dublin tourist bureau

12 of the best things to do in Dublin

Apr 10, 2024 • 10 min read

From distillery tours and pub hopping to art galleries and ancient books, there's lots to keep you busy in Dublin © Yohan LB / 500px

Ireland’s capital and largest city by far, Dublin is one of those places that you either get straight away or spend a lifetime trying to figure out. It’s not the prettiest city, but Dubliners will remind you that pretty things are as easy to like as they are to forget…before showing you the showstopper Georgian bits to prove that Dublin has a fine line in sophisticated elegance.

There’s a collection of museums as fine as you’ll find in any European capital and one of the world’s most beautiful university campuses. There’s incredible food and a collection of authentic pubs that have spawned imitators from Miami to Mongolia.

There’s whiskey and old prisons, ancient books and beautiful monuments. In Dublin, you’ll find something that will tickle your fancy. And when you’re done, there’s always the world’s greatest beer, brewed right here for the last 300 years.  

Whether it’s your first visit to Dublin or your 20th, this is a city that keeps on giving. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Spend some time in a traditional Dublin pub

In all likelihood, you don’t need us to tell you that the pub is a quintessential Dublin experience , but here we are. It’s where you’ll meet Dubliners at their convivial, easy-going best and get a sense of what makes this city tick. There are few Dublin institutions so fawned over and written about as the traditional pub – probably because so many of the city’s best-known writers were regulars in them.

In Ulysses , Leopold Bloom muses that 'a good puzzle would be to cross Dublin without passing a pub,' to which the only logical answer is that it can be done…by going into everyone you see. Given that there are around 800 of them spread about the city it’s probably not the wisest thing to do if liver function is important to you, but there are a bunch of them that will make your Dublin stay all the more memorable. One of my favorites is  John Mulligan of Poolbeg Street, which was also a favorite of Leopold Bloom’s creator, James Joyce.  

2. Walk the cobbles of Trinity College

Since its foundation in 1592,  Trinity College has become one of the world’s most famous universities; it's the alma mater of Swift, Wilde and Beckett; it's where you'll find the most beautiful library in the whole country and the home of the world’s most famous illuminated Gospel, the Book of Kells. The library’s 200,000 books have been removed as part of a landmark restoration project, but the consolation prize is an enhanced digital experience that tells the story of the Book of Kells in dramatic, impressive detail. Trinity’s 16 hectares are an oasis of aesthetic elegance, its cobbled quadrangles lined with handsome neoclassical buildings that lend an air of magisterial calm to the campus, evident as soon as you walk through Front Arch.

Local tip: If you’re visiting during the summer – ie outside of term time – you can stay in student accommodation for a fraction of the cost of a hotel on the other side of the walls. See visittrinity.ie .

3. Peruse modern art and messy studios at the Dublin City Gallery – the Hugh Lane

Hanging on the walls of a magnificent Georgian pile is arguably the city’s finest collection of modern and contemporary art, which runs the gamut from impressionist masterpieces (Degas, Monet, Manet et al) to Irish artists such as Dorothy Cross and Sean Scully as well as a collection of stained-glass windows by Harry Clarke. The  Dublin City Gallery (aka the Hugh Lane, after its founder)’s most visited installation, however, is Dublin-born Francis Bacon’s actual London studio, brought over piece by piece and painstakingly reassembled in all its glorious mess – you can't step inside it but you can observe exactly how the artist lived and worked, down to the minute details.

Check out these budget-friendly tips for Dublin .

4. Dive into Dublin’s distilleries

Did you know that Dublin was once the epicenter of the global whiskey industry? The industry went kaput throughout the 20th century, but it’s slowly making a major resurgence, not least in the Liberties, once known as the Golden Triangle for the number of distilleries in operation there. Today, there are four:  Teeling Distillery, the first new producer in the city for 125 years;  Pearse Lyons Distillery , in an old church; the Dublin Liberties Distillery in a 400-year-old former mill and tannery; and the return of  Roe & Co, which was once the world’s largest producer of whiskey, inside the old Guinness Power Station. On the other side of the Liffey, the old  Jameson Distillery is now one of the city’s most popular attractions, while if you want to do some pretty serious tastings, there’s the  Irish Whiskey Museum near Trinity College.

5. Explore the exquisite collection at the Chester Beatty

Alfred Chester Beatty was a mining magnate with exceedingly good taste, and the fruit of his aesthetic sensibility is gathered in this remarkable museum. Books, manuscripts and scrolls were his particular love, and his collection includes the world's second-oldest biblical fragment and a collection of Qurans from the 9th to the 19th centuries that is considered among the best example of illuminated Islamic texts in the world. Other treasures include ancient Egyptian texts on papyrus, intricately designed little medicine boxes and perhaps the finest selection of Chinese jade books on the planet. Keep an eye on the calendar of events – it regularly runs qigong workshops on the rooftop garden, as well as sound baths and meditation sessions.

6. Drink a Guinness where it’s made

You didn’t think we’d ignore arguably the world’s most famous brewery and the number one tourist attraction in the city, did you? Guinness is more than a beer, and you’ll get a pretty good sense of how much more it is during a visit to the seven-story  Guinness Storehouse . Along the way you’ll learn how the beer is made (there are a couple of add-on, hands-on experiences to really deepen that knowledge), the role of the company in Dublin’s fortunes and how it became the global brand it is today.  The top floor is an atrium bar, where you put the theory to the test and drink a pint; just below it is an excellent spot for lunch.

Local tip: The Guinness in the atrium bar is excellent, but the best Guinness comes with atmosphere; you’ll find the best of it in a traditional bar (see above).

7. Go to prison to uncover Ireland’s struggles

Ireland’s struggle for independence was a bloody and tempestuous journey, and this forbidding prison on the western edge of the city played a role in it for nearly 150 years, as the forced temporary home of many a rebel and revolutionary. Unoccupied since 1924, Kilmainham Gaol is now a museum with an enthralling exhibit on the history of Irish nationalism. The guided tour of its grim cells and corridors is highly memorable and it finishes in the yard where the leaders of the failed 1916 Easter Rising were executed.

Planning tip: Book your tickets online to avoid being disappointed by sold-out tours; also best to book for an early morning tour as you’ll be waiting for less time.

8. Learn the history of Dublin…from Dubliners

With a collection donated entirely by the general public, the award-winning  Little Museum of Dublin on St Stephen’s Green is a surprising blockbuster. The memorabilia is quirky enough – it includes a lectern used by JFK during his visit in 1963 and the fateful letter given to the Irish delegation during the negotiations that ended Ireland ’s War of Independence in 1921 (and whose inherent contradictions led indirectly to the Civil War the next year) – but it’s a brilliant way of getting a potted history of the city. There’s even a whole floor dedicated to U2. Visits are by guided tour only, but they’re great fun.  

Planning tip: The museum runs great tours beyond its walls, including a daily walking tour of St Stephen's Green, as well as a themed weekly tour telling the story of Ireland's influential women.

9. Immerse yourself in culture at the National Museum of Ireland

Ireland’s most important cultural institution is the National Museum of Ireland, which has four branches nationwide – three of which are in Dublin. The  National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology on Kildare Street is the most significant, with an extraordinary collection of Celtic and early Christian gold as well as the macabre ‘bog bodies’ – four Iron Age figures in various states of preservation. On the other side of the Liffey, just off the quays, is the  Decorative Arts & History branch , housed in a beautiful 18th century barracks. On Merrion Square is the  Natural History Museum , affectionately known as the ‘Dead Zoo.’  

10. Eat your fill and go back for more in Dublin’s dining scene

The choice of restaurants in Dublin has never been better. Every cuisine and every trend – from doughnuts on the run to kale with absolutely everything – is catered for, as the city seeks to satisfy the discerning taste buds of its diners. From Neapolitan style pizza at  Sano to Michelin-starred feasts at  Chapter One , you’ll find something for every mood and budget. One of the more popular trends in 2024 was for KFC – no, not that kind, but Korean Fried Chicken – with a bunch of authentic spots opening up all over town. One of my favorites is White Rabbit on Capel St, not-so-hidden in the back of a Korean grocery store.  

Planning tip: It can be pretty tough to get a table at the trendiest spots in town, so book well in advance – two weeks if possible, but months if you’re looking for a Michelin-starred meal.

11. Get thee to Howth

Dublin is on the sea, and some of the city’s loveliest neighbourhoods are standalone villages worth exploring, not least the fishing village of Howth, at the end of the DART train line to the north. The village itself is gorgeous, built around a busy pier and packed with restaurants serving the freshest of fresh catch, but the real treat is the Howth Cliff Path Walk, a 6km (3.7 mile) loop that takes you over the  headland for gorgeous views over the grassy slopes to the sea. If you want to do a proper hike, there are longer routes that lead to the Baily Lighthouse and back over rough, mountainous terrain.

Local tip: On weekends and bank holidays, the  Howth Market sells a huge selection of organic produce and baked goods as well as handicrafts.

Navigate like a local with these tips for getting around .

12. Time travel at Marsh’s Library

OK, so the Book of Kells and the Old Library are way more famous, and way more visited, but that makes Marsh’s Library – on a side street by St Patrick’s Cathedral , all the more worthwhile. The magnificently preserved scholars' library founded by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh in 1701 has barely changed a jot since then: atop its ancient stairs are beautiful dark-oak bookcases filled with 25,000 books from the 16th century to the early 18th century, as well as maps, manuscripts (including one in Latin dating from 1400) and a collection of incunabula (books printed before 1500).

Local tip: When you walk from the first hall into the second, strike up a conversation with the resident librarians. They can tell you their personal theories (or experiences) of the resident ghost and show you the spines of the books bearing bullet holes from the 1916 Easter Rising.

This article was first published April 2018 and updated April 2024

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Dublin Travel Guide: Vacation and Trip Ideas

Tess Desjardins/Travel + Leisure

Dublin is a city brimming with history, from centuries-old cathedrals to stately manors that line the winding streets. Institutions like Dublin Castle, the National Gallery of Ireland, and St. Patrick's Cathedral have long drawn tourists looking to catch a glimpse of the city's rich history, while places like Trinity College highlight Dublin's literary past — after all, there's a reason the city is called 'the land of saints and scholars.'

Spirits lovers will find themselves right at home amongst favorite spots like the Guinness Storehouse, the Jameson Distillery, and the Teeling Distillery. And Irish cuisine, once considered a bit of an oxymoron, is on full display in Dublin. The city is now home to five Michelin-starred restaurants, plus an array of international restaurants that highlight the diversity of the city.

So whether it's history, architecture, or literature that piques your interest, or you're most focused on food and spirits, there's plenty to keep you busy on your next trip to Dublin. Here, our favorite spots in 'The Pale.'

Irish Standard Time

Best Time to Go

Winter weather in Dublin is less than ideal, with temperatures averaging in the 30s and 40s Fahrenheit. But the city offers a number of festivals that make up for the chilly weather. There's the New Year's Festival which takes place for three days at the start of each year, the Dublin International Film Festival every February, and a five-day-long St. Patrick's Day Festival in March.

