Practical Information

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This page provides practical information about the Summit venue, city as well as airport, airlines and hotel information.

( ! ) Basic and important practical information ( ! )

Driving and road circulation

Ireland drives on the left! Take this into consideration when crossing the street or if you hire a car.

Electrical and electronic appliances

The Voltage used in Ireland is 240V, the same as the rest of Europe. Most modern laptop and mobile phone chargers will accept voltages ranging from 100-240V, but check that your chargers are compatible before you travel.

Ireland uses the British BS 1363 three-pin rectangular plug. If you’re coming from Continental Europe or North America you will certainly need a “UK/Irish power adaptor”. These can be bought in major airports and Electronic shops worldwide. They are also widely available in many shops in Dublin.

Venue

The EXATEC Europe Summit will take place in The Helix Gallery in the campus of Dublin City University (DCU).

Dublin City University is in the North Side of Dublin in its Glasnevin district. Its full postal address is:

Dublin City University
Collins Avenue
Glasnevin
Dublin 9
Ireland

The Helix Gallery is inside The Helix Building, which is a Conference Centre located inside DCU’s campus.

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The Gallery is located in the Second Floor of The Helix. As you enter the building you should be able to see the stairs. There is also a reception on the ground floor where you can ask if you have difficulty finding The Gallery.

Getting to and from the Venue

You can easily get to The Helix by taxi, by public transport (bus) and by driving.

By taxi

DCU is roughly in the middle between Dublin Airport and Dublin City Centre (Downtown). A taxi between the Airport and DCU would cost you around €15. Similarly, a taxi between DCU and Dublin City Centre would cost between €12 – €15.

If you are travelling with a group of 3 or 4 people, sharing a taxi works out just a little bit more than using public transport when travelling between DCU and the City Centre or Airport. As an example, a bus fare between the City Centre and DCU would cost €2.80. A taxi for the same route would cost around €15. If 4 people are sharing the taxi, each pays €3.75.

Also, unlike private cars (e.g. rented cars) taxis can use bus lanes when carrying passengers, allowing you to travel faster than a rented car and definitely faster than buses.

Many Dublin taxis use the Hailo App, available for iPhone and Android. With Hailo you can get a taxi in literally 2-3 minutes from wherever you may be! Hailo uses the GPS from your phone to choose the free taxi that is closest to you, alerts the taxi driver, who then drives to your location. If the taxi cannot see you or find you, he/she will ring you. You can set up your credit or debit card on the App so you don’t have to pay with cash. As a passenger it costs you nothing to use the app (other than any data usage charges you may incur with your phone operator).

Taxis are safe and secure in Dublin. It is perfectly safe to hail a taxi from the street. Taxi drivers are generally friendly, chatty and very knowledgeable of the roads. However, when asking to go to DCU make sure you tell them it’s DCU in Glasnevin, or even better, The Helix in DCU, Collins Avenue, Glasnevin. This is because there is another university at the south of the city, University College Dublin, whose initials “UCD” often get confused with “DCU”. Be careful because a taxi fare to UCD from the airport could cost you around €40 and you will be very, very far from the Summit venue!

By bus

Public buses are operated by Dublin Bus. There are many buses that go between the City Centre and DCU. The fare for this route is €2.80. When getting on the bus, just state your destination to the driver (for example “DCU”) and the driver will tell you the amount you need to pay.

Important: When paying with cash on a Dublin Bus, you must pay in coins only (bills/banknotes are NOT accepted) and you must pay the exact fare. If you pay €3 and the fare is €2.80, the driver will give you a refund ticket for €0.20. If you want your 20 cents back, you must go to the Dublin Bus office in O’Connell Street and present the ticket to get the refund.

You can avoid this hassle by getting a visitor’s leap card, which you can also use on the suburban tram system (Luas) and the suburban coastal train system (the Dublin Area Rapid Transport or DART). You can get a visitor’s leap card from the Spar Shops in Dublin Airport. It costs €19.50 and you can use it for unlimited travel on Dublin Bus, Luas (tram) and DART (suburban train) for 72 hours after first use. It is a smart card, which means that you have to validate it as you get on the bus and before you get on the tram or train. When boarding a bus, just show it to the driver and tell him/her your destination, he/she will tell you where to put the card to get it validated. You can find more information about the visitor’s leap card here: https://www.transportforireland.ie/leap-card/leap-visitor-card/

Please note that the DCU Campus has two gates on two different streets: The Ballymun Road gate and the Collins Avenue gate. Some buses take you to one gate and others take you to the other gate.

