Dublin, Ireland

Dylan

Price per night from$194.44

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR179.72), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Boudoir-chic Victorian townhouse

Setting

Foliage-rich city fringe

Don't let the muted Victorian of Dublin's Dylan hotel fool you; step through the impressive front door and find yourself surrounded by playfully contemporary, sexy decor. Hobnob with the city's fashionable set with a night in at the Dylan Bar, whose quirky aesthetic seems straight from the imaginations of David Lynch and Lewis Carroll. Should you venture out, all the hottest spot in this cool city are within walking distance of the hotel’s tree-lined location.

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A bottle of wine

Facilities

Photos Dylan facilities

Need to know

Rooms

72, with six suites.

Check–Out

Noon. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £174.79 (€204), including tax at 13.5 per cent.

More details

Rates exclude breakfast (€27 for a full Irish).

Also

Not all rooms have bath tubs, so if you love long hot soaks make sure you request one when you book.

At the hotel

Free WiFi throughout, library. In rooms, Bose Bluetooth speakers, plasma TVs, Frette sheets, La Maison Margiela bath products; bathrooms have underfloor heating.

Our favourite rooms

Corner rooms are lighter, with big windows. Experience suites have an additional TV in the bathroom (if you like to watch while you wash). Romantics should book room 201, which has a red Italian‑leather bed, large bathroom and walk‑in shower.

Packing tips

Leave the GHDs at home – if your locks are lacklustre, borrow the hotel’s GHDs to add polish.

Also

Book an in‑room massage for the morning after the night before, to ease your Guinness hangover.

Pet‐friendly

Pups are welcome for €100 a dog, a night. See more pet-friendly hotels in Dublin.

Children

Cots are available at no extra charge; babysitting, €10 an hour until 11pm, then €15 an hour, plus the cost of the sitter’s taxi home.

Food and Drink

Photos Dylan food and drink

Top Table

t breakfast, snag a table at the window for a side of people‑watching; the secluded corner tables are best for intimate dinners. Take advantage of warmer days by dining al fresco on the Nurserie Terrace.

Dress Code

Comfortable urban élan.

Hotel restaurant

The Eddison is decorated in shades of green and cream, as only fitting for a modern restaurant in the heart of the Emerald Isle. Chef Paul Quinn crafts months menus that focus on Irish produce and traditional dishes with a modern spin. Start your day with a traditional Full Irish breakfast or fried duck eggs with smocked duck bacon and brioche soldiers. For lunch, seasonally changing options include Jerusalem artichoke soup with truffle dressing, veggie-packed sandwiches and carrot Wellington with confit chicken. At dinner, tuck into decadent fish dishes, twice-baked cheese soufflé or rabbit with black pudding.

Hotel bar

The walnut-fronted bar and a striking portrait by Cian McLoughlin vie for your attention in the earth-toned Dylan Bar; we’re betting the backlit bar with its menu of Seedlip cocktails, small-batch hot Irish whiskeys and savoury light bites – wins out over the masterful modern art. We do like a good cocktail. On warm summer evenings, settle into a cushioned armchair at the Nurserie Terrace – it’s partially covered and heated – and order chilled rosé, expertly shaken cocktails or champagne ice pops. There’s also the cosy Ruby Room cocktail bar, which has a moody velvet-lined walls, cushioned built-in seating and a cocktail menu artfully crafted by the hotel’s in-house mixology team.

Last orders

The Eddison is open daily from 6.30am to 11pm. The Dylan Bar pours drinks until 11.30pm Sundays to Thursdays (until half-past-midnight Fridays, Saturdays and Bank Holiday Sundays.)

Room service

24 hours (fish of the day and roast‑beef sandwiches are good choices).

Location

Photos Dylan location
Address
Dylan
Eastmoreland Place
Dublin
4
Ireland

Planes

Dublin International Airport is 16.5 kilometres from the hotel; allow 25 minutes for the drive (www.dublinairport.com).

Trains

The closest station to the Dylan hotel is Tara, just under three kilometres away (12 minutes in a cab). There’s no direct rail service from the airport.