St. Patrick's Day in Dublin is more so celebrated by travelers than locals. However, you'll still find quite the crowd congregating around the city's Temple Bar neighborhood indulging in the revelry. Locals view the day as more of a reflective occasion to celebrate relationships, family, and faith.

As the weather starts to get a bit nicer, travel to the city starts to pick up significantly, but that also means that prices tend to increase. In late spring and summer there are a host of festivals to keep anyone busy, including the International Literature Festival in May, Bloomsday (a celebration of author James Joyce) and Pride in June, and the Festival of Curiosity in July.

The autumn months are particularly beautiful as leaves start to change color throughout the city and its many parks. Every September, there's the Dublin Fringe Festival and the Taste of Dublin — great for foodies. And each November, celebrated authors come to the city for the annual Dublin Book Festival .

Things to Know

Currency: Euro

Current Exchange Rate

Language: English is the predominant language but signage is also in Gaelic.

Calling Code: +353

Electricity: Standard voltage in Ireland is 230v, which is within the 110-240v range most U.S. electronics use. However, you'll still need an adapter as the country uses a large "G" electrical outlet with three square prongs.

How to Get Around

Getting around Dublin and the surrounding area is incredibly easy. The DART train connects the city to the quaint villages and towns that dot the countryside and waterfront. The light rail and bus system can get you anywhere around town, and there are even bicycles for rent for a more leisurely experience. Aer Lingus is the national airline of Ireland and offers direct flights that connect Dublin to cities all over Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Trains: The DART is the city's commuter train that connects Dublin to surrounding cities and towns. The city's light rail system, the Luas , has two lines that service 67 stations around the city. The Green line runs north to south, and the red line east to west. Travelers can purchase tickets at any of the stops.

Buses: The Dublin Bus has 120 routes and 18 night routes that connect the entire city. The fare is dependent on distance traveled and tickets can be purchased at stations and on the bus. Travelers can also purchase the Leap Card, a prepaid card that saves 24% on travel, and they can be purchased at any number of locations around the city.

Taxis: Taxis are available all over Dublin and are fast and efficient, if only a bit expensive. City Cabs (01 872 7272) and Taxi 7 (01 460 0000) are two highly rated companies that service the city. Uber is also available throughout Dublin.

Best Hotels

The westbury.

Address: Balfe St, Dublin 2, Ireland Phone: +353 1 679 1122 Website

The five-star boutique hotel in Dublin's Temple Bar neighborhood blends contemporary designs with neutral colors to offer a relaxing retreat, while still being in the heart of the city. The hotel has 205 rooms and suites, a central location close to a handful of historic attractions, and a world-class cocktail bar: The Sidecar.

The Merrion Hotel

Address: Merrion St Upper, Dublin 2, Ireland Phone: +353 1 603 0600 Website

Housed in a collection of four Georgian townhomes, The Merrion Hotel offers a five-star experience with an on-site spa, pool, and gym, plus the two-Michelin-star Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud. There's also The Cellar Bar, The Garden Room, and No. 23 Cocktail Bar, for those looking for a quick bite or fine cocktail. The hotel offers 142 rooms and suites, many of which overlook the meticulously manicured gardens.

The Shelbourne, Autograph Collection

Address: 27 St Stephen's Green, Dublin, Ireland Phone: +353 1 663 4500 Website

Just across from St. Stephen's Green, The Shelbourne is a luxury hotel that oozes history. The nearly 200-year-old property seamlessly blends historic design with modern amenities and has played host to a number of celebrities, from John F. Kennedy to Princess Grace. Guests can enjoy cocktails or bites from any of the six venues at the hotel and the on-site spa offers a range of wellness amenities perfect for relaxing after a day of exploring.

The Marker Hotel

Address: Grand Canal Square, Dublin Docklands, Dublin, D02 CK38, Ireland Phone: +353 1 687 5100 Website

Situated on Grand Canal Square in the city's newly emerging cultural and business district, The Marker Hotel offers a luxury stay with loads of modern amenities. The hotel's 187 rooms and suites sport bright and stylish design with pops of color accenting contemporary furnishings. Guests can partake in rooftop yoga sessions, grab a bite or drink from any of the hotel's three eateries and bars, or unwind at the on-site spa.

The Westin Dublin

Address: College Green, Westmoreland St, Dublin, D02 HR67, Ireland Phone: +353 1 645 1000 Website

Within Dublin's Temple Bar neighborhood, The Westin Dublin offers an opulent stay in an historic building loaded with modern conveniences. The 191 rooms and suites all sport classic Irish décor and offer a signature Westin Heavenly Bed, designed for optimal sleep. The hotel is centrally located to much of what the city has to offer, overlooking Trinity College and just down the block from the many shops and boutiques that line Grafton Street.

Best Restaurants

Glover's alley.

Address: 128 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, D02 HE18, Ireland Phone: +353 1 244 0733 Website

This fine-dining restaurant led by chef Andy McFadden dishes up elegant fare with ingredients sourced by some of Ireland's top farmers. Overlooking St. Stephen's Green, Glover's Alley blends contemporary décor with imaginative dishes to offer a truly unique culinary experience. Reservations recommended.

Fade Street Social

Address: 6 Fade St, Dublin 2, Ireland Phone: +353 1 604 0066 Website

Fade Street Social offers a range of phenomenal and incredibly unique dishes — think: duck egg with pickled anchovy and glazed pork belly — that are all craveworthy. The restaurant is centrally located, just steps from Dublin Castle. There's also a rooftop terrace with wood-fired dishes and cocktails on offer, plus some of the best views around.

Chapter One

Address: 18-19 Parnell Square N, Rotunda, Dublin 1, D01 T3V8, Ireland Phone: +353 1 873 2266 Website

Chapter One is a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Phibsborough neighborhood, serving up dishes that combine international recipes with creative and innovative techniques. Housed in an 18th-century mansion, along with the Dublin Writers Museum, the restaurant blends history with contemporary design. Reservations recommended.

Ananda Restaurant

Address: Sandyford Rd, Dundrum, Dublin, D16 VK54, Ireland Phone: +353 1 296 0099 Website

Located about a 30-minute drive south from the city center, Ananda is a culinary hot spot that's worth the trek. The restaurant serves contemporary Indian fare and is open for dinner service Tuesdays through Saturdays, and for both lunch and dinner on Sundays. Reservations recommended.

The Pig's Ear

Address: 4 Nassau St, Dublin, D02 YX74, Ireland Phone: +353 1 670 3865 Website

The Pig's Ear is a local favorite, offering unique takes on traditional Irish dishes. The restaurant offers a four-course set menu, mainly using ingredients specific to Ireland, and is open for dinner service from Wednesday through Saturday. Reservations recommended.

Things to Do

Guinness storehouse factory.

Address: St. James's Gate, Dublin 8, D08 VF8H, Ireland Phone: +353 1 408 4800 Website

Pretty much anyone coming to Dublin has the Guinness Storehouse on their list of places to visit — and for good reason. It's not only geared toward beer lovers (though that is a main draw), but also history fanatics, offering plenty of information on the building and the surrounding neighborhood throughout the years. Learn to pour the perfect pint or just enjoy hearing of the building's 250-year history, either way, it's a great place to visit for anyone heading to Dublin.

Teeling Distillery

Address: 13-17 Newmarket, The Liberties, Dublin 8, D08 KD91, Ireland Phone: +353 1 531 0888 Website

While the Jameson Storehouse is most often visited by tourists (and is surely a place worth checking out), the Teeling Distillery is less than a 10-minute drive away and offers a less-crowded experience. The distillery has more than 230 international whiskey awards and is a favorite among whiskey aficionados. Guests can tour the facilities or partake in a whiskey tasting for the full experience.

Dublin Castle

Address: Dame St, Dublin 2, Ireland Phone: +353 1 645 8800 Website

Once the seat of the British government's administration in Ireland, Dublin Castle now welcomes world travelers interested in learning about the history of the country. The 13th-century building is situated right in the heart of the city, with easy transport to pretty much anywhere you need to go. Visitors can opt for a guided tour of the castle or visit for any number of their regular events or exhibitions.

Trinity College Library

Address: College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland Phone: +353 1 896 1000 Website

You might think that a visit to a college library wouldn't be top of mind during your Irish vacation, but Trinity College Library isn't like anything you've seen before. The 400-year-old building houses over seven million books, but the architecture is just as impressive — resembling something out of a Harry Potter movie.

St. Stephen's Green

Address: St Stephen's Green, Dublin, Ireland

This bucolic park is situated right in the center of town and offers a quiet retreat after a long day of exploring, or at least a respite before you continue on. Take in the views of the stately Georgian mansions that line the park or stroll along the central pond to watch for swans. On the surrounding streets, you'll find upscale boutiques and shops, plenty of restaurants, and a few landmarks.

National Botanic Gardens

Address: Glasnevin, Dublin 9, D09 VY63, Ireland Phone: +353 1 804 0300 Website

The National Botanic Gardens are about a 10-minute drive north of the city center but feels worlds away. At nearly 20 hectares, you could easily spend an entire day strolling through the beautifully landscaped gardens.

National Museum of Ireland—Natural History

Address: Merrion St Upper, Dublin 2, D02 F627, Ireland Phone: +353 1 677 7444 Website

There are three National Museum of Ireland locations, each with their specific focus — including archaeology and decorative arts and history — but the Natural History museum is a favorite. The museum hosts a number of events, and showcases a range of 10,000 unique exhibits.

Best Shopping

Clerys quarter.

Address: 27 O'Connell Street Lower, North City, Dublin, Ireland Phone: +353 1 618 1300 Website

The famed department store dating back to 1853 is being fully reimagined with a more contemporary feel. Situated on O'Connell Street and just a block from the Liffey River, Clerys Quarter will offer a hotel, rooftop bar, and plenty of shops and eateries to keep you busy all day.

Temple Bar Markets

Address: Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland Website

The Temple Bar Markets are open every Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. right in the heart of the city. Visitors can find plenty of handmade goods and bites, making for a great place to stop to pick up some souvenirs.

George's Street Arcade

Address: South Great George's Street, Dublin, Ireland Website

George's Street Arcade is filled with shops, galleries, and eateries and has been serving the community since 1881. Visitors can stroll the halls to check out any of the 32 shops or grab a bite to eat at one of the 10 restaurants on-site.

Powerscourt Townhouse Centre

Address: 59 William St S, Dublin 2, D02 HF95, Ireland Website

This upscale shopping center is housed in an 18th-century mansion and perfectly showcases the architectural heritage that is so prevalent in Dublin. Visitors can shop or dine at any of the over 40 boutiques and restaurants throughout the complex.

Brown Thomas

Address: 88-95 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, D02 VF65, Ireland Phone: +353 1 605 6666 Website

Brown Thomas is an upscale department store that's been serving the residents of Dublin for nearly 200 years. Those looking for the best in fashion will find just what they're looking for here, as some of the world's top design labels can be found at Brown Thomas, including Gucci, Hugo Boss, and Ralph Lauren, among many others.