DCU is served by these bus lines:

Dublin Bus Number Bus Stop
44, 104 DCU On Campus Bus Stop – Just outside Helix
4, 9, 11, 13 Ballymun Road (DCU Entrance)
17A Ballymun Road/Collins Ave Junction
14 Collins Avenue/Beaumont Road
1, 16, 33, 41, 41B, 41C Collins Avenue/Whitehall Road

Buses 44 and 104 stop directly outside The Helix building, inside the DCU Campus.

This interactive PDF is a map of the buses that go near the DCU campus with their pick up locations in the City Centre: http://www.networknoel.com/downloads/dcu.pdf

By car

Refer to the map above or use your sat nav system to get to The Helix. Directly opposite The Helix building, there is a multi-storey car park. Car park tickets can be purchased from the Café Bar and Box Office at a reduced rate of €4 for the entire stay.

More information and detailed driving instructions can be found at http://thehelix.ie/location/

Remember that in Ireland you drive on the left!

Airport and airlines

The two main airlines that fly to Dublin are Aer Lingus and RyanAir. Both offer flights to Dublin from many European and UK airports. Notice that we also have a special discount code with Air France and KLM (see below).

Here are some additional airlines from several airports/countries:

You can also check www.skyscanner.com to compare airline fares.

It is also possible to travel to Belfast from many European destinations via Easyjet and then travel to Dublin from Belfast by bus or by train.

* Discount code for Air France and KLM

We have a special discount code for travelling with Air France and KLM. Simply follow this link. Notice: This is not a fixed discount. Discount is applied depending on your airport of origin and flight dates and times.

The best fare for your airline ticket

2009065E-LOGO AFKLMTO RVBAttractive discounts on a wide range of fares on all Air France and KLM flights worldwide
Event ID Code to keep for the booking: 25841AF
More details

Travelling from Dublin Airport to Dublin City Centre

The best way to travel from the airport to Dublin City Centre is by bus. There are two bus services available:

  • The Air Coach – Private bus service which is fast and comfortable. You pay €7 for a single ticket and €12 for a return ticket. If you book online you can get a discount.
  • Dublin Bus AirLink 747 – Single fare is €6 and return €10. A bit less comfortable than the Air Coach, but if you buy the visitor’s leap card (see above), you can use this bus without paying anything extra.

You can also travel by taxi. A taxi from the airport to the city centre will cost around €25 – €30.

Hotels

For this edition of the Summit we do not have an official host hotel. However, Dublin has many hotel options to suit all budgets and tastes.

Locationwise, there are three main areas to choose from:

  • Airport area
  • DCU
  • In the City Centre (Downtown) area

Whilst DCU area offers convenience to get to the Summit, the City Centre area offers far many more options in terms of restaurants, bars and social life. We therefore recommend participants to stay in hotels in or near the City Centre and avail of taxi or public transport services to get to the Summit venue. Notice that to travel between the airport and DCU you would need to travel by car or taxi as buses connect DCU and the city centre and the city centre and the airport but not DCU and the airport.

Here are some hotel recommendations for both locations with some approximate prices per night for a double room from www.booking.com from June 2015.

Airport

  • Crowne Plaza Dublin Northwood (€151)
  • Holiday Inn Express Dublin-Airport (€117)
  • Metro Hotel Dublin Airport (€99)
  • Travelodge Dublin Airpot South (€120)

DCU

  • Cashel Lodge (€128)
  • Ashling House (€148)
  • Bestwestern Dublin Skylon Hotel (€179)

City Centre

  • Temple Bar Hotel (€179)
  • Dublin City Hotel of Temple Bar (€169)
  • Blooms Hotel (€179)
  • Jurys Inn Dublin Parnell Street (€149)

Remember that you can also avail of the airbnb service. And remember that with TripAdvisor you can find hotels, hostels and bed&breakfast and check out real guests’ reviews!