Portmarnock Vs Malahide

A

aisling o'b

Registered User
Messages
65
We are considering putting our house up for sale after the election and are looking at buying a 4 bed semi in Portmarnock or Malahide. We haven't really decided yet as we are trying to weigh up the pros and cons of each. Does anybody have any opinions on the two areas and on one over the other. I know there are a good few threads on each of the areas in isolation, but compared to each other, what would your choice be?

I'm living close to and working in the City Centre (Stephens Green) at the moment so a live-able commute is important to me. I know the metro is coming to Swords and there will feeder buses from Malahide so the metro in Swords is attractive. A third option would be a detached house in Swords instead of a semi in Portmarnock or Malahide but is it all about Location Location Location.
 
Reasons for not living in Portmarnock

1. People in portmarnock are weird

2. There are no pubs\shops

tbc
 
Malahide & Portmarnock are both great areas with good housing stock and great amenities. If you chose to live in either one, you'll be living in one of the nicest towns in Ireland. Personally I would prefer Malahide as the DART Station is in the centre of the town rather than outside it and Malahide has a slight edge in terms of better pubs & restaurants.

However, location WITHIN either Malahide or Portmarnock is more important than which town. My impression is that house prices in the centre of Portmarnock are slightly cheaper than those in central Malahide. You need to be within walking distance of the centre of either town to fully benefit from living there. There are housing estates being marketed as being "Malahide" which are really in the outskirts of Swords or Kinseally. IMO you would be better living in Swords village, which has good amenities than living in a more isolated housing estate that isnt within walking distance of Malahide or Swords simply because the developer told you it has a "Malahide" address. Likewise, I there are some proposed developments in the back end of Clongriffin/Mayne area that may market themselves as "Portmarnock".

In summary, if money is no object, I chose 1. Malahide village 2. Portmarnock village 3. Swords, in that order.

If you cant afford central Malahide or central Portmarnock, then go for central Swords.
 
Portmarnock said:
1. People in portmarnock are weird
Click to expand...
That comment is certainly a little strange, if not weird.

In what way are they "weird"?
I lived in Portmarnock for a few years and found the people no different to any other village on the outskirts of Dublin. Personally, I liked the area and found most of the people friendly.

2. There are no pubs\shops
Click to expand...
There is a Dunnes in the village and a couple of other small shops dotted around (local butcher etc.).
Tesco Clarehall (including the very cheap petrol!) is only a short commute away and Malahide is just down the road, so if needed the shops/pubs there can be easily accessed without having to live in the area.

I haven't viewed the plans myself, but I have seen discussion of the proposal of turning Station Road (the small road the Dart station is on) into a Boulevard with improved shop units for the area (that could be anything up to 12 months ago since I looked at it, not sure if there has been any development/alteration of these plans in the last while so if interested investigate further).

Portmarnock has slightly (well, hugely to be honest) more of a rural feel to it than Malahide.
Both have pro's and con's so really comes down to where your priorities lay (if you don't have a car Portmarnock may feel a little too cut off [even with the bus and dart services]) and where your budget will allow.

As the previous poster commented, both are great areas. I would happily live/rent in Portmarnock again but would also happily live/rent in Malahide.
 
If you work in the Stephen's Green area, then being able to get the DART is much better than the bus. The metro to Swords may be promised but no work has begun yet. The bus from Swords takes over an hour depending on which part you live in and only goes to O'Connell St so you would still have a hefty walk to Stephen's Green.

I am actually from Malahide so slight bias here but houses are much more expensive here than Portmarnock. As a previous poster said, the station is much more accessible in Malahide than in Portmarnock and there is much of a defined village with better amenities.

Transport and price are what it comes down to. The places that advertise as Malahide but are geographically Swords, like Waterside, are quite far from the village and at present have no bus going by them. If you want more specific info, please feel free to pm me.
 
the advantages that malahide has over portmarnock is that it has a nice village and pubs/restraurants......apart from that portmarnock has a better beach, supermarket, leisure centre, nightclub ;)....

i'd guess the main consideration for you would be the commute, there are more estates in malahide within walking distance of the Dart station (although you pay for the privilage), in portmarnock the station is a bit out of the way....and there is a feeder bus running through portmarnock connecting sutton and malahide stations (although its not a great service)... the direct bus into town can take about 45mins

all in all, its about what you can afford, both towns are relatively quiet and well settled
 
If you are working in Stephen's Green and assuming you will be for some time, would you not consider southside such as Dundrum or further out along the Jerry Lee?
 
Firefly said:
If you are working in Stephen's Green and assuming you will be for some time, would you not consider southside such as Dundrum or further out along the Jerry Lee?
Click to expand...
I have more or less narrowed it down to Malahide/Portmarnock/(maybe Swords) as my husband is working on the Northside and we have a lot of freinds and family in the general area.

Many thanks for the replies everybody. It looks like Malahide is winning the opinion stakes.

Does anybody have any specific recommendations on specific estates? Thanks again.
 
The best 4 bed semi's in Portmarnock are IMO Limetree Avenue, Ashley Rise, Briar Walk, Braken Drive, Kelvin Close, Dewberry Park, Blackthorn Close. There are large green areas everywhere. You just don't get this anymore in new developments.
I know one on Limetree Avenue that went for EUR 850,000 last may.
These are within walking distance (5-10 mins) from St Helens National school, the Velvet Strand and Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Centre, Portmarnock Community School.
The PSCL has some great facilities including Tennis Courts, Squash Courts, Astro pitch, Swimming Pool (25 m), Gym (small), Sauna, Basketball court.
The community school has a great reputation as does Malahide Community School too.
There are also n excellent GAA club and Soccer club with walking distance both with top notch facilities.