Automobiles

The E1 and the M50 are the main roads to the hotel. Hire cars are available at the airport.

Worth getting out of bed for

You’re only 750 metres from the shopping delights of Grafton Street – Damien Rice’s busking turf of choice before he hit the charts. On nearby South William Street, South Great George's Street and Drury Street, Dublin's creatives showcase their talent in art galleries, independent boutiques and top-notch culinary pit-stops. Walk northwest towards St Stephen's Green and you'll find various national institutions: the Concert Hall, Gallery of Ireland, Museum of Ireland – and the small but perfectly informed Little Museum of Dublin. Doff your cap to Irish legends' likenesses: Molly Malone in lively Temple Bar and Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott on Harry Street, Oscar Wilde on Merrion Square – close to where the wit once lived. The Guinness Storehouse in St James's Gate is a surprisingly deep dive into the world-renowned stout, with sections on the drink's production, advertising, logo and history, with a tasting at the end of course; the 360-degree views from the rooftop bar make it worth a stop for a quick pint. Chase with a whiskey at the Jameson Distillery on Bow Street. Bibliophiles will thrill at the antiquated tomes in – allegedly haunted – Marsh's Library and the weekly readings in now bookstore Sweny's Pharmacy, whose name cropped up in James Joyce's Ulysses. Or, aim for the ultimate antique book-sighting and see the Book of Kells gilded pages at Trinity College.

Local restaurants

Run by husband-and-wife team John and Sandy Wyer, Forest Avenue offers a five-course tasting menu showcasing the couple's light, vibrant cuisine and scintillating Irish produce in laid-back surroundings. Patrick Guilbaud at 21 Upper Merrion Street is a must‑book; the eponymous chef’s lauded modern cuisine has made it Ireland’s top restaurant. Ross Lewis is at the helm at Chapter One, whipping up tempting fare such as foie gras and pistachio ravioli, saddle of rabbit with pancetta and cheese dumplings, and Irish strawberries in a buttermilk mousse with a sake and sorrel sorbet. Try the tasting menu at Delahunt (there are vegetarian and vegan options too). The cosy candle-lit dining room is a particularly romantic spot to spend a few hours tasting Irish cuisine. The menu changes, but you can expect high-quality dishes – we loved the globe artichoke, monkfish satay and forced rhubarb dessert on our visit – plus the bread (always try the bread). In the heart of Dublin's creative quarter, Drury Buildings serves northern Italian fare, heady cocktails and Irish craft beer.

Local cafés

Network does all manner of pastries and a very respectable flat white, but the single biggest reason to go is the smashed avocado on toast. Brother Hubbard has a few outposts spread across the city. Whatever you do, go with an appetite – try the vegan mezze tray or the pulled pork croque madame.   

Local bars

Mexican-flavoured 777's low lighting, gleaming 12-foot tequila bar and exotic cocktail list attract Dublin's beautiful people. For a late-night tipple, House's log-burning fires, colourful garden and velvet-clad wine room tick all the right boxes. Decked out with gilded mirrors, polished dark wood and traditional snugs, the Long Hall (+323 (0)1 475 1590) is a classic spot for a traditional pint of the black stuff. And for small-batch craft brews and a sociable crowd, swing by Porterhouse Central.

Reviews

Photos Dylan reviews
Scott Manson

Anonymous review

By Scott Manson, Rock-star writer

Dublin loves a tourist. I’ve never been to another city in the world where it’s so easy to partake of the local culture – by which I mean beer. A typical Dublin corner consists of several buildings, one of which is a pub. Next to this there will usually be another pub, which is adjacent to several more pubs. Once in a while, there is a building that sells food, but it’s not compulsory. ‘Now this,’ says Mrs Smith on our arrival, ‘is my kind of city.’

