This page provides guidance for visitors, interns and new group members coming to Dublin.

Pre-Arrival TODOs

If you need an invitation letter to apply for a Visa (or for whatver other reason), please  draft a letter, store it in the shared Onedrive folder, and Joeran will then adjust your draft, copy it to official paper, sign it, and send it back to you.

If you need desk space in Trinity College Dublin or access to IT resources (Wifi; Server; …),  please do the following:

  1. Finalize your travel plans with your supervisor at TCD (probably Joeran), i.e. send him the following details as soon as possible (even if you told him some of the details already – please send a separate email with all the details)
    1. Expected arrival date in Dublin, and start date at TCD: e.g. “I will arrive between June 4 and June 7, preferably on June 5 (the final date depends on when I get a cheap flight)”
    2. Expected departure date and last day at TCD: “I will depart between September 25 and September 29, preferably on September 28”.
    3. Full name:
    4. Nationality:
    5. Gender:
    6. Day of birth:
    7. Home Address:
    8. Email:
    9. Phone:
    10. Affiliation: Current university, including Department name and address
    11. Student ID:
    12. Name of the dean at home university:
    13. Status: (e.g. Master student)
    14. Research Topic:
    15. Name of the supervisor at TCD:
    16. Photo (high resolution; colour). If Joeran already invited you to a shared folder, please store the photo in that folder. Otherwise, ideally send the photo as Dropbox link and not directly attached to the email.
  2. Once you booked a flight, let your supervisor know the details (flight times, flight number)
  3. Follow these steps First Steps for New Members.

Housing

If you are from Germany or another country with rather high living standards, then be warned:

  1. Rent is expensive!
  2. You may need to lower your expectations when looking for accommodation in Dublin. Central heating, double-glassed windows, and reliable hot water and toilet flush do exist in some apartments, but not in all.

Be aware that it is not uncommon to share a room n Dublin (two or three people share and sleep in the same room), which is quite uncommon e.g. in Germany. So, be careful when reading the advertisements. A “shared room” means 2+ people sleep in the same room. A “shared apartment” or “shared house” or “shared flat” means that you have your own private room but share the kitchen and bathroom. Keep in mind that you may need to pay around 70-120€ / month for public transport if you cannot walk or bike to work.

Short-Term (Hotel)

As a short-term visitor for a few days, you should try to find a hotel in the city centre, so you can walk around and get easily to Trinity College Dublin. Expect to pay at least 100 Euro per night, rather more. Airbnb also has lots of rooms and flats to offer.

  • Hostelworld.com – An option to find a cheap stay for the first nights
  • Airbnb
  • Booking.com
  • Hotwire.com – has sometimes really good offers for “blind booking” hotels, i.e. you won’t know which hotel you get, only the area and number of stars.

dublin areas trinity college hotels

Medium Term

If you stay for a few weeks or even months, hotels and Airbnb are probably no option as they would be too expensive. Consider the following options.

Daft.ie – this is the first choice for finding a “normal” room or apartment. However, many of the landlords want to meet you before making a decision, and most rooms are rented rather long-term (3+ months).

Facebook – there are several groups on Facebook to find rooms and apartments.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1607597689487462/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/Dublin.Flatshare/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/587046708059311/

Homestay.com – This service helps you to find a host family, i.e. you have typically a private room in a house where the landlord (and his/her family) lives, too. Often they provide you with food (breakfast, and sometimes dinner). These stays are comparatively cheap, but often the houses are quite far away from the City Centre. Several of our previous interns used this – most of them were satisfied, but some had bad luck and ended up with unfriendly host families.

EazyCity – This service owns several houses in mediocre locations (not bad, but also not really good). You typically need to book quite a while in advance and you don’t know in which of the houses you will end up. I used this service three times myself and I am not sure if I would recommend it. It is not terribly bad but if you find something e.g. via Daft, then that is probably the better option.

Stay in Dublin City – This service is similar to EazyCity and you can book it through their website (cheaper) or through Booking.com. I also used this two or three times myself. For a few weeks, this may acceptable – however, one of the accommodations had bed bugs.

Trinity College Accommodation  – From the end of May to the end of August, guests can stay in rooms located on the Trinity College campus. The rooms are typically en-suite and have kitchen facilities. The prices are approximately the same as a cheap city centre hotel and are reasonable given the good location. However, you probably would not want to pay these prices long-term.

PLEASE, add more information if you find other valuable resources, or made good or bad experiences.

Transport

Leap Card

When taking public transport (Buses, Luas, DART, anything), it is faster and cheaper to pay with a Leap Card. Students of Trinity also have a special Leap card that is even cheaper. However, I don’t know if external visiting students can get that card. With a Leap card your fare is also capped, so you will never pay more than 7 Euros a day (5 for students), or 27 Euros a week (20 for students).

leap card dublin bus bikes public transport

Bus

There are many many buses in Dublin and they are all slow. Really, if the weather is good (and it surprisingly often good), then there is no reason to take a bus. You will be equally fast on foot (at least in the city centre and around) and you will be much faster by bike.

DART

The “Dublin Area Rapid Transport” is a local train that connects the outer areas with Dublin City Centre. One station is very close to Trinity. So, if you manage to find an apartment far out of Dublin but close to a DART station, then this could be a good option. The DART is quite fast and reliable (much better than buses).

Dublin Area Train and Tram public transport dart luas

Luas

The Luas is like a German “Straßenbahn”, and there are a few lines in Dublin. The Luas is more reliable and faster than buses.

dublin public transport luas

https://www.luas.ie/map/

Bicycling

Within the city centre, your best and the fasted option is a bike (beware of thieves though). The great thing is that for 20 Euros a year (yes, per year!) you can use Dublin Bikes. Dublin Bikes has bike stations all over the city and once you paid the yearly fee, you can take a bike at any station, use it for free for up to 30 minutes (the next 30 minutes will be charged with 50 Cents), and return it at any station. When looking for an apartment, it may be advisable to rent an apartment close to a Dublin Bike station. The map below shows you were Dublin Bike stations are.

dublin bikes stationshttp://www.dublinbikes.ie/All-Stations/Station-map

FAQ

When to look for accommodation?

Some services like Eazyity require you to book at least 6 weeks in advance. Others allow you to book short notice. My advice is to start looking as early as possible. For instance, start four months before your arrival to look at Daft.ie and the Facebook Groups. Maybe you are lucky and find something. If you don’t find anything, then two months before your arrival consider to book a homestay or EazyCity – or take the risk and wait longer. In the worst case, you can always book a hostel and look after your arrival on Daft.ie, or try to book a homestay.

Where is the best area to live?

In general, the south of Dublin is considered to be safer and better than the North but considering the shortage of accommodation, you probably will not have the luxury to choose. Try to find a room near a Dublin Bike station, near a direct bus line to Trinity College, and/or near a DART station.

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