Emma’s Cozy Stay
Emma’s Cozy Stay is a budget-friendly stay in Smithfield, Dublin City — a no-frills base for seeing central Smithfield and the rest of the area affordably.
The surrounding Smithfield district is one of the most convenient parts of Dublin City to stay in, with restaurants, cafés and transport links close by.
Key facts
What’s included
Around Smithfield
What accommodation actually costs in Dublin City
Budget rooms in Dublin City mean €80–€130 a night: a small double in a guesthouse in Rathmines or a bunk in a Smithfield hostel, usually with a shared bathroom and a 15–25 minute walk to the centre. Mid-range is €150–€230 and gets you a private room in a three- or four-star hotel in the Liberties, the Docklands or near O’Connell Street, with breakfast extra at €12–€18. Top-end is €280–€450 and buys a room at a five-star on Merrion Square or St Stephen’s Green, with a proper restaurant and a doorman.
Rates spike hardest on St Patrick’s weekend in March, when central doubles hit €350, and during the Dublin Horse Show in August and any Aviva Stadium concert — Taylor Swift fans pushed Ballsbridge rooms past €400 in 2024. New Year’s Eve on Temple Bar is another €300-plus night. Book six to eight weeks ahead for summer and you will pay nearer the lower end of each range; walk in on the day and you will pay the top.
The Dublin booking trap: Temple Bar is not the whole city
The trap is booking a hotel in Temple Bar because it is the only Dublin area you have heard of, then discovering that a pint there costs €7.50–€8.50 and the street outside your window is loud until 2.30am. Temple Bar is a 10-minute walk from Trinity College and Grafton Street, but so are the Liberties and Smithfield, where the same mid-range room costs €40–€60 less a night and the pubs on Meath Street or King Street North charge €5.50 a pint.
The area people wrongly skip is Georgian Dublin around Merrion Square and Fitzwilliam Square: it is quiet, has the National Gallery and the Little Museum of Dublin, and is 12 minutes on foot from Grafton Street. The season nobody expects is late September and October, when the Dublin Theatre Festival runs and the summer crowds have gone but the rain has not yet set in — hotel rates drop 20–30% from August while the city remains fully open.
Where to stay in Dublin City
Temple Bar suits people who want the nightlife on the doorstep and will accept noise until 2am; rooms here run €180–€260 a night at weekends. Grafton Street and St Stephen’s Green are quieter and central, with doubles from €200–€320, while the Trinity College Area mixes both and adds proximity to the Dart at Pearse. O’Connell Street is the budget end of the centre: expect €120–€180 for a basic double, with more traffic and fewer restaurants than the south side.
The Liberties and Smithfield are the value picks within walking distance of the centre — €110–€170 a night — and Smithfield has the Luas Red Line plus the Jameson Bow St. distillery and the Light House Cinema. Georgian Dublin around Merrion Square is the most expensive residential-feeling area, at €220–€350. Rathmines and Ranelagh are for repeat visitors who want village restaurants and a 20-minute walk or short bus ride to Grafton Street; Ballsbridge and the Docklands suit business travellers and anyone using the Aviva Stadium or the Convention Centre.