Neighborhoods to Know

Lara Antal/Travel + Leisure

Temple Bar : Temple Bar is the heart of the action in Dublin, located in the city center on the south bank of the Liffey River. The cobbled streets are lined with historic buildings, filled with boutique shops, cafés, pubs, hotels, and hostels. If you're looking for a place to catch live music, this area is it. Throughout the week, many of the pubs invite local musicians to rile up the crowds as they enjoy a pint or two. A favorite spot amongst visitors is the neighborhood's namesake Temple Bar pub, which dates back nearly 200 years.

St. Stephen's Green : Centered around its namesake park, St. Stephen's Green is one of the priciest areas in the city and is characterized by stately Georgian architecture. Just a short stroll away, you'll find some of Dublin's best shopping on Grafton Street with dozens of luxury retailers. On the south side of the park, you'll find the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), which highlights the country's vast storytelling history.

Christchurch : Christchurch is centrally located to a number of Dublin's best attractions, including the 1,000-year-old Christchurch Cathedral, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, and the Guinness Storehouse. In addition, travelers will find plenty of great restaurants and pubs on the surrounding streets.

Rathmines : Situated just outside of the city center of Dublin, Rathmines is an upscale neighborhood with great bars, boutique shops, and eateries. The nearby Ranelagh neighborhood has a similar feel, and both can be easily reached by taxi.

Portobello : Portobello is a city-suburb located just south of St. Patrick's Cathedral and is known for its beautiful scenery and quaint Georgian homes. The area is filled with great shops, restaurants, and boutiques, making it the perfect stop for souvenir shopping. Portobello Road runs along the canal and is a great place to take a leisurely stroll after a long day of exploring.

Compared to other European cities, Dublin has a relatively mild climate. Winters are on the cooler side but temperatures don't often drop below freezing and the summer months are very comfortable. The city gets a fair amount of rain, averaging some level of precipitation around 191 days out of the year.

Average temperatures are listed below in Fahrenheit.

January 37-47 February 36-47 March 38-51 April 40-55 May 45-59 June 49-64 July 53-67 August 52-66 September 49-62 October 45-57 November 40-51 December 38-48

Apps to Download

Dublin Bus iOs | Android

Iarnród Éireann : Irish Rail app iOs | Android

Journey Planner : Ireland's National Transit Authority app iOs | Android

Leap Top Up : Manage your Leap card on your phone iOs | Android

GPSmyCity : Literary Walking Tour of Dublin iOs | Android

Dublin Travel Guide

Dublin Travel Guide

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Set beside the shores of curving Dublin Bay, Ireland’s capital city, Dublin, is a thrusting, dynamic place, which despite its size remains utterly beguiling and an essential part of any visit to the country. Much of Dublin’s centre has been redeveloped over the last few decades, leaving a wag to comment that “the city’s only sights are building sites”. So, alongside the city’s historic buildings – its cathedrals and churches, Georgian squares and townhouses, castles, monuments and pubs – you’ll discover grand new hotels and shopping centres, stunning new street architecture and a state-of-the-art tramway system.

Brief history of Dublin

Accommodation in dublin, eating in dublin, dublin drinking and nightlife, dublin music, theatre, culture and entertainment in dublin, lgbt travel information for dublin, shopping in dublin.

• Dublin's National Museum
• Dublin's National Gallery

Merrion Square

St stephen’s green, o’connell street and around, parnell square and around, collins barracks.

• West of Dublin's Center
• Dublin's Northern Suburbs

South along the Coast from Dublin

Festivals and events, dublin castle and around, dublin and the messiah, the chester beatty library, christ church cathedral, st patrick’s cathedral, grafton street, kilmainham gaol, old jameson distillery and smithfield, phoenix park, trinity college, the old library and the book of kells.

Book things to do in Dublin

More than a third of the Republic of Ireland’s population of almost four and a half million lives within the Greater Dublin area. Intensely proud of their city, Dubliners seem to possess an innate sense of its heritage and powerful literary culture, and can at times exhibit a certain snobbishness towards those living in Ireland’s rural backwaters (people often termed “culchies”). Locals are noted for their often caustic, but engaging, brand of humour, as shown in the numerous and sometimes bawdy nicknames given to many of the city’s landmarks (the Millennium Spire, for instance, has all manner of sobriquets including “the eyeful tower” and “the stiffy by the Liffey”), but there is also a warmth in their welcome – it’s easy to find yourself drawn into conversation or debates in bars and cafés (or, if you smoke, outside them). Dubliners are also increasingly style-conscious; where once the city looked inwards for inspiration, today it glances both east and west, to Europe and America, catching new trends and bringing a decidedly Irish slant to bear upon them.

Most of Dublin’s attractions are contained within a relatively compact area, spreading either side of the many-bridged River Liffey, which divides the city between its Northside and Southside. These have very distinct characters, defined over the city’s historical development: stereotypically, the south is viewed in terms of its gentility while the north is seen as brash and working class, home of the true Dub accent. Pre-eminent among the city’s historic sights is Trinity College, whose main draw for visitors is the glorious Book of Kells. From here, the city’s main commercial street, Grafton Street, marches off towards St Stephen’s Green, home to the rococo splendours of Newman House. Among the stylish Georgian streets to the east of Grafton Street, meanwhile, you’ll find the compelling displays of the National Gallery and the National Museum. On the west side of Trinity begins Temple Bar, which somehow manages to remain the city’s hub for both carousing and art, overlooked sternly by Dublin Castle, British headquarters in Ireland until 1921 and now home to the glorious collections of the Chester Beatty Library. Dublin’s two historic cathedrals, Christ Church and St Patrick’s, stand to the west of here.

North of the river runs the wide boulevard of O’Connell Street, where the GPO, resonant site of the 1916 Easter Rising, is now complemented by the soaring modern beauty of the Spike. At the top of the street, Parnell Square is home to the Dublin Writers Museum and the Hugh Lane Municipal Art Gallery, while to the west lie the Old Jameson Distillery, in the historic Smithfield area, and Collins Barracks, home to the National Museum’s collection of decorative arts.

Book tickets and tours to Jameson Distillery

West of the centre is the green expanse of Phoenix Park, while across the river to the south lie the grim memorial of Kilmainham Gaol and, to the east, the more obviously appealing Guinness Brewery and Storehouse. In the city’s suburbs, the attractions of the Northside have a definite edge over those to the south of the river: most compelling are the national cemetery at Glasnevin; the splendid stadium home of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Croke Park, containing a fine museum; and the architectural wonders of the Casino at Marino. For a scenic breather from the city, take the southerly branch of the DART to panoramic Dalkey and Killiney Hills.

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This itinerary will give you a chance to discover the most spectacular places in Ireland within eight days. Visit the Killarney National Park and the South West Coast of Ireland. Travel back in time during your visit on the Aran Islands and cross the region of Connemara.

6 days  / from 486 USD

Game of Thrones – Northern Ireland

The Seven Kingdoms await you in this Game of Thrones adventure. The incredible landscapes of Northern Ireland make up an enchanting array of fortresses, heart-stopping cliffs and countless small villages steeped in history. A trip to the universe of Game of Thrones is about to begin!

Dublin’s origins date back to ninth-century Viking times when the Norsemen saw the strategic potential of Dublin Bay and established a trading post on the Liffey’s southern bank at the point where the ancient royal road from Tara to Wicklow forded the river. They adopted the location’s Irish name, Dubh Linn (“dark pool”), for their new home, soon amalgamating with an Irish settlement on the northern bank called Baile Atha Cliath (“place of the hurdle ford”), which remains the Irish name for the city.

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The twelfth century saw Dublin conquered by the Anglo-Normans when Dermot McMurrough, the deposed King of Leinster, sought help from Henry II to regain his crown. In return for Dermot’s fealty, Henry sent Strongbow and a contingent of Welsh knights to restore MacMurrough’s power. Strongbow conquered Dublin in the process and, concerned at this threat to his authority, Henry came over to Ireland to assert control, establishing Dublin as the focus for British sway over Ireland. This became the centre of the “English Pale” (from the Latin palum, meaning originally a “stake”, though later a “defined territory”), ruling over the areas of Anglo-Norman settlement in Ireland; since Irish resistance to conquest was so strong in other parts of the country, the pejorative phrase “beyond the pale” evolved as a means of signifying (at least in English terms) a lack of civilized behaviour.

Only a few buildings have survived from before the seventeenth century, mainly in the area encompassing Dublin Castle and the two cathedrals, and much of the city’s layout is essentially Georgian. During this period, Dublin’s Anglo-Irish nobility and its increasingly wealthy mercantile class used their money (often, in the aristocracy’s case derived from confiscated land granted as a reward for services to the Crown) to showcase their wealth in the form of grandiose houses, public buildings and wide new thoroughfares. Wealthy members of the elite revelled in their new-found opulence, filling their houses with works by the latest artists and craftsmen, and seeking to enhance their own cachet by patronizing the arts; Handel conducted the first performance of his Messiah in the city, for example. Increasing political freedom resulted in demands for self-government, inspired by the American and French revolutions. The legislative independence achieved during “Grattan’s Parliament” in 1782 was to be short-lived, however, and the failure of the 1798 Rebellion, led largely by members of the Protestant Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, inevitably led to the 1801 Act of Union and the removal of Dublin’s independent powers.

With Ireland now governed by a British vice-regent, Dublin sank into a period of economic decline, brought about by its inability to compete with Britain’s flourishing industries. The city remained the focus of agitation for self-rule, and by the end of the nineteenth century had also become the centre for efforts to form a sense of Irish national consciousness via the foundation of the Gaelic League in 1893. This sought to revive both the Irish language and traditional culture, and set the scene for the Celtic literary revival, led by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, who established the Abbey Theatre in 1904. The political struggle for independence remained a live issue and events came to a head with the Easter Rising of 1916. The city’s streets saw violence again during the civil war, which followed the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921.

Austerity and much emigration followed Independence and it was not until the 1950s that Dublin began to emerge from its colonial past. The city’s infrastructure was ravaged by ill-conceived redevelopment in the 1960s which saw the demolition of many Georgian edifices, as well as the creation of poorly-planned “sink” estates to replace dilapidated tenements. A couple of decades later city planners began to address the issue of inner-city depopulation, constructing apartment blocks to house Dublin’s wealthy middle classes, and the numerous cranes on the city’s skyline demonstrate the continuing activity of the regeneration process, not least in the former docklands. The most obvious evidence of reinvigoration in the city centre is the Temple Bar area, though the original intention to develop a Parisian-style quarter of ateliers and arts centres soon fell foul of the moneygrubbers, while east of the centre, reconstruction continues in the city’s docklands, though much has been stalled by the severity of Ireland’s ongoing economic crisis. Today, the arrival of migrants, particularly from Africa and Eastern Europe, together with the city’s longer-standing Chinese community, has seen Dublin gradually inch towards multiculturalism. The effects of these changes are most visible in the city’s restaurants, shops and street markets, broadening native Dublin tastes and introducing locals to all manner of culinary and fashion delights.

The growth in visitor numbers over the last decade or so has had a positive effect on the variety of accommodation available in Dublin, and there is plenty to choose from for all budgets, with the Northside and suburbs generally cheaper than the centre. Hotels in the city centre tend to be expensive, though many offer discounts midweek or outside the high season (especially via Web bookings), while B&Bs usually provide a very welcoming and comfortable alternative. If money is comparatively tight and you want to be near the action, hostels are the best option and almost all have private rooms. Booking in advance is always highly advisable, and essential around major festivals such as St Patrick’s Day, in July and August, and on weekends all year round, especially when major concerts or sporting events are taking place. There is one campsite on Dublin’s outskirts.

