Your questions answered by JOAN SCALES
Q We have two children, aged four and two. We hope to take a midweek break in early June in Dublin. We would appreciate advice on family accommodation, either hotel or apartment, and family-friendly restaurants in Dublin city centre. We hope to visit the Natural History Museum, Dublin Zoo and the Dublinia experience in Christchurch. We will also do the Viking Splash tour. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
EMC, Cork
Bewleys Hotel in Ballsbridge (01-6681111, bewleyshotels.com) has an offer for families that might suit your visit to Dublin. Book a family room for one night for €99 and a family pass for the zoo will be included. Other offers include rates such as €50pps per night including dinner.
Other hotels with good family rooms are the Castle Hotel at Parnell Square, and Stauntons on the Green (castlehotelgroup.ie). Self-catering accommodation can be booked with staydublin.com, with prices from €230 for three nights, midweek.
The Natural History Museum has just reopened after an extensive refurbishment and Dublinia has also had a makeover and added the History Huntersexhibition. The Viking Splash Tour is well worth taking, and the children may also like to visit the new Leprechaun museum in Jervis Street (leprechaunmuseum.ie). You can check out what else is on on dublinks.com.
Family-friendly restaurants include the everlasting Captain America’s, off Grafton Street, TGI Fridays on St Stephen’s Green, and Luigi Malone’s and the Bad Ass Grill in Temple Bar. The Oliver St John Gogarty, also in Temple Bar, has live Irish music during the day and welcomes children.
Q I am planning to fly to Montreal in Canada from Dublin in June. We are also planning to visit Quebec. Could you tell us anything about the festival and public holiday there on June 24th? What is the best airline to fly with, hostel to stay in, and things to see? Do we need visas?
SC, Dublin
You do not need a visa for travel to Canada for holidays. Air Transat (airtransat.ie) will be operating a service direct from Dublin to Montreal on Thursdays during the summer. Fares will cost from €517 return including taxes. The holiday on June 24th is St John the Baptist Day and is a public holiday in Quebec.
Montreal is a lovely city that’s easy to get around and has lots of things to do. The best rated hostel in the city is Montreal Central on rue St Hubert. It has free breakfast, free WiFi and entertainment on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, with rates from €25 per night (hostelmontrealcentral.com).
Things not to miss are Mont Real, the hillside park from which the city takes its name; the Olympic Tower, built for the 1976 Olympics; and the underground city, La Ville Souterraine, with miles of streets and stores under the city.
A fun thing to do in Montreal is rafting or jet-boating on the Lachine Falls, an exhilarating way to see the city from the water. You can book an experience on rafting
montreal.com. See more of what is going on in Montreal on tourisme-montreal.org.
Quebec is a three-hour train journey from Montreal. Check the timetables on viarail.ca. The fare is around $100 Canadian (€76). The city, on a height overlooking the St Lawrence River, is a Unesco World Heritage site and celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2008. You can enjoy exploring the Old City, the Citadel and Chateau Frontenac and getting a feel for its Frenchness.
Quebec is known for its thriving cultural life and there are many events, exhibitions and shows to see. One, Being Irish O'Quebec, at the McCord Museum of Canadian History traces the integration of Irish immigrants and their contribution to the city (mccord-museum.qc.ca).
The HI Auberge Internationale de Quebec, in the old city, on rue St Ursule, won a Hotelworld.com award as one of the best hostels in North America in 2009 (hostellingquebec.com).