may be "non-scummy" but the top of O'Connell Street around Parnell Street is not the most salubrious part of Dublin ;).
I wouldn't be spending too much time going for a night walk.
Suggest you go to bed - as you're not indulging in a beverage - and get up early in the morning.
By that stage - 0600 and beyond - most of the darker denizens of the night will have wandered off.
Take a walk down O'Connell Street past the GPO (General Post Office) - still with bullet holes from 1916.
Given the limited time, I'd suggest crossing O'Connell Bridge and walking to Trinity College and around and up Grafton Street into St Stephen's Green. Was going to suggest breakfast at Bewley's on Grafton Street, but it's not open until 0800. There are plenty of other smaller spots for brekkie. Walk around or across the Green and then around back down Kildare Street, past the Dail (Irish Parliament) and left at the bottom to take back around to the front gates of Trinity and across the bridge again to O'Connell Street.
That route gives you a mini tour of the centre of Dublin, getting in a few landmarks along the way.

Dublin - Whistlestop Tour and Preclearance Advice
 

Thanks UAPEF! Will certainly do some of that wandering.

If that hotel's in one of the les salubrious parts of the city centre, what would you say would be a better location? There's certainly no lack of choice on an October Thursday evening...

I think the general guidance would be simply to get the other side (South) of the river. I don't want to sway into any sweeping, un-pc observations, but....

South of the river? At that time of night?

Well, my only knowledge of Dublin is gleaned from Roddy Doyle and Overheard In Dublin.

Ah, I see...

Given I was born in Paisley and used to live in Stockwell, am I really going to find the north end of O'Connell St that unpleasant?

That part of town, particularly at night, is not a good area.
It's far from the worst area. But it can be pretty sketchy.

It is a bit of a sweeping generalisation. I'm from the south side of Dublin, and there are plenty of sketchy parts of town there too.
There are multiple south>northside jokes, e.g. What do you call a northsider in a suit? The defendant!
Or what do you a call a northsider in a BMW? A thief!
You get the drift. Like every city, there are geographical and class divides and myths and (mis)perceptions.

When I took the UA IAD flight it was about 40 mins, but there was a US flight leaving within 10 minutes and a delta leaving around the same time. There is nothing to do post-clearance so I would ask the check-in staff how things are.

I was going to suggest the Mont Clare hotel on Merrion Square, but I checked a couple of Thursdays this month and it came up at 140+ Euros a night!