Many of the city’s top-range hotels are located around Temple Bar and St Stephen’s Green, though the Northside also has some chic options. Dublin has a staggering number of B&Bs and you’ll find economically priced options on the Northside’s Gardiner Street or in the pleasant Southside suburbs of Ballsbridge, Donnybrook and Rathmines, which are all within easy reach of the centre.

Numerous hostels offer both dormitory accommodation (€12–25 per person, depending on the season) and private rooms, usually sleeping between two and four people (€30–60 per person). Most rooms are en suite and the standard of private rooms is often as good as at B&Bs. Several Dublin hostels belong to the IHH though a few are members of the IHO. Many hostels offer free breakfast and provide internet access.

It’s fair to say that no one comes to Dublin just for the cuisine, but the last twenty years has seen a remarkable growth in the variety of places to eat, from Lebanese to Nepalese. The consequent rise in both standards and expectations looks set to continue – especially in the area of modern Irish cooking – though prices can be off-putting. Many restaurants, however, offer lunchtime or early-bird (typically before 7pm) set menus of two or three courses, sometimes for as little as half the cost of their regular evening fare. Some cafés and restaurants, catering to a crowd who have spent their money carousing late into the previous night, also provide good-value weekend brunch. In addition, plenty of pubs dish up decent, reasonably priced, hearty food, with more ambitious menus available at gastropubs like The Exchequer and The Odeon.

Dublin has long had a thriving café scene, strongly supported by the widespread temperance movement and the churches. Nowadays you’re almost as likely to find baklava as traditional brack, accompanied by a speciality tea or a frothy cappuccino. For a splurge with a difference, “Art Tea” at the Merrion Hotel is a lot of fun: delicious afternoon tea in the drawing rooms, with cakes that creatively reflect the surrounding paintings from the hotel’s excellent collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century, mostly Irish, art (€36, including the catalogue of the collection).

The majority of Dublin’s restaurants are on the south side of the river in the city centre, with a tight concentration in Temple Bar. It’s generally worth booking ahead if you can, especially in the evenings.

Good puzzle would be cross Dublin without passing a pub

- James Joyce, Ulysses

Not known for their understatement, Dubliners boast that their city possesses the finest pubs in the world. They’re probably right too, but with over seven hundred watering holes to choose from, forming the backbone of the capital’s social life, there’s no harm in checking out their assertion. Along the way, you’ll also be able to test out competing claims about the hometown drink, Guinness: that it tastes better here is not open to doubt, but locals argue about exactly which pub pours the best drop (is the travel-shy liquid better at Ryan’s, just across the river from the brewery, than downstream at Mulligan’s?). In general, the stout is best in the characterful and sociable historic pubs, many of which retain their cut-glass screens, ornate wood-carving and cosy snugs, often with a private hatch to the bar.

In recent years, a plethora of cosmopolitan, youth-oriented bars have come onto the scene, the best of which have forged a style and character of their own, be they cavernous microbrewery-pubs, studenty DJ bars or chic designer lounges. Plenty of these bars have late licences, as noted in the reviews below, which allow them to stay open until 2.30am or so, usually from Thursday to Saturday.

Dublin’s music scene is thriving but ever-changing, so it’s always wise to check listings in the Event Guide or The Ticket, or the fortnightly rock-and-style magazine Hot Press. Ticket prices are dependent on the venue’s size and the performers’ status, usually costing €8–30, although major gigs can be as much as €110. There are also a number of open-air events during the summer, including one-off gigs by major acts at places such as Croke Park and Marlay Park in Rathfarnham. Traditional music is flourishing in the city with a number of pubs offering sessions, usually commencing at around 9.30pm. Listings of these can be found at wwww.thesession.org/sessions.

Drama played a pivotal role in Ireland’s twentieth-century cultural revival and Dublin’s theatres continue to act as a crucible for innovation, alongside staging a range of Irish classics. Highlights include the Dublin Theatre Festival (late Sept to mid-Oct) and the Dublin Fringe Festival (mid-Sept). Ticket prices vary, and you should expect to pay €10–20 per ticket for fringe shows, €20–40 for mainstream. Advance bookings can be made at the venues or through Ticketmaster . If you’re budget-conscious, it’s worth enquiring about low-cost previews and occasional cut-price Monday- and Tuesday-night shows, while students (with ID) and OAPs can sometimes find good concessionary rates.

As attitudes to homosexuality in Dublin have become increasingly liberal over the last two decades, so the capital’s gay community has grown in confidence, and a small but vibrant scene has established a niche in the city’s social life. The latest information on gay events and venues in Dublin is provided by Outhouse , 105 Capel St,a gay and lesbian resource centre with a café and a small library, or from Gay Switchboard. The free magazine GCN (Gay Community News) has detailed listings of upcoming events and can be found in the gay-friendly Books Upstairs, 17 D'Olier St, or in clubs and bars. Useful websites include www.queerid.com for events and news and www.gaire.com for information, message boards and online chat.

The Southside is the most fruitful hunting ground for shoppers, offering Irish and global designer clothes around Grafton Street, and more alternative boutiques in the Market Arcade and Temple Bar. Also south of the river, you’ll find an attractive and eclectic range of artisan products gathered from around the country, from cheeses and whiskey to ceramics. Despite a recent revamp, Dublin’s most extensive shopping boulevard, O’Connell Street, is likely to hold little of interest for the visiting consumer, though the raucous Moore Street market, off Henry Street, is always entertaining. The majority of shops in Dublin are open Monday to Saturday only.

Dublin's National Museum

The National Museum on Kildare Street is the finest of a portfolio of jointly run museums – including Collins Barracks, which focuses on the decorative arts, and the National Museum of Country Life in Castlebar – and a must-see for visitors to Dublin. Undoubted stars of the show here are a stunning hoard of prehistoric gold and a thousand years’ worth of ornate ecclesiastical treasures, but the whole collection builds up a fascinating and accessible story of Irish archeology and history. The shop in the beautiful entrance rotunda sells a range of high-quality crafts inspired by works in the museum, and there’s a small café.

Prehistoric gold, much of it discovered during peat-cutting, takes pride of place on the ground floor of the main hall. From the Earlier Bronze Age (c. 2500–1500 BC) come lunulae, thin sheets of gold formed into crescent-moon collars. After around 1200 BC, when new sources of the metal were apparently found, goldsmiths could be more extravagant, fashioning chunky torcs, such as the spectacular Gleninsheen Collar and the Tumna Hoard of nine large gold balls, which are perforated, suggesting that when joined together they formed a huge necklace. Further prehistoric material is arrayed around the walls of the main hall, including the fifteen-metre-long Lurgan Logboat, dating from around 2500 BC, which was unearthed in a Galway bog in 1902.

The adjacent Treasury holds most of the museum’s better-known ecclesiastical exhibits, notably the ornate, eighth-century Ardagh Chalice, the Tara Brooch, decorated with beautiful knot designs, and the Cross of Cong, created to enshrine a fragment of the True Cross given to the King of Connacht by the Pope in 1123. Also on the ground floor is Kingship and Sacrifice, showcasing the leathery bodies of four Iron Age noblemen that were preserved and discovered in various bogs around Ireland.

Upstairs, Viking-age Ireland (c.800–1150) features models of a house and the layout of Dublin’s Fishamble Street, while Medieval Ireland (1150–1550) moves on to cover the first English colonists, their withdrawal to the fortified area around Dublin known as “the Pale” after 1300, and the hybrid culture that developed all the while – you can listen to recordings of poetry written in Ireland in Middle Irish, Middle English and Norman French. Unmissable here is a host of strange, ornate portable shrines, made to hold holy relics or texts, including examples for all three of Ireland’s patron saints: the Shrine of St Patrick’s Tooth, the Shrine of St Brigid’s Shoe and the Shrine of the Cathach, containing a manuscript written by St Colmcille (St Columba), legendary bard, scholar, ruler and evangelizer of Scotland.

Dublin's National Gallery

The National Gallery hosts a fine collection of Western European art dating from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, which will happily engage you for several hours. The gallery’s old building, divided into Beit, Milltown and Dargan wings and entered from Merrion Square West, has now been joined by the Millennium Wing, giving access from Clare Street, which hosts major temporary exhibitions around its striking, sky-lit atrium. The resulting layout of the gallery, however, can be confusing, especially after a recent rehang, so the first thing to do when you go in is pick up a free floor-plan leaflet. In a prime location under the Millennium Wing’s glass roof, there’s a good self-service café, with a restaurant upstairs serving lunch and afternoon tea. The gallery also offers classical and contemporary concerts, lectures and workshops, which are detailed in the quarterly Gallery News (available in the foyer).

Level 1 is chiefly given over to Irish art from the seventeenth century onwards, including a large gallery in the Millennium Wing devoted to the twentieth century. The real stand-out in the Irish collection, however, is the Yeats Museum (Level 1, Beit Wing), which traces the development of Jack B. Yeats (1871–1957), younger brother of the writer W.B. Yeats, from an unsentimental illustrator of everyday scenes to an expressive painter in abstract, unmixed colours. It’s also worth looking in on the National Portrait Gallery (Level 1, Dargan Wing), a chronological survey of Irish worthies that includes a rather sci-fi head of Bono from 2003 by Louis le Brocquy. In the mezzanine Print Gallery (Beit Wing), as well as temporary exhibitions throughout the year, watercolours by Turner are exhibited every January, when the light is low enough for these delicate works.

Highlights of Level 2 include Kitchen Maid with the Supper at Emmaus, the earliest known picture by Velázquez (c.1617–18); Vermeer’s Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, one of only 35 accepted works by the artist, with his characteristic use of white light from the window accentuating the woman’s heated emotions (both Milltown Wing); Caravaggio’s dynamic The Taking of Christ, in which the artist portrayed himself as a passive spectator on the right of the picture, holding a lamp (Beit Wing); and the “Grand Tour in Rome” room in the Dargan Wing: among some diverting views of Rome and various Irish gentlemen who had themselves immortalized in the Eternal City, don’t miss Reynolds’ fascinating Parody of Raphael’s “School of Athens”, which purveys some familiar Irish stereotypes to ridicule the Grand Tourists.

Begun in 1762, Merrion Square represents Georgian town planning at its grandest. Its long, graceful terraces of red-brown brick sport elaborate doors, knockers and fanlights, as well as wrought-iron balconies (added in the early nineteenth century) and tall windows on the first floor, where the main reception rooms would have been; the north side of the square was built first and displays the widest variety of design.

