Harrington House Hostel

When I searched for Dublin accommodations on
, this came up at the right price. When I travel, I’m not looking to be pampered in my room; I’m looking for clean, reasonably comfortable, and just enough amenities to make my sightseeing easier. Harrington House fills the bill.
First, the negatives: This is a hostel, as it says in the name, but does have a few private (en suite) rooms that move it slightly towards B&B.
described it as a B&B, and I should have trusted the name. The wifi is spotty up at the very top; my wife’s laptop had better luck than my iPad. It was reasonably solid down in the breakfast/​common room. Breakfast is cold cereal, toast and jam, and instant coffee or tea (and some nasty «fruit juice»), and doesn’t start until 8:00 (which makes it hard to get an early start). Hot water is on only eight hours a day (6:00−10:00, 18:00 — 22:00).
The positives, though, win out: The breakfast is enough to get you out the door, and you’ll want to stop in a café for a snack later anyway. There are a bunch of sightseeing resources on the entry hall table. The Grafton St area isn’t a long walk (although it looks shorter on the map). Bikes are free to borrow, and we were even able to borrow them after we’d officially checked out on our last day (with our bags left until our evening train). The well-​equipped kitchen is open for guest use most of the day (you use it, you wash it, and if you didn’t put it in the fridge, it ain’t yours), so it’s pretty easy to eat cheaply if you want. Most of all, it’s quiet, at least way up top. There seems to be a club a couple of doors down, but the live music stopped shortly after 22:00 every night. We’ll definitely consider HHH for our next Dublin trip, but for most hostel travelers, this seems unbeatable.