Flights to Dublin with Air France from CAD 910*

Dublin, the little known European capital full of charm

Air France offers flights to Dublin. Do you know the capital of Ireland? The city with a population of 525 000 (1.8 million for the greater Dublin area) is a “small” European capital full of charm, with pretty little Georgian-style houses and almost no skyscrapers.

Dublin has the appeal of a big village, but don't overlook the tourist sites. Trinity College to begin with, the university that was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth the 1st of England, or the Dublin castle which was the seat of British rule until 1922.

The Bank of Ireland, which formerly housed the Irish Parliament, is also worth the trip as are Saint Patrick's Cathedral (Ireland's patron saint) and Christ Church.

There are also several very interesting museums, such as the Kilmainham Gaol, transformed into a museum that retraces the history of Irish nationalism, The National Art Gallery, the National Museum or the Dublin Writers Museum, of which the most famous author is probably James Joyce.

You may also shop in O'Connell Street, one of the main avenues in Dublin, where there is also a large number of restaurants and hotels. Since 2003, the Spire of Dublin, a pin-like sculpture towers over the street at 120 meters with lights on top.

Dublin's regeneration

Air France offers cheap flights to Dublin, a city that has undergone unprecedented regeneration during the 90s until 2008, thanks to the development of a competence center and the arrival of many multi-national, hi-tech companies, such as the European corporate offices for Google and Facebook. They were attracted to Dublin for tax advantages. The boom has slowed since 2008, due to the world economy crisis.

However, these years of strong growth changed Dublin: it used to have a very provincial label but today it has a young, dynamic image.

We must remember that the city had been left in ruins after the Irish Civil War that started in 1921 after the Treaty of London organized the country's division, creating the free state of Ireland in the south of the island and Northern Ireland with a protestant majority which remained under British control. After World War II, Dublin was still an old-fashioned capital.

Travel to Dublin: practical information

If you take a flight from Montreal to Dublin, for example, there are daily cheap flights with usually a stopover in Paris. Plan on about ten hours in travel time and a five-hour time difference between Montreal and Dublin. When it is 10 AM in Montreal, it is 3 PM in Dublin.

For example, if you decide to purchase a flight from Vancouver to Dublin, the trip will take sixteen hours and there will be two stopovers, often in Seattle and Paris and some connections are handled by partner airlines, such as KLM or Delta.

Dublin airport is located 11 km from downtown which you can reach by bus or taxi.

To enter Ireland, all Canadian citizens need a passport that is valid for the entire length of stay in Ireland. No student visa is required, neither is a visa for tourists or business if you stay in Ireland for less than 90 days.

High quality health services are readily available in Ireland.

The currency in Ireland is the euro and major credit cards and traveler's checks (especially in US dollars) are accepted everywhere.