We were there to visit the Dylan, the latest addition to the city’s burgeoning boutique hotel canon. Heading to the hotel down the pretty Georgian streets of Dublin 4, we are struck by the urbane tranquillity of this upmarket enclave. (If you need a reference point, imagine a swanky North London district such as St John’s Wood, but with better bars and cooler locals, and you’ve got yourself a flavour of Dylan’s setting.) Although the hotel is just 10 minutes from the club-filled party zone that is Temple Bar in the city centre, the genteel Dublin neighbourhood that Dylan resides in is a perfect spot for a stealth-wealth boutique hotel.

In a country where millionaires are multiplying by the day and the rise in house prices makes other capitals’ property booms seem like small potatoes, there’s a growing demand for high-end getaways. When Ireland’s beautiful people need a place to spend their many Euros, Dylan is the town’s hottest spot. Further proof, if it were needed, that this hideaway is utterly power-player-friendly comes from frequent media reports that its watering hole is a magnet for visiting dignitaries looking for a discreet drink or two. (And there’s nothing like a Dylan – the
bar’s delicious signature cocktail – to accompany some circumspect people-watching when perched on one of those oh-so-plush bar stools. So delicious, it distracts us entirely from scoping the joint for famous folk.)

It’s clear that the staff, nattily turned out in chic black uniforms by trendy Dublin designer Leigh Tucker, take pride in this newly converted building, because as soon as we get there they offer us a personal tour of the ground floor. From the recently re-styled elderberry, amethyst and metallic hued restaurant and patriotically elegant library to the bar, with its myriad candles, super-slick brushed-metal fireplace, handmade pewter counter and huge, comfy chairs, this 19th-century townhouse is a symphony of grand design. Even us poor ostracised smokers are mollycoddled by the provision of an impressive outdoor terrace on which we’re free to indulge our filthy habit: always packed with locals, its shiny mushroom-shaped heaters and huge parasols keep us warm and dry – very civilised.

Our bedroom is no less impressive, with a low-slung, leather-lined bed, clad in Frette linen and surrounded by fabulously ostentatious lights; and above, as pointed out by a grinning Mrs Smith, a cheekily placed mirror on the ceiling. Which our porter catches her clocking with a wink. Great – now he thinks she’s a nymphomaniac. Only moments after the blushing lad has left us to our own devices, steam is billowing from the bathroom: Mrs Smith has gone straight to work filling up the tub. On adding the Etro toiletries, a gorgeously sweet-smelling lather forms that’s the perfect complement to some luxuriant double dipping. This hip city sanctuary is clearly pure aphrodisiac.

Dinner at the Dylan Restaurant proves historic. Frankly, with food this good and a telephone book-sized wine list to choose from, any sense of fiscal responsibility goes right out of the window. They say it’s the best wine list in Ireland and, as we look around at the appreciative patrons poring over the choices like Talmudic scholars, it is clear that we are in Dublin’s high temple of gastronomy. To relate a blow-by-blow account of our eating would bore, but highlights include some stuffed pigs’ trotters with boudin noir (posh black pudding, for the uninitiated); a zingingly fresh piece of halibut with a lobster sauce; and an exquisite chocolate fondant that makes Mrs Smith angry. ‘What seems to be the problem?’ I enquire sweetly. ‘I just know I’ll never eat dessert this good again,’ she says. Women are complicated creatures, right enough.

We venture out briefly to Café en Seine on Dawson Street, a decadent three-floor art deco bar, full of punters frugging wildly to cheesy pop classics. We also stick our heads into the cooler Octagon Bar, part of U2’s Clarence Hotel on the quayside. But our hotel is calling to us like one of Homer’s sirens. Let’s face it. If you’ve got a fantastic room overlooking a quiet green, and the whole place is suffused with playful, mood-enhancing lighting; and if the iPod is playing soft, sweet music in the background, there’s an ‘adult games’ pack in the minibar, a customised memory-foam bed, and a bottle of Chablis chilling away in an ice bucket – the smart choice is to make the most of things. And, as for that telephone ringing the next day to let you know you’re an hour late for check-out… Surely the understanding staff at this fine hotel knows that dilly-dallying at Dylan is definitely de rigueur?

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Price per night from $194.44