The broad, manicured lawns of the square’s gardens themselves are a joy, quieter than St Stephen’s Green, and especially agreeable for picnics on fine days. Revolutionary politician Michael Collins is commemorated with a bronze bust on the gardens’ south side, near a slightly hapless stone bust of Henry Grattan, while writer, artist and mystic George Russell (“AE”) stands gravely near the southwest corner and his former home at no. 74. But the square’s most remarkable and controversial statue is at the northwest corner, where Oscar Wilde reclines on a rock facing his childhood home at no. 1 (now the American College Dublin), in a wry, languid pose that has earned the figure the nickname “the fag on the crag”. In front of him, a male torso and his wife Constance, pregnant with their second child, stand on plinths inscribed with Wildean witticisms: “This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last,” “I drink to keep body and soul apart.” Nearby on the railings around the square’s gardens, dozens of artists hang their paintings for sale every Sunday (and some Sats, depending on the weather).

The Merrion Square South terrace has the greatest concentration of famous former residents, giving a vivid sense of the history of the place: politician Daniel O’Connell bought no. 58 in 1809; the Nobel Prize-winning Austrian physicist, Erwin Schrödinger, occupied no. 65; Gothic novelist Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu died at no. 70, which is now the Arts Council; and W.B. Yeats lived at no. 82 from 1922 to 1928. At no. 39 stood the British Embassy, burnt down by a crowd protesting against the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry in 1972.

St Stephen’s Green is central Dublin’s largest and most varied park, whose statuary provides a poignant history lesson in stone, wood and bronze. The main sightseeing draws in the area date from the Georgian period: the splendid stuccowork of Newman House and the elegant streets and squares to the east of the Green. St Stephen’s Green preserves its distinctive Victorian character with a small lake, bandstand, arboretum and well-tended flower displays. It was originally open common land, a notoriously dirty and dangerous spot and the site of public hangings until the eighteenth century. In 1880, however, it was turned into a public park with funding from the brewer Lord Ardilaun (Arthur Guinness), who now boasts the grandest of the Green’s many statues, seated at his leisure on the far western side. Over at the northeast corner, a row of huge granite monoliths – nicknamed “Tonehenge” – has been erected in honour of eighteenth-century nationalist Wolfe Tone, behind which stands a moving commemoration of the Great Famine. Meanwhile, on the west side of the central flower display, a tiny plaque inlaid in a wooden park bench commemorates the so-called “fallen women” – mostly unmarried mothers or abused girls – who were forced to live and work in severe conditions in Ireland’s Magdalen laundries; the last of them, in Dublin, wasn’t closed down until 1996. From the Green’s northwest corner, by the top of Grafton Street, you can hire a horse and carriage, either as a grandiose taxi or for a tour of the sights, which will typically set you back €40–50 for thirty minutes.

Termed in the eighteenth century “Beau Walk”, St Stephen’s Green North is still the most fashionable side of the square. The Shelbourne Hotel here claims to have been “the best address in Dublin” since its establishment in 1824 (see The Inner Southside). Beyond the hotel at the start of Merrion Row, the tiny, tree-shaded Huguenot Cemetery was opened in 1693 for Protestant refugees fleeing religious persecution in France. A large plaque inside the gates gives a roll call of Huguenot Dubliners, among whom the most famous have been writers Dion Boucicault and Sheridan Le Fanu.

George Bernard Shaw

Born in Dublin in 1856, George Bernard Shaw grew up among a Protestant family fallen on hard times. His father was an unsuccessful grain merchant and alcoholic – prompting Shaw to become a lifelong abstainer – and there was no money to pay for his education. At 15 he started work as a junior clerk for a land agency, but five years later went to London to join his mother who had moved there to further the musical career of one of his sisters. Reliant on what little income his mother earned as a music teacher, Shaw set about educating himself by spending his afternoons in the reading room of the British Museum. He hoped to become a novelist, but, following the rejection of no fewer than five novels, turned his hand to journalism instead, contributing music and drama criticism to London newspapers.

Shaw was a devout socialist, joining the Fabian Society in 1884, writing pamphlets and gaining a reputation as a natural orator. He espoused numerous causes, including electoral reform, vegetarianism and the abolition of private property. His theatrical career began in the 1890s when, influenced by Ibsen, he began to compose plays focusing on social and moral matters, rather than the romantic and personal subjects which then dominated British theatre.

In 1898 he married the heiress Charlotte Payne-Townshend and the same year saw the production of his first successful play, Candida. A stream of equally lauded comedy-dramas followed – including The Devil’s Disciple, Arms and the Man, Major Barbara and Pygmalion – though he later turned to more serious drama, such as Heartbreak House and Saint Joan. Simultaneously, he maintained an active career as a critic, journalist and essayist, his often bitterly ironic wit (“England and America are two countries separated by a common language”) becoming legendary. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but initially rejected the honour before relenting and giving his prize money to a newly established Anglo–Swedish Literary Foundation.

Shaw’s attitude to Ireland was ever ambivalent – he once commented “I am a typical Irishman; my family came from Yorkshire” – and, though he remained interested in Irish affairs and became a personal friend of Michael Collins, his brand of democratic socialism would have been antipathetic to the austere Catholic and anti-British state that emerged post-independence. Shaw died in 1950 at Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire.

Newman House

Newman House at 85–86 St Stephen’s Green South boasts probably the finest Georgian interiors in Dublin, noted especially for their decorative plasterwork. The place is named after John Henry Newman, the famous British convert from Anglicanism, who was invited to found the Catholic University of Ireland here in 1854 as an alternative to Anglican Trinity College and the recently established “godless” Queen’s Colleges in Belfast, Cork and Galway. James Joyce and Éamon de Valera were educated at what became University College Dublin (UCD), which now occupies a large campus in the southern suburbs.

Newman House began life as two houses. No. 85 is a Palladian mansion built by Richard Castle in 1738 and adorned with superb baroque stuccowork by the Swiss Lafranchini brothers, notably in the ground-floor Apollo Room, where the god himself appears majestically over the fireplace, attended by the nine muses on the surrounding walls. The much larger no. 86, with flowing rococo plasterwork by Robert West, the notable Dublin-born imitator of the Lafranchinis, was added in 1765. On the top floor of the latter are a lecture room, done out as in Joyce’s student days (1899–1902), and the bedroom of the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Having converted from Anglicanism, Hopkins became a Jesuit priest and then Professor of Classics here in 1884; after five wretched years in Dublin, he died of typhoid and was buried in an unmarked grave in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Book tours and activities at Dublin's historic cemetery .

Running due north from O’Connell Bridge, broader than it is long, to Parnell Square, O’Connell Street is the main artery of Dublin’s Northside. Lined with numerous impressive memorials, as well as the historic GPO and the remarkable four-hundred-foot-high stainless steel “Spike” sculpture, this bustling thoroughfare was originally laid out in the fashion of the grand Parisian boulevards. Poorly redeveloped since the damage caused by the 1916 Easter Rising, nowadays the street is very much a mishmash of modern shop frontages, though glancing at the upper storeys reveals some of its former glory. The streets around, however, represent a consumer’s paradise and, particularly on Liffey Street Lower and in the burgeoning Italian quarter centred on Bloom Lane (the result of a local developer’s fascination with all things Tuscan), you’ll find plenty of stylish bars and cafés. Notable cultural landmarks east of O’Connell Street include the Abbey Theatre, centre of the twentieth-century revival in Irish theatre, and, along The Quays, the opulent eighteenth-century Custom House.

The "Spike"

By the junction with O’Connell Street and Earl Street North, stands the Northside’s most remarkable landmark on the spot where Nelson’s Pillar stood until it was blown up by Republicans in 1966 – the frankly astonishing Dublin Spire or “Spike” as it’s colloquially known. Designed by Ian Ritchie, this 120m-high stainless-steel needle, surmounted by a beacon, is easily the tallest structure in the city centre. Just over a metre wide at its base, it tapers to a mere fifteen centimetres at its summit. In the early morning or at dusk its surface takes on an ethereal blue colour while at night it seems to loom ominously over the city. What the ghost of James Joyce, whose adjacent and somewhat rakish statue stands just down Earl Street North, would make of it all is open to question.

The General Post Office

Just to the left of the “Spike” stands one of O’Connell Street’s few remaining buildings of major historical importance, the General Post Office, whose significance lies in its role as the rebels’ headquarters during the Easter Rising of 1916. The building was constructed in 1818 but only its Ionic portico survived the fighting – and still bears the marks of gunfire. Following restoration, the GPO reopened in 1929 and inside its marble halls you’ll find Oliver Sheppard’s intricately wrought bronze statue The Death of Cúchulainn, representing a key moment in the Irish legend Táin Bó Cúailnge.

Parnell Square might lack the allure of its Southside Georgian equivalents, but it still has a certain grace. The Square’s north side hosts one of Dublin’s premier galleries, the Hugh Lane, as well as the Dublin Writers Museum, an excellent place to learn about the city’s literary history, while nearby is a centre devoted to the works of the acclaimed writer James Joyce.

Dublin City Gallery – The Hugh Lane

The elegant, Georgian, stone-clad Charlemont House, with its curved outer and inner walls and Neoclassical interior, has provided a permanent home for the Hugh Lane gallery since 1933. Sir Hugh, a nephew of Lady Gregory, wanted Dublin to house a major gallery of Irish and international art. He amassed a considerable collection by persuading native artists to contribute their work and purchasing many other paintings himself, particularly from the French Impressionist school and Italy.

The gallery holds around half of the Lane collection (the rest is in London’s National Gallery) and only a fraction is on display here at any one time, though you’re likely to see works by Renoir, Monet and Degas, as well as Pissarro and the Irish painters Jack B. Yeats, Roderic O’Connor and Louis le Brocquy, as well as stained-glass pieces by Evie Hone and Harry Clarke. Simultaneously, there are usually other temporary exhibitions of more modern artworks.

Part of the gallery is devoted to a recreation of Dublin-born painter Francis Bacon’s studio, transported from its original location at Reece Mews in South Kensington, London, where the artist lived and worked for the last thirty years of his life. After his death in 1992, his studio was donated to the gallery by his heir, John Edwards, and reconstructed here with astonishing precision – more than seven thousand individual items were catalogued and placed here with verisimilitude in the reconstruction. The studio can only be viewed through the window glass but amongst the apparent debris are an old Bush record-player, empty champagne boxes and huge tins of the type of matt vinyl favoured by Bacon, the fumes of which exacerbated his asthma. The surrounding rooms hold displays of memorabilia, such as photographs and correspondence, as well as a detailed database of every item found in the studio (accessible via touchscreen consoles) and large canvases from the painter’s last years.

Dublin Writers Museum

The Dublin Writers Museum aims to illuminate Ireland’s literary history, featuring not just giants such as Wilde, Shaw, Joyce and Beckett, but also lesser-known figures like Sheridan Le Fanu and Oliver St John Gogarty. The ground floor contains a plethora of displays on particular writers or literary schools, and it is well worth picking up the free and entertaining guide-tape to receive background information on the authors.

The hall downstairs, hung with modern paintings of writers, leads to an outdoor Zen garden where you can contemplate works you’ve purchased in the museum’s bookshop or, alternatively, head for the café at the rear. On the first floor is the Gallery of Writers, an elegant salon with plasterwork by Michael Stapleton, which features James Joyce’s piano and more paintings, of which the most impressive is John B. Yeats’s portrait of George Moore. Beside this is the Gorham Library, which features numerous rare editions. The museum’s basement houses one of the Northside’s best restaurants, Chapter One.

