"There's old Dublin and there's new Dublin, and it's all kind of coming together in an interesting time for the city. If you want trendier restaurants and minimalist furniture, stay at the Morrison Hotel. It's got a busy lobby bar, and there's a nightclub downstairs called Lobo, which is always kicking. Another would be the Le Meridien Shelbourne, where a lot of the 1916 Easter Rising, when Ireland was won as a free state, was fought literally from the bedrooms you'd be staying in. It's got a great old Dublin ambience. There's a new hotel called The Merrion, which is an old-Dublin-style hotel as well."

DINING
"The Chili Club is a Thai place. Very small and intimate, like a living room, with great food. Dobbins has a general European kind of menu. You get a good steak there. Very laid back. And there's a great wine list, one of the largest in Dublin. The Trocadero would be Dublin's equivalent of Joe Allen's in New York: all the theater, film, and TV actors go there. The walls are adorned with head shots and pictures. It's a bit of a novelty."

NIGHTLIFE