I lived in Portmarnock so can be considered to be biased but IMO this area is a better area than similar (4 bed semi's) in Malahide.
If it was 5 bed or 4 bed detached then I'd vote for Malahide (Ard na mara,Golf Links etc)

It should be noted that the above areas in Portmarnock are 45-60 mins walk from Portmarnock DART Station but I used to get the 230 or 102 feeder bus to the Malahide Station or even the 42. Rarely had any issues.
 
Last edited:
Dublin Bus have added a new bus service from Malahide and Portmarnock the 142 The great advantage of this service is that it takes in the Dublin Port Tunnel which should allow for quick access to town and Rathmines [broken link removed]
 
northsideboy said:
Dublin Bus have added a new bus service from Malahide and Portmarnock the 142 The great advantage of this service is that it takes in the Dublin Port Tunnel which should allow for quick access to town and Rathmines [broken link removed]
Click to expand...

Thanks for that northsideboy. Another plus for Malahide and Portmarnock! (Nearly half the stages in the Port Tunnel! - preseum it doesn't top!!)
 
Having 'done' the feeder bus to the dart station (in sutton or portmarnock village) from central Portmarnock - I can tell you it can be soul destroying.

There are very few places that are walkable to Portmarnock train station within 20 minutes, and most would be more. Portmarnock train station is really a distance from Portmarnock 'proper'. There is a very popular 32X bus which usually zips into stephen's green that takes in much of Portmarnock. It can get full and often people will be standing - there are a few of them in the morning. It's typical of most X buses.

Portmarnock as a place to live - no one could complain about it. Much of the hosuing stock have great green areas around, are well spread out and very well located with respect to schools, beach, playing fields.

Portmarnock falls down on restaurants and pubs, where it is limited.

I would only opt for Malahide ahead of Portmarnock if you can get a location which will allow you benefit from the train station in the morning.

And why not, may I suggest, rent a home in Portmarnock or Malahide for a few months, even a month - to see how you like it?
 
I'd second what Sid says about the DART station-of course if you are willing to get up early enough you may be lucky to get parking at the station.

The alternative is to buy in one of the newish developments adjacent to the DART station.

There are plans to build more amenities along Station Road, but I'm not sure how advanced or final these are.

The Dunnes Stores in Portmarnock isn't great, but it is adequate. Malahide doesn't really have a grocery store to compare (although I can't recall being in the Supervalu). Either way, Tesco at Clare Hall and Dunnes at the Pavlilions are close enough.

Malahide is much better served for pubs and restaurants, but is only a 5 minute DART journey or taxi ride from Portmarnock.

If money were no object, I would rather Malahide, but either way it's a nice enough part of Dublin to live in-I lived in Portmarnock for 2 years.
 
Aisling,

We moved to malahide a couple of years ago, to Seabury, and we're happy with the move. There is a feeder bus that will get you to the station in time for the 08:08 dart, or the arrow just before it (the arrow is quicker, but you'll get a seat on the dart). Either way, you can be at your desk in Stephens Green by 09:00. Its a bit messier in the evening, as the feeder buses don't link up as well with the darts. If you are moving from the city centre, you might want to ask yourself if you want to commute at all. I previously lived 2 mins from work before, and the 1+ hour commute took a bit of getting used to tbh.

All of the 42N nitelink buses go through Seabury (only half of the 42 buses do), so if you're used to going out in the city centre, its still a viable option.

If you are looking in Seabury, the houses are all slightly different, built by different developers, so its not too easy to compare them. Its worth getting one with a garage though (but they don't come up for sale that often).

We also looked at Gainsborough, but its a bit far away from the village. Milford is closer, but there no houses put up for sale in the 6 months we were looking. [there's currently a boardwalk proposed in the marsh behind Milford by the way, check the Fingal Co Co website]. Other estates to consider are Chalfont and Sonesta, they're in a good location, just a few minutes from the dart.

As regards Portmarnock, we pretty much ruled it out due to the problems getting to the dart. You might want to consider the noise from planes in and out of the airport, as it is closer to the flight path (some parts of Swords may also have the same problem).

Bootdog
 
Thanks for the reply ccovich and Bootdog.

Bootdog said:
... Milford is closer, but there no houses put up for sale in the 6 months we were looking. [there's currently a boardwalk proposed in the marsh behind Milford by the way, check the Fingal Co Co website].
Click to expand...

Finding it hard to visualise the boardwalk in Milford. I'll see if I can find some plans. Are Milford all 3 beds do you know Bootdog? Thanks again.
 
Here http://www.wikiwalki.com/courses/show/254 is a map of one of the proposed routes. My understanding is that the route in the link above has been changed to run closer to the back of Milford.

You can get google to search Fingal Co Co for "Cave's Marsh Boardwalk"

- there's a load of info there, but to get a brief summary, you might be as well to ring them.

Milford, Gainsborough, The Warren would all be 4-beds afaik. Seabury would be a mix of 3 beds and 4 beds, and there are also the converted and built over garages.
 
I moved to portmarnock about 1 year ago and i love it,i would prefer portmarnock than malahide, when we do go for somthing to eat its only a short taxi or dart ride to malaide. although there is a lovely Italian in portmarncok which i go often...the beach is fab...you would love it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top