Budget: how much does a weekend in Dublin cost?

The quest was a simple one: to book the cheapest Ryanair flight, and spend a weekend in the chosen city. After crafting a top three of top choices, we landed on Dublin. And so in classic Milou-style we jetted off to one of the most expensive cities in Europe! How did I manage to spend a frugal fabulous weekend there? And how much money did I have to fork over, exactly? I’ll share the deets.

Tickets: £78

Our flight from Eindhoven (NL) to Dublin only cost us £39. Pretty sweet, huh? I’m not normally someone who chooses based on budget over location, but it proved a fun challenge! Our top two contenders ended up being Dublin and Warsaw. We picked Dublin over Warsaw thinking it would offer us better weather, but HAHA yeah no. Flying into Dublin Airport is super easy though, it’s close to the city and you can just get a bus into the town center.

Airbnb: £132

We ended up choosing a weekend when the rugby world cup finals took place. Smart thinking, indeed. Hostels were charging up to £54 a night!, which is just ridiculous. And so we went for this location just a bit outside of the centre, with a lovely breakfast ready every morning! (Want to get a £14 Airbnb-discount? Sure you do. Click here!) Check other hotels here.

Bus: £15

The airport is a bit outside the city, and to get there you’ll need to hop on a bus. It’ll set you back £7,5, and can be bought with the driver. Simples! It has multiple stops and runs every 15 min to half hour.

Food: £160

So… it was terrible weather in Dublin when we visited. We had a lot of rain, wind and even snow. Which makes visiting a city and spending time outside a lot less fun, lemme tell ya. And so we took it upon ourselves to check Dublin’s food scene. Turns out it’s amazingly good!

Activities: £21.5

Dublin is pretty affordable when it comes to activities. We only paid for three things: the Free Walking Tour (you’re a monster if you don’t tip), Kilmainhaim jail (€8 – don’t skip it!) and public favourite The Book of Kells. Pro-tip: visit after four thirty to only pay half price. And even if it is a pretty swanky book, you won’t need more than thirty minutes anyway.

Totaal: £408

Per person: £204

*DRUMROLL* Whooo. Well, I’m pretty pleased with that result for 3,5 days in Dublin. I could’ve saved by choosing to go to a little less pubs, but it was raining, we felt like it, and that’s the end of. I think we did well! We walked a lot, managed to nab accommodation that included breakfast, watched the Rugby classic Ireland – England in the pub with locals, and managed to steer away from drinking which apparently adds up quickly in Dublin. Many restaurants have the bring your own booze principle, which I quite like! But non drinking is always the cheaper option :)

How much did you spend in Dublin?

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