The James Joyce Centre

The James Joyce Centre occupies a grand eighteenth-century townhouse, restored in the 1980s. The centre aims to illuminate the work of perhaps Ireland’s most imaginative yet most complex writer, who spent part of his life living in the inner Northside, and drew upon his experiences in the creation of his characters and the settings for his works. The building features decorative stucco mouldings by Michael Stapleton. The ground floor houses a small shop full of Joyceiana, such as books and prints, and an airy courtyard which includes the actual period door of 7 Eccles Street, the fictional home of Leopold and Molly Bloom, two of the main protagonists in Ulysses, as well as a somewhat enigmatic, modernist Joyce-inspired sculpture of a cow.

The building’s upper floors house a recreation of the tiny room occupied by Joyce in Trieste, featuring various books, pianola music-rolls and a splendid collection of hats, as well as photographs of people and places associated with Ulysses, and touchscreen consoles tracing the development of the novel’s plot and its variety of characters. Three short documentary films on the writer’s life can also be viewed.

West of Smithfield on Benburb Street is the National Museum’s Decorative Arts Collection, housed in the eighteenth-century Collins Barracks, which surrounds Europe’s largest regimental drilling square. The buildings set around this quadrangle contain a wonderful series of galleries devoted to the fine arts of Ireland and selections from abroad. Unquestionably, the best of these is Curator’s Choice, on the first floor of the west block, which is selected by museum curators from all over Ireland. Among its draws are a medieval oak carving of St Molaise; the extravagant cabinet presented by Oliver Cromwell to his daughter Bridget in 1652; and the remarkable fourteenth-century Chinese porcelain Fonthill Vase. The Out of Storage section is another highlight, bringing together everything from decorative glassware to a seventeenth-century suit of Samurai armour, while others focus on Celtic art, coinage, silverware, period furniture, costumes and scientific instruments, and there are usually plenty of temporary exhibits.

On the ground floor is a chain of thematically interconnected galleries, Soldiers and Chiefs, devoted to almost five hundred years of Irish military history. Apart from an array of helmets and weaponry, there’s the remarkable Stokes tapestry, created by one Stephen of that ilk, a British soldier who devoted his spare time to the depiction of contemporary garrison life and was honoured to have his work shown to Queen Victoria on a royal visit to Ireland in 1849. Other exhibits trace the Irish involvement in the US Civil War and World War I with later examples of tanks and a de Havilland Vampire fighter plane while, contrastingly, there’s the 200-year-old Bantry Boat, captured from the French frigate La Résolue during the abortive invasion of 1796.

West of Dublin's Center

Unless you’re a keen walker, you’ll want to take a bus or LUAS tram to reach some of the city’s western attractions. Highlights on the north side of the river include the vast grounds of Phoenix Park, with the dazzling interiors of Farmleigh mansion lying just beyond. Across the Liffey, the area west of the old city is dominated by the mammoth Guinness Brewery, whose wares are celebrated by the Guinness Storehouse. Further west lies the suburb of Kilmainham, home to the impressive Irish Museum of Modern Art and the forbidding Kilmainham Gaol, where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed.

The Guinness Storehouse

South of the Liffey, much of James Street, west of the old city, is centred around the colossal complex of the Guinness Brewery. Founded by Arthur Guinness in 1759, the Guinness Brewery initially manufactured ale, but in the 1770s started making porter, a drink so named because of its popularity with the porters of London’s markets. Arthur’s new brew, whose distinctive black colouring derived from the addition of roasted barley to the brewing process, found such favour that by 1796 it was being exported to London, and three years later ale production ceased altogether. From that point, Guinness and his successors never looked back and, at its peak in the middle of the twentieth century, their brewery produced some 2,500,000 pints of their now eponymous product a day.

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The brewery is sadly not open to the public, but instead you can visit the seven-storey Guinness Storehouse, signposted from Crane Street, a high-tech temple to the black stuff. Its self-guided tour kicks off with the brewing process – a whirl of water (not from the Liffey, despite the myth) and a reek of barley, hops and malt – before progressing to the storage and transportation areas. A huge barrel dominates the section on the lost art of coopering, and nearby there’s an engine from the brewery’s old railway system. The remainder of the tour consists of an array of marketing memorabilia, supported by plenty of facts and figures about the Guinness empire, and there’s a gallery on John Gilroy, an esteemed painter who designed many of the company’s advertisements. Right at the top of the tower is the Gravity Bar, where you can savour your complimentary pint of perhaps the best Guinness in Dublin while absorbing the superb panorama of the city and the countryside beyond.

Dublin's Northern Suburbs

You’ll want fine weather for a trip north to the beautiful Botanic Gardens and the adjacent Glasnevin Cemetery, last resting-place for the major figures in Irish history since 1832, which is best appreciated on a guided tour. To the east lie Croke Park, a major sports arena and home to the innovative GAA Museum, the exquisite Georgian Casino at Marino and, at the end of the DART line, Howth, an attractive seaside village with a fine cliff walk.

The National Botanic Gardens

The National Botanic Gardens on the south bank of the River Tolka in Glasnevin are a great place to wander on a fine day, while their magnificent Victorian wrought-iron glasshouses offer diversion and shelter whatever the weather. Laid out between 1795 and 1825 with a grant from the Irish parliament, the gardens were, in 1844, the first in the world to germinate orchids from seed successfully, and in August of the following year, the first to notice the potato blight that brought on the Great Famine. Nowadays, a total of around twenty thousand species and cultivated varieties flourish here, including an internationally important collection of cycads, primitive fern-like trees. Highlights include the rose garden, collections of heather and rhododendrons, the Chinese shrubbery and the arboretum.

Glasnevin Cemetery

Founded as a burial place for Catholics by the nationalist political leader Daniel O’Connell in 1832, Glasnevin Cemetery is now the national cemetery, open to all denominations and groaning with Celtic crosses, harps and other patriotic emblems. It’s well worth timing your visit to coincide with one of the fascinating ninety-minute guided tours, which includes access to the newly renovated crypt of O’Connell.

O’Connell himself is commemorated near the entrance by a fifty-metre-high round tower, which managed to survive a Loyalist bomb in the 1970s. His corpse was interred in the tower’s crypt in 1869, having been brought home from Genoa where he died (in fact, not all of his body is here: his heart was buried in Rome).

To the left of the round tower, O’Connell’s political descendant, Charles Stewart Parnell, who asked to be buried in a mass grave among the people of Ireland, is commemorated by a huge granite boulder from his estate at Avondale, County Wicklow. Other notable figures among the 1.2 million dead at Glasnevin – most of them gathered around O’Connell’s tower – include Countess Markiewicz, Éamon de Valera, prime minister, president and architect of modern Ireland, and his old rival Michael Collins, the most charismatic leader of the successful independence struggle; from the arts, there’s Gerard Manley Hopkins (unmarked, in the Jesuit plot), W.B. Yeats’s muse Maud Gonne MacBride, writer, drinker and Republican Brendan Behan, and Alfred Chester Beatty. To the right of the tower is the Republican plot, with a memorial to hunger strikers, from Thomas Ashe who died in 1917 to Bobby Sands in 1981, while in front of the tower lie the recent graves of 18-year-old Kevin Barry and eight other Volunteers hanged by the British during the War of Independence; originally buried in Mountjoy Prison, their bodies were moved here with the full honours of a state funeral in October 2001. For refreshment after your visit, call in at nearby Kavanagh’s (aka The Gravediggers), a particularly atmospheric old pub.

Croke Park and the GAA Museum

Three kilometres northeast of O’Connell Street, Croke Park is the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), a magnificent, much redeveloped and now very modern stadium whose capacity of 82,000-plus puts it amongst the largest in Europe. Situated under the Cusack Stand is one of Dublin’s finest museums, the GAA Museum, whose creatively designed exhibits provide an enthralling account of not only the sports of hurling and Gaelic football, but also lesser known games such as camogie (the women’s version of hurling) and handball. Historical and political contexts are explored in a thoroughly engaging manner – since its foundation in 1884 the GAA has always been irrevocably linked with Irish Nationalism. Thus the museum does not shirk from recounting key, politically sensitive events such as the first Bloody Sunday, when British troops fired on the crowd attending a match in 1920, killing twelve people in the process. On a lighter note, upstairs you can have a go at whacking a hurling ball or test your balance and reactions via various simulations.

The Casino at Marino

Sited in the now unpromising suburb of Marino, the Casino is probably the finest piece of Neoclassical architecture in Ireland. It’s located on Cherrymount Crescent, just off the Malahide Road. The building was commissioned by James Caulfield, the first Earl of Charlemont, shortly after returning from eight years on the Grand Tour. Seeking to recreate an Italianate park with a casino (“little house” in Italian) as its focus, emphasizing the fine views of Dublin Bay that his estate then enjoyed, Charlemont turned to Sir William Chambers, the architect of Somerset House in London (Chambers also designed the earl’s new townhouse at around the same time, now the Hugh Lane Gallery). Started in 1757, construction of the Casino lasted nearly twenty years and cost £20,000 sterling (equivalent to about €5 million today), depleting the estate to such a degree that the second Earl was obliged to sell off his father’s precious library and collection of art and antiquities.

Dalkey and Killiney hills

A walk up adjoining Dalkey and Killiney hills, before descending to Killiney DART station, offers panoramic views of the city and its environs, and can all be done in an hour and a half from Dalkey DART station at a moderate pace. From Dalkey, head southeast on Sorrento Road, and then either take the easier route to the right up Knocknacree and Torca roads, or continue along cliffside Vico Road, from where steps and a path ascend steeply. On Torca Road, Shaw fans might want to track down privately owned Torca Cottage, where GBS lived for several years as a boy and where he occasionally returned to write in later years. On the way to Dalkey Hill’s summit, with its crenellated former telegraph station and fine views over Dublin Bay, you’ll pass Dalkey quarry, which provided the granite blocks for the massive piers of Dún Laoghaire harbour below.

From here, follow the partly wooded ridge up to Killiney Hill, where a stone obelisk, built to provide work during the severe winter of 1741, enjoys even more glorious views, north to Howth and south to Killiney Bay and the Wicklow Mountains. From the obelisk, you can quickly descend to the park gate on Killiney Hill Road and refreshment at the cosy Druid’s Chair pub directly opposite; from here it’s a fifteen-minute walk down Victoria Road and Vico Road through the leafy and exclusive borough of Killiney, to the DART station by the beach.

A ride on a DART train south along the coast, as well as giving access to Sandycove’s James Joyce Museum and the charming, historic neighbourhood of Dalkey, is a scenic attraction in itself, displaying the great sweep of Dublin Bay before dramatically skirting Dalkey and Killiney hills and arrowing off towards Bray and Greystones. Now a pretty seaside suburb set against the tree-clad slopes of Dalkey Hill, in medieval times Dalkey prospered as a fortified settlement and the main port of Dublin, until the dredging of the River Liffey in the sixteenth century took away its business. Nowadays, with the building of the railway, Dalkey’s characterful old houses and villas are much sought after by well-to-do commuters, as well as celebrities seeking privacy.

• Temple Bar Trad Festival t01/677 2397, www.templebartrad.com . Five days and nights of traditional-music pub sessions, concerts, instrument workshops and more in the heart of the city.
• Jameson Dublin International Film Festival t01/687 7974, www.dubliniff.com . Held at cinemas and other venues across the city centre for eleven days in mid-February. While screening the latest in new Irish cinema, the festival also has a decidedly international flavour and its hundred or so films include special themes and retrospectives.
• Easter Rising Commemorations take place on Easter Sunday, featuring speeches and a march from the General Post Office to Glasnevin Cemetery.
• St Patrick’s Festival t01/676 3205, www.stpatricksfestival.ie . Running for six days on and around St Patrick’s Day (March 17), this city-wide festival includes a parade, light shows, concerts, funfair, films, exhibitions and a céilí mór (thousands of locals and visitors fill the streets in a traditional danceathon).
• Poetry Now Festival t01/231 2929, www.poetrynow.ie . A major four-day event, held over the last weekend in March at The Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, the festival features readings by well-known Irish and international poets, master classes, exhibitions and children’s events.
• Absolut Gay Theatre Festival t01/677 8511, www.absolutgaytheatre.ie . A fortnight of LGBT-focused drama, comedy, cabaret and musical theatre with international and Irish casts taking place at a variety of city-centre locations.
• Dublin Writers Festival t01/222 7848, www.dublinwritersfestival.com . Major Irish and international writers and poets take part in six days of readings, discussions and other events around the city centre in early June.
• Docklands Maritime Festival t01/818 3300, www.dublindocklands.ie . Tall ships open their decks to visitors over the first weekend in June at North Wall Quay, plus there’s a market, street theatre, trips along the Liffey and a variety of events for children.
• Bloomsday t01/878 8547, www.jamesjoyce.ie . The James Joyce Centre organizes a week of events in mid-June, culminating in Bloomsday itself (June 16), the day on which Joyce’s Ulysses is set.
• Dublin Pride www.dublinpride.ie . A week of celebration by the city’s gay, lesbian, bi-and transsexual communities, featuring all manner of events, culminating in a vibrant and entertaining street parade.
• The Summer Sensation www.templebar.ie . Five days of film, music, street theatre and other events in Temple Bar early in the month.
• Dún Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures t01/231 2929. Late July sees three days of (mostly free) events spread over various venues around the town, featuring major international acts and a host of lively outdoor activities.
• Dublin Lesbian and Gay Film Festival www.gaze.ie . A strong bill of Irish and international films screened over five days towards the end of the month at the Light House Cinema in Smithfield.
• Dublin Horse Show t01/485 8010, www.dublinhorseshow.com . Five-day festival of equestrian events in early August at the RDS arena in Ballsbridge, featuring major international showjumpers participating in the Nations’ Cup.
• Dublin Viking Festival t01/222 2242. The last weekend in August sees a recreated Viking village established off Wood Quay, featuring plenty of wandering inhabitants and the chance to watch reenacted combats.

September/October

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling and Gaelic Football finals Two of Ireland’s major sporting events are staged at Croke Park in September: The hurling final on the first or second Sunday and the football final on the third or fourth.
• Dublin Fringe Festival t1850374643, www.fringefest.com . Ireland’s biggest performing-arts festival takes place over more than two weeks from mid-September and features all manner of music, dance, street theatre, comedy and children’s events.
• Dublin Theatre Festival t01/677 8899, www.dublintheatrefestival.com . A major celebration of theatre, held during the last few days of September and the first two weeks in October, this includes performances of new and classic drama at various city-centre venues.
• Dublin City Marathon t01/623 2250, www.dublinmarathon.ie . Featuring 10,000 entrants, the race takes place on the last Monday in October and involves a roughly circular course starting from Fitzwilliam Street Upper, heads north across O’Connell Bridge, and takes in Phoenix Park and some southern suburbs before terminating at Merrion Square North.

The Easter Rising

The initial impact of some historical events often runs counter to their long-term effects and such was the case with the Easter Rising of 1916. Truth be told, this inherently idealistic rebellion was a bungled affair from start to finish, and it was only the repressive response of the British Army, whose political overlords were unsurprisingly sidetracked by the seemingly more pressing affairs taking place in the fields of Flanders, that gave the event its pivotal role in attaining Ireland’s independence.

The Rising was organized by the Irish Republican Brethren (IRB), a Republican grouping that had been founded in 1858, and was now led by educationalist and Gaelic cultural revivalist Patrick Pearse and Scots-born socialist and trades union activist James Connolly. Impelled by the continuing failure of democratic means to achieve the goal of independence, they concocted a plan to take over by force, aided by the much larger Irish Volunteers, a Nationalist corps founded in 1913, and using arms acquired from Germany. The armaments were however intercepted by the British, and though the Volunteers’ leader withdrew his support, the rising still went ahead.

On the morning of Easter Monday, the rebels took control of a number of key buildings in the city centre and further afield. They made the General Post Office on O’Connell Street their base, and it was from here that Pearse emerged to make his Proclamation of the Irish Republic. The British response was initially guarded, but a full-scale battle soon ensued, destroying much of the surrounding area and heavily damaging rebel-held buildings elsewhere in the city.

It took five days for the rebellion to be suppressed and its leaders captured. Dubliners decried the uprising at its outset, dismayed by the devastation ravaged upon their city by the fighting. Had the British simply imprisoned the IRB’s leaders, it’s extremely unlikely later political developments would have occurred as quickly as they did, but the draconian decision was made to execute all of them (with the exception of Éamon de Valera, who had US citizenship). In the process, the British created national martyrs, transforming the situation irrevocably and ultimately leading to a bitter war of independence.

Top image © massimofusaro/Shutterstock

Perhaps no other writer has so encapsulated the life, lore and mores of his native city as James Joyce so successfully achieved in his remarkable novels, most notably Ulysses (1922). So precise are the author’s descriptions of the locales visited by the book’s protagonists on the date of the book’s setting, June 16, that it is possible to follow literally in their footsteps. This annual pilgrimage undertaken by Joycean aficionados across the city has become known as Bloomsday. Though you can undertake to cover the Bloomsday route independently (a Ulysses map is available from the Dublin Tourism Centre), guided walks are organized by the James Joyce Centre. There are plenty of other associated events, including recreations by actors of some of the book’s central passages and concerts devoted to music referenced in the novel.

Strangely, for someone who documented his native city’s life with such pride, Joyce came to loathe Dublin, once describing the place in a letter as a “city of failure, of rancour and of unhappiness”, and concluding “I long to be out of it.” Though his early works, such as the short-story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, draw heavily upon his upbringing, Catholic education and Dublin experiences, by the time of the latter’s publication in 1916, Joyce had long abandoned Ireland. Not long after meeting a Connemara-born chambermaid, Nora Barnacle, having first dated her on June 16, 1904, the pair eloped to Europe. Other than two brief visits to Ireland, Joyce spent the rest of his life in exile living in cities across Europe – in Pola (now Pula) in Istria, Trieste, Zurich and, notably, Paris, where Ulysses was published in 1922 and he finally wed Nora in 1931. Joyce’s only subsequent published work was the convoluted Finnegans Wake (1939). When he died in 1941, Ulysses was still unavailable in Ireland (though it never officially fell foul of Ireland’s censorship laws, booksellers were loath to stock copies), and was not published in the country until the 1960s.

On a ridge above the Liffey, where previously the Vikings had established themselves, the Anglo-Norman invaders rebuilt Dublin in the thirteenth century around a doughty castle. You’re free to walk around the courtyards, an architectural mishmash that’s home to police and tax offices. The castle was the seat of British power in Ireland for seven hundred years, after its establishment by the Anglo-Normans in the early thirteenth century as the main element of their walled city, and successfully withstood all attempts to take it by force. It did, however, succumb to a major fire in 1684 and was rebuilt during the eighteenth century as a complex of residential and administrative buildings over two quadrangles, giving a sedate collegiate appearance. The outline of the medieval castle is traced by the Upper Yard; above its original main gate, the Cork Hill State Entrance, stands a statue of Justice, wearing no blindfold and turning her back on the city – a fitting symbol of British rule, locals reckon.

Built as the residence of the English viceroy and entered from the Upper Yard, the State Apartments are accessible on regular guided tours (dublincastle.ie). It’s advisable to ring ahead, however, as the apartments are sometimes closed for state occasions, when the tour will take in only the Chapel Royal and the Undercroft. Inside the apartments, the Grand Staircase leads up to the east wing of bedrooms and drawing rooms, refurbished to their eighteenth- and nineteenth-century style after a major fire in 1941. The brass chandelier in the Throne Room, with its shamrock, rose and thistle emblems, commemorates the 1801 Act of Union, while the Picture Gallery beyond is lined with viceroys, including – hiding ignominiously behind the door – the First Marquis of Cornwallis, who not only lost the American colonies, but also faced rebellions as viceroy, first of India, then of Ireland (1798). St Patrick’s Hall, formerly a ballroom that hosted investitures of the Knights of St Patrick, is now used for the inaugurations and funerals of Irish presidents. Its overblown, late eighteenth-century ceiling paintings show St Patrick converting the Irish, Henry II receiving the submission of the Irish chieftains, and George III’s coronation.

The tour also includes the Chapel Royal in the Lower Yard, an ornate Gothic Revival gem, and the excavations of the Undercroft, which have revealed the base of the gunpowder tower of the medieval castle and steps leading down to the moat, fed by the old River Poddle on its way down to the Liffey, as well as part of the original Viking ramparts.

Several other remnants of British hegemony are still dotted around the castle: the beautifully restored rotunda of City Hall; Christ Church Cathedral, with its huge crypt and photogenic covered bridge; and St Patrick’s Cathedral, sheltering an intriguing array of memorials. The main highlight for visitors in this area, however, is the Chester Beatty Library, a world-class collection of books and objets d’art from around the globe, in the castle gardens.

Opposite Christ Church cathedral on Fishamble Street once stood Neal’s Music Hall, where Handel conducted the combined choirs of Christ Church and St Patrick’s cathedrals in the first performance of his Messiah in 1742. As the takings were going to charity, ladies were requested not to wear hoops in their crinolines, to get more bums on seats. Jonathan Swift exclaimed, “Oh, a German, a genius, a prodigy.” In a private garden on the site, the composer’s reward is a statue of himself conducting in the nude, perched on a set of organ pipes. Every April 13, on the anniversary of the first performance, Our Lady’s Choral Society gives a singalong performance of excerpts from the Messiah here.

Overlooking the pretty castle garden from the renovated eighteenth-century Clock Tower Building, the Chester Beatty Library preserves a dazzling collection of books, manuscripts, prints and objets d’art from around the world. Superlatives come thick and fast here: as well as one of the finest Islamic collections in existence, containing some of the earliest manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries, the library holds important Biblical papyri, including the earliest surviving examples in any language of Mark’s and Luke’s Gospels, St Paul’s Letters and the Book of Revelations. Elegantly displayed in high-tech galleries, the artefacts are used to tell the story of religious and artistic traditions across the world with great ingenuity. It’s well worth timing your visit to coincide with lunch at the excellent Silk Road Café.

