Dublin's most central five-star — 205 rooms a half-block off Grafton Street, with The Gallery afternoon-tea lounge, Wilde restaurant, the Sidecar cocktail bar named for its in-house signature, and the only luxury hotel address from which the entire Grafton Street shopping spine is a thirty-second walk.
"The most central five-star in Dublin — 205 rooms one block off Grafton Street with The Gallery's afternoon-tea lounge, the Sidecar cocktail bar, and the only Doyle Collection grand-hotel position from which Brown Thomas, Trinity, the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, and St Stephen's Green are each under five minutes on foot."
The Westbury opened in 1984 as the Doyle Collection's flagship Dublin five-star, replacing a 1970s commercial building on Balfe Street with a purpose-built hotel set behind a contemporary stone-and-glass facade one block off the western side of Grafton Street. The Doyle Collection is the family-owned Irish hotel group founded by P. V. Doyle in the 1960s and now run by his daughter Bernie Gallagher; the group also operates the Croke Park, the River Lee in Cork, and the Bloomsbury and Marylebone in London. The Westbury's defining renovation came in 2010, when the public rooms, The Gallery, and the suite floor were comprehensively reworked to a contemporary brief; further phased refurbishment of the bedroom floors continued through the 2010s and into the early 2020s.
The 205 rooms and suites are arranged across six floors, with the better categories on the upper floors looking either west across the rooftops to St Patrick's Cathedral or east across to the Trinity College campus. Standard Premier Doubles run around 28–34 square metres — among the larger Dublin five-star room formats and a deliberate choice in the 1984 build. Executive Doubles and Junior Suites are larger again. The named suites — the Presidential Suite, the Penthouse Suite, and a number of one-bedroom suites with terraces overlooking Grafton Street — are the headline units. Bathrooms across the hotel are contemporary marble standard, replaced in the 2010 and post-2018 refurbishments.
The Gallery — the first-floor afternoon-tea lounge — is the most-booked seated tea in central Dublin alongside the Lord Mayor's Lounge at the Shelbourne, with the room hung with works by Patrick Scott, Louis le Brocquy, and Sean Scully (the lounge effectively functioning as the city's most accessible Irish modernist exhibition). Wilde — named for Oscar — is the all-day brasserie under a glass-pavilion roof, with seasonal Irish produce as the central proposition. The Sidecar is the cocktail bar and takes its name from the bar's signature drink, an Irish-whiskey variant on the cognac classic. Marble Bar is the lobby coffee-and-aperitif room. There is no in-house spa; the hotel works with a directory of nearby providers.
Position is the central proposition, and on this metric the Westbury is the strongest of the Dublin five-stars. Balfe Street runs west off Grafton Street between Brown Thomas and the Westmoreland Street junction; from the front door it is thirty seconds to Grafton, two minutes to Trinity College's Front Square, three minutes to Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, four minutes to St Stephen's Green, and five minutes to George's Street and the South William Street nightlife corridor. For travellers comparing Dublin five-stars, the Westbury is the address-on-the-shopping-spine version of The Connaught in Mayfair or Le Bristol on Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
For Dublin anniversaries built around the city's shopping and cultural spine, the Westbury is the address. The Gallery for the headline afternoon tea, Wilde at dinner, the Sidecar for nightcaps, and a Premier Double or one-bedroom Suite with a Grafton-Street-facing terrace as the backdrop. Larger suites on the top floor are the headline rooms; Executive Doubles for a more measured weekend.
For a Dublin solo retreat — a long weekend of reading, walking, and Irish-modernist gallery hopping — the Westbury is the most workable five-star. The Gallery handles unaccompanied afternoon tea reflexively; Wilde's bar counter is the city's most reliable solo-dining seat at a five-star; and the position is a thirty-second walk from Hodges Figgis bookshop and the National Gallery's Beit Wing.
For a city-stop on a Dublin-then-Ireland-west-coast honeymoon the Westbury is the most central anchor. The Penthouse Suite with its Grafton-Street-facing terrace is the headline honeymoon room; one-bedroom Junior Suites on the upper floors are the more measured choice. The Gallery, Wilde, and the Sidecar handle the entire on-property brief without leaving the building.
Balfe Street, Grafton Street
Dublin D02 EH28
Ireland
Grafton Street 30 seconds on foot; Trinity College 2 minutes; Stephen's Green 4 minutes; Dublin Airport 25 minutes by car
205 rooms and suites
Premier Doubles from €350/night
Executive Doubles from €450/night
Junior Suites from €750/night
Penthouse Suite from €3,000/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Opened 1984; phased refurbishment through 2010s; flagship of the family-owned Doyle Collection
The Gallery afternoon tea
Wilde glass-pavilion brasserie
Sidecar cocktail bar
Marble Bar lobby lounge
205 contemporary rooms and suites
Doyle Collection ownership
24-hour fitness room
From €350/night. Premier Doubles and Junior Suites book two months ahead for spring and autumn weekends; four to six months for the Six Nations rugby (February–March), St Patrick's Day weekend, and Bloomsday (16 June).
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