Saviour of many a south-sider on a drunken Friday night, Finnegan's is a private bus company that…read moreoffers a late night service between Dublin and Bray, Greystones and Kilcoole. It operates Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, leaving from O'Connell Street (outside Cleary's) at 1am and 3am. It also stops along the way at Trinity, Leeson Street and The Burlington and the driver has been known to pick up stragglers on the N11. Finnegan's run a fairly tight ship so there'll definitely be a bit of banter but not much trouble. The driver will stop the bus if there's too much messing. The advantage that Finnegan's (or Finnie's) has over Nightlink for Wicklow revellers is that it goes directly home rather than giving an unsolicited tour of the south-side. It's reasonable enough at €5 for Bray and €7 for Greystones/Kilcoole - definitely beats €30 for a taxi!

I had planned to use Finnegans morning service from Bray DART station to Southern Cross Rd in my…read moremorning commute to work. On my first day of work, I arrived early at the station (7:55am). The Finnegans bus via Sandyford luas station arrived on time at 8am,however this bus does not go by Southern Cross Rd. I thought "ok, well I don't start work until 9 and there's another one due at 8:30am". Long story short, the bus was ten minutes late. Despite the bad traffic, I managed to make it into work at 9 on the dot. The next 4 mornings I was not so lucky. The bus was repeatedly late until on the Thursday (this morning) I had enough. At 8:45am, I jumped on the 45a to Oldcourt. I was 15mins late for work despite arriving at Bray Dart station at 8am. I sent an email to Finnegans to complain about the late occurrences but I received no apologetic reply. If you are looking to travel to Southern Cross, I suggest you learn to drive, carpool or last resort, take the 45a, 184 or 84 to Oldcourt/Vevay Rd and walk the rest of the way. The buses are cheaper using the leapcard (€1.45 on Dublin bus using the leapcard as opposed to €1.80 for a late Finnegans bus). The 145 also goes from Dublin City Centre to Ballywaitrim. I can't comment on the reliability of the night bus service... But I would avoid the use of the day service if at all possible. As per the previous review, the buses are very old and rickety too.

Probably the best view from any train station in the world - as you can see from my photos. Very…read morenice little coffee shop inside which has toasted sambos, tea, coffee and ice cream. Very well maintained and pretty station that make the commute bearable !

This is a small, pretty basic train station but visitors to Dublin should consider taking the DART…read morehere simply to sample the breathtaking views when the train emerges from the Dalkey tunnel. It's a brief but fabulous part of the commuter journey that compares with some Swiss rail routes. The station is right on the beach and it's great for a walk at the end of the train journey. If you don't feel like a stroll along the beach stay on the train and go to Bray - a popular resort during the 19th century - and climb Bray Head instead!

This station is very convenient to get to. There are plenty of ticket machines for those who don't…read morehave a Luas pass as well. It is pretty far down the green line route (the last zone and furthest from the city center), so that means you'll be paying the most for your ticket. I found the price for two return tickets to be reasonable, however: about $13. That is vastly cheaper than taking the M50 into the city center and paying for a parking garage. Those prices are insane! The best part about this station is that it isn't crowded. You have your pick of the lot, as far as seats go. As the train gets closer to the city, it'll start to get packed, and you'll be thankful your rump has somewhere to rest! This location is also a park and ride, as well as a cycle and ride with 7 racks. Very handy! It is also wheelchair friendly. If you're heading northbound, make sure to look both ways before you cross the tracks! :)

Friendly staff; old hotel We stayed three days recently…read moreright after the three weeks unusual dry and hot period in Ireland. The hotel is old so set your expectation accordingly. Staff is very friendly. However, due to the unusual warm temperature, and the hotel has no A/C or celling fans, the rooms were quite hot. Windows could not open much so it stayed stuffy and uncomfortably warm during the night. Guess it is not usual occurrence as the front desk ran out of portable fans for guest rooms as well. We stayed in the newer expanded section of the hotel but the room is still kind of old looking and small. Room has an old tube TV that took up quite a bit of the space. Otherwise, the room is ok and seems to be clean enough. The hotel is about 10 minutes walking distance from the train station so it was easy to get around. If you are driving, like most places around the area, the parking lot behind the building is not too big and the driveway is pretty narrow. Just beware. Overall, the hotel has character and has been around for many years. Also right across the street from the ocean. Highly unlikely that you would get an ocean view room (if that matters to you) as majority of the rooms are facing the side or the parking area.

This hotel was spacious and nice but I can't say clean or well kept. When you walk in the door you…read morecan immediately tell they try to mask the antique smell of the building with overpowering scents. The staff is nice enough to let you leave you bags by the counter if you need a place to keep them before or after check in/out. Our room was clean but staying there about 4 nights I noticed a lot. For starters why are the #500 rooms and #200 rooms on the 3rd floor while #300s are on the 2nd. That was downright confusing. But not concerning. I also found thumbtacks on the staircase one of which had already been stepped on and bent. It remained in place the entire time we were there. Vacuum much? Now for our room. Beds seemed clean. Tables clean. The t.v was the worst. It took us about 45 minutes in total over the course of 2 days to figure out how to turn it on. Has anyone had to channel up+ on to turn a t.v on? The shower head was horrendously cared for as half the water coming out of it poured down the back of it (picture provided). One of our towels had a bleeched out blood stain. Nasty! Bleeched I know but still. They don't offer tea or coffee in the lobby, something a lot of American hotels do. So I went to make tea with the electric kettle provided I opened it to find water already in it and it had so much grime on the bottom I cold swipe it with my finger (picture provided). EW! Now our room was just adjacent like many others to their dance hall. Note that many people on vacation like to get up early and go do things. But it's very hard when the hotel welcomes huge celebrations to continue till midnight. Least to say both Friday and Saturday night we only got about 5.5 hours of sleep before getting up as we had planned the days before. If I ever return to Bray Ireland I will never stay here again.

Kevin is one of the most amiable and accommodating drivers it's ever been my experience to use on a…read moreregular basis. He is a most able driver who reads the road well and never gets aggressive towards other road-users. Highly recommended