Though occupying the highest point of the old city, Christ Church Cathedral is now hemmed in by buildings and traffic and appears as an unexceptional Gothic Revival edifice. Inside, however, you’ll find some fascinating remnants from its long history as the seat of the (now Anglican) Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough. From as early as the seventh century, there may have been a small Celtic church on these grounds, and in about 1030, the recently converted Viking king of Dublin, Sitric Silkenbeard, built a wooden cathedral here. This in turn was replaced by the Normans, who between 1186 and 1240 erected a magnificent stone structure to mark their accession to power. Of this, the crypt, the transept (which retains a few eroded Romanesque carvings), the west end of the choir and the remarkable leaning north wall can still be seen – as the church had been built over a bog, the roof collapsed in 1562, bringing down the south wall and pulling the north side of the nave half a metre out of the perpendicular. In the 1870s, distiller Henry Roe lavished the equivalent of €30 million on the heavy-handed restoration you can see today, and bankrupted himself.

Near the main entrance at the southwest corner you’ll come across the strange tomb of Strongbow, the Norman leader who captured Dublin in 1170 and was buried here six years later. The original, around which the landlords of Dublin had gathered to collect rents, was destroyed by the sixteenth-century roof collapse, and had to be replaced with a fourteenth-century effigy of one of the earls of Drogheda so that business could proceed as usual. The small half-figure alongside is probably a fragment of the original tomb, though legend maintains that it’s an effigy of Strongbow’s son, hacked in two by his own father for cowardice in battle.

The chapels off the choir show the Anglo-Normans celebrating their dual nationality. To the left stands the Chapel of St Edmund, the ninth-century king of East Anglia who was martyred by the Vikings, while on the right is the Chapel of St Laud, the sixth-century bishop of Coutances in Normandy. The floor tiles here are original – those in the rest of the cathedral are 1870s replicas – while on the wall you can see an iron box containing the embalmed heart of twelfth-century St Laurence O’Toole, Dublin’s only canonized archbishop.

If you descend the stairs by the south transept, you’ll reach the crypt, the least changed remnant of the twelfth-century cathedral; formerly a storehouse for the trade in alcohol and tobacco, it’s one of the largest crypts in Britain and Ireland, extending under the entire cathedral for 55m. Here you’ll find the Treasures of Christ Church exhibition, which includes an interesting twenty-minute audiovisual on the history of the cathedral, as well as a miscellany of manuscripts and church crockery, and a mummified cat and rat, which were frozen in hot pursuit in an organ pipe in the 1860s. Look out also for a ropey tabernacle and pair of candlesticks made for James II on his flight from England in 1689, when, for three months only, Latin Mass was again celebrated at Christ Church (the existing cathedral paraphernalia was hidden by quick-thinking Anglican officials under a bishop’s coffin). In extravagant contrast is a chunky silver-gilt plate, around a metre wide, presented by King William III in thanksgiving for his victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

The history of St Patrick’s Cathedral is remarkably similar to that of its fellow-Anglican rival Christ Church up the road. It was built between 1220 and 1270 in Gothic style, but its roof collapsed in 1544, leading to a decline that included its use as a stable by Cromwell’s army in 1649. Its Victorian restoration, however, by Sir Benjamin Guinness in the 1860s, was more sensitive than at Christ Church, and it has a more appealing, lived-in feel, thanks largely to its clutter of quirky funerary monuments. Dublin has two Church of Ireland cathedrals because, in the 1190s, Archbishop John Comyn left the clergy of Christ Church and built his own palace and church here outside the city walls, and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the city provosts.

To the right of the entrance in the harmoniously proportioned nave are diverse memorials to Jonathan Swift, the cathedral’s dean for 32 years, including his and his long-term partner Stella’s graves, his pulpit and table, and a cast of his skull – both his and Stella’s bodies were dug up by Victorian phrenologists, studying the skulls of the famous. The Door of Reconciliation by the north transept recalls a quarrel between the earls of Kildare and Ormond in 1492. Ormond fled and sought sanctuary in the cathedral’s chapterhouse, but Kildare, eager to make peace, cut a hole in the door and stretched his arm through to shake Ormond’s hand – so giving us the phrase “chancing your arm”. Nearby in the north aisle of the choir, a simple black slab commemorates Duke Frederick Schomberg, who advised William of Orange to come to Ireland in 1686 but had the misfortune to be slain at the ensuing Battle of the Boyne. His family didn’t bother to erect a memorial for him, so it was left to Dean Swift to do the honours here in 1731; in Swift’s words, “The renown of his valour had greater power among strangers than had the ties of blood among his kith and kin.”

In the northwest corner of the nave you’ll find a slab carved with a Celtic cross that once marked the site of a well next to the cathedral, where St Patrick baptized converts in the fifth century. Back near the entrance, you can’t miss the extravagant Boyle monument, which Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, erected in 1632 in memory of his wife Katherine who had borne him fifteen children, including the famous chemist Robert Boyle (shown in the bottom-centre niche). Viceroy Wentworth, objecting to being forced to kneel before a Corkman, had the monument moved here from beside the altar, but Boyle exacted revenge in later years by engineering Wentworth’s execution.

Running south from popular meeting point College Green to St Stephen’s Green is the city’s main commercial drag, Grafton Street. This pedestrianized street gets off to an inauspicious start with “the tart with the cart”, a gaggingly kitsch bronze, complete with wheelbarrow of cockles and mussels, of Molly Malone, who was immortalized – though it’s unlikely that she ever existed – in the popular nineteenth-century song. For those who hate crowds, Grafton Street won’t get any better; for people-watchers, however, it’s a must, noted especially for its buskers, who range from string quartets to street poets. Shoppers will be drawn here, too, in particular to the city’s flagship department store, Brown Thomas. The street’s other major landmark, Bewley’s Oriental Café, was founded by the Quaker Bewley family as a teetotal bulwark against the demon drink, and owes its beautiful mosaic facade to the mania for all things Egyptian that followed the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.

West of the Guinness Brewery lies the rather more salubrious area of Kilmainham where you'll find Kilmainham Gaol. The jail has an iconic position in the history of Ireland’s struggle for independence and came to symbolize both Irish political martyrdom and British oppression. Opened in 1796, it became the place of incarceration for captured revolutionaries, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, who were also executed here. Even after the War of Independence, Republicans continued to be imprisoned here, though it closed in July 1924 after the release of its last inmate, Éamon de Valera – later to become Ireland’s Taoiseach and president. Tours of the jail provide a chilling impression of the prisoners’ living conditions and spartan regime. Its single cells ensured that they were forced into solitary contemplation, and since the building was constructed on top of limestone, their health was often sorely affected by damp and severe cold in winter. Before embarking on the tour, it’s well worth visiting the exhibition galleries. The ground floor display includes a mock-up of a cell and an early mug-shot camera, and there is a small side gallery showing paintings by Civil War internees and a huge self-portrait of Constance Gore-Booth (better known as the Countess Markiewicz) as the Good Shepherd. The upstairs gallery provides an enthralling account of the struggle for independence with numerous mementos, old cinematic footage of Michael Collins and the letter ordering the release of Charles Stewart Parnell.

North of the River Liffey are the buildings of the Old Jameson Distillery, where John Jameson set up his whiskey company. They have long been turned over to a somewhat touristy shrine to “the hard stuff”. Guided tours whirl visitors through the process itself, from milling and mashing to the essential distillation element; while the separation of water from alcohol only occurs once in bourbon and twice in Scotch, the production of uisce beatha (Irish for “water of life”, anglicized to “whiskey”) involves a three-stage process. The resulting liquid is diluted via the addition of water and then left in imported oak casks, formerly used for sherry, port or brandy, to mature for five to seven years, though some rare whiskeys are left 25 years before bottling. The tour ends with a tasting exercise in which testers are requested to sample four brands of whiskey, plus a bourbon and Scotch, before plumping for their favourite – if you want to take part, make sure to volunteer at the start of the tour, or you’ll only receive the complimentary tot of Jameson’s from the bar.

Adjacent to the distillery is an area christened Smithfield Village by developers. More an ongoing process of urban renewal than an identifiable community, its centrepiece is also the city’s largest civic open space, cobbled Smithfield itself. Surrounded by rising blocks of executive flats, shops and restaurants, Smithfield still manages to host one of the city’s major sights – the 300-year-old Dublin Horse Fair, which takes place from around 9am or so until noon on the first Sunday of each month and draws a fair number of traders and other horse-lovers from the city and outlying rural areas.

Europe’s largest urban walled park, Phoenix Park’s undulating landscape sprawls across some 1750 acres. Originally intended as a deer park for Charles II (a small herd still ranges across its fields), the park takes its name from Phoenix House, the original residence of the British viceroys, whose title derived from the Irish fionn uisce (“clear water”). Much of the park is open space, sparsely dotted with trees, shrubs and wild flowers, though there are also areas of woodland and hawthorn. Overall it’s an ideal place to escape the city’s bustle, a popular venue for sports, and offers plenty of spots for a picnic.

Sandwiched between the busy thoroughfare of Dame Street and the Liffey, Temple Bar is marketed, with a fair dose of artistic licence, as Dublin’s “Left Bank” (inconveniently, it’s on the right bank as you face downstream). Its transformation into the city’s main cultural and entertainment district came about after a 1960s plan for a new central bus terminal here was abandoned after much procrastination. Instead, the area’s narrow cobbled streets and old warehouses, by now occupied by short-lease studios, workshops and boutiques, began to be sensitively redeveloped as an artistic quarter in the 1980s. Nowadays, as well as more galleries and arts centres than you can shake a paintbrush at – even the helpful Temple Bar Information Centre on Essex Street East houses a small exhibition space for independent, “no-grants” artists – Temple Bar shelters a huge number of restaurants, pubs and clubs, engendering a notoriously raucous nightlife scene that attracts more outsiders than Dubliners.

An imposing and surprisingly extensive architectural set-piece right at the heart of the city, Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I to prevent the Irish from being “infected with popery and other ill qualities” at French, Spanish and Italian universities. Catholics were duly admitted until 1637, when restrictions were imposed that lasted until the Catholic Relief Act of 1793; the Catholic Church, however, banned its flock from studying here until 1970 because of the college’s Anglican orientation. Famous alumni range from politicians Edward Carson and Douglas Hyde, through philosopher George Berkeley and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Walton, to writers such as Swift, Wilde and Beckett. Today seventy percent of the students are Catholic, and Trinity, though it also calls itself Dublin University, is actually just one of three universities in the capital: its main rival, University College Dublin (UCD), part of the National University of Ireland, is based at Belfield in the southern suburbs; while Dublin City University is in Glasnevin.

The main gates give onto eighteenth-century Front Square, flanked, with appealing symmetry, by the Chapel and the Examination Hall, which is the elegant, stuccoed setting for occasional concerts. On the east side of adjoining Library Square is the college’s oldest surviving building, the Rubrics, a red-brick student dormitory dating from around 1701, though much altered in the nineteenth century. In New Square beyond, the School of Engineering occupies the old Museum Building (1852), designed in extravagant Venetian Gothic style by Benjamin Woodward under the influence of his friend, John Ruskin, and awash with decorative stone-carving of animals and floral patterns. Further on, in the northeastern corner of the