Free/cheap things to do in...

As we all know, travelling is great, but not cheap. After you've paid the air/train/bus fare, or your petrol (gas for those in the US!), you still have to pay for accommodation. And food. And all the activities you want to do while you're there. Chances are you'll also want to do a bit of shopping and so you end up spending a fortune.

Now, I was thinking, this is a very international forum. So why not use the local knowledge of the various members. We can all suggest free and cheap things to do where we live. Then other forum members who might be travelling there can take these tips and save some money on holiday.

Basically, let's build a database of budget holiday tips!

I'll start. I live in Dublin (fair city), the capital city of the Republic of Ireland. This country now has a reputation of being expensive, and rightly so. But there's still a bunch of free and cheap things to be enjoyed that will give you a great experience of Dublin and the 'craic' (as the Irish like to call having a good time).

To start, the museums. There's a bunch of state run ones that are free of charge. They are excellent as well. The archeology museum on Dawson street is full of Celtic art treasures. It also has a collection of bog bodies. Another personal favourite of mine is the museum of national history, which is jam packed with skeletons and preserved animals. Children will love this one in particular.

I'd also strongly recommend taking a stroll up Grafton Street. This is a major shopping district, but you'll also find a ton of buskers who really make Dublin what it is. Some of them are world class musicians - world famous bands like U2 got started this way!

At the far end of Grafton Street you'll find St. Stephen's Green, an urban park. On a sunny day this is where the Dubliners come to enjoy the weather. You can feed the ducks, stroll along the flowers, and if you've got kids, they will love the excellent and well maintained free playground.

You can't talk about Dublin without mentioning the pubs. These are not cheap, but still worth a visit. What you should do is ask around when you're in town. There's always free gigs on, with music being played by and for the locals. You just have to find the place to be on any given night. Whatever you do though, stay away from the pubs in Temple Bar. These are tourist traps, overly expensive and not the real thing at all.

A final thing I'd recommend is getting a dart ticket. The dart (Dublin area rapid transport) is a coastal rail line. Tickets are cheap enough, and if you're a family you can get a good value day ticket. It will bring you all along the coast of Dublin bay. In the north, you've got the lovely village Malahide, the wonderful beach at Portmarnock, and the scenic fishing town and peninsula Howth. In the south, the line takes you along breathtaking cliffs all the way to Greystones in County Wicklow. From there, you can walk along the cliffs back to Bray and hop on the dart again. In between, there's a variety of other great places worthy of a visit, such as Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire.

So, these are my tips for a budget holiday in Dublin. I hope they are of some use to someone.

What are your recommendations for where you live?