I want to take my 2 kids (20 and 18) away for a few days - we've had a difficult year and one is off to uni this year and one home for the holidays.  I really fancy a city break somewhere for a change, possibly Dublin.  Does anyone know of anywhere nice but cheap?!

in the area known as Temple bar ....Gogartys, its a hotel/bunk house its cheap rooms sleep upto 4 (bunks) and its next door to the best irish music and dancing bar...i always head to it...its cheap cheerful and really friendly and the irish stew is amazing
http://www.gogartys.ie/

There is a Travelodge in Dublin (Rathmines).  It's not central, but it's still walkable, and the tram system (Luas) and bus services are excellent here.

The Elephant & Castle in Temple Bar is a great place for lunch and not too expensive - grab a seat in the window for free people watching.  Dublin isn't as cheap as it used to be, no city is, but it has a great vibe which your kids will love.  You could try the Bed & Breakfast places too, they may have more flexible rooms with adjoining doors for instance, that might suit you.  Look for somewhere close to St Stephens Green if you can.  If budget is not too much of a problem Dublin has a range of holiday apartments available.  My OH lived in a serviced flat whilst he was working there a few years ago and I know these are often let for holidays - just google holiday apartments.

Wherever you end up - have a nice holiday :)

I went to Dublin a few years ago & I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the hotel we stayed in, I want to say the Red Lion but a quick google hasn't brought anything up.  It was about 5 mins walk to St Stephens Green, very well priced, lovely rooms & great breakfasts.  There's an abundance of hotels & B&B's in Dublin, it all depends on where you want to stay.  Temple Bar is bound to be quite noisey with all the pubs, although might be a good location for your kids.  However I don't remember Dublin being particularly cheap & with the £ so weak against the Euro it might cost even more at the moment.

Other city breaks I can recommend are:
1. Edinburgh - just got back from a (messy) hen night here, great city, tons to see & do, relatively cheap to stay also.
2. Barcelona - beautiful city, some really cheap hotels if you don't stay near the centre & with a great metro system it's no hassle to get into the centre.  So many things to do, I'd so just to walk up & down the Rambles again.
3. Paris - not cheap to stay or eat but breathtaking, probably need more than 2 days to see it all, I've been 3 times now & still haven't seen everything I want to.
4. Amsterdam - many low cost airlines fly here & some very very cheap accomodation can be found if you're not picky.
5. Munich - bit further a field but a lovely city steeped in history & relatively cheap to eat our & drink.  We stayed with friends so not sure what accomodation will be like.

Hope that helps, let us know where you end up going!  In fairness there's some lovely cities here in blightly if you don't want to trabel far.

I am off to Genoa for a long weekend in july....have never been so should be fun...although its on expenses so wont be costing me a penny...

Hi, not sure how "cheap" you want it but my daughter lives in Dublin and recently we went to visit and had to stay in a hotel. We stayed at Bewleys (Dublin Airport). It cost 59 euros per night per room and the room slept 3 people. The hotel was lovely, bright and modern, can't comment on the food though as we didn't eat in the hotel. There is a courtesy bus to and from the airport every 20 mins. There is also a courtesy bus into Dublin city centre too. Ryanair are doing some extremely good prices on flights to Dublin at the moment. I am going to visit my daughter for the day on July 18th and it has cost £2 return with a £10 handling charge, but £12 return flight is still excellent. I hope you manage to find something suitable.
jane