A popular travel website, Lonely Planet, has warned tourists of the "horrors" of visiting Dublin City due to the high costs of accommodation and rental cars.
The Lonely Planet site warned potential tourists looking to visit this country's capital of "accommodation shortages, soaring car rental costs and airport chaos", which have made international headlines in recent weeks.
Prospective visitors were advised to ask themselves some questions ahead of the journey - the main one being: "Have you booked your accommodation in advance?"
"Soaring hotel costs are wreaking havoc with holidaymakers' budgets, as figures from the Central Statistics Office show price increases of up to 17% for hotel accommodation in Ireland over the last three years," the travel site said.
Lonely Planet added a quote from the Tourism Advisory Group, which reported that tourism groups across the country are "scrambling" to find beds in the city - citing increased travel demands and hotels providing emergency accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.
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"Finding last-minute accommodation won't be easy," the travel website said.
"Lonely Planet looked at weekend availability in Dublin city centre in July for two people and average prices ranged between €700 and €900 through Booking.com. In one weekend, the cheapest price was €411 for a private room in purpose-built student accommodation, while the second cheapest was an eye-watering €428 for two beds in a mixed hostel dormitory.
"In September, there are slightly more options available but prices are still high, averaging between €500 and €700 for Friday and Saturday nights."
Lonely Planet said accommodation prices are relatively cheaper outside the capital, "with prices averaging at about €400 for a two-night weekend stay in Galway in early September and about €300 in Cork for the same period.
"We recommend booking your accommodation as soon as your flight is booked," it added.
The guide also said that for a ten-day car hire at the start of August, the cheapest vehicle available was with Hertz in Dublin, which was charging €1,750 for a five-seat car. It was found that the average rental car price was around €3,000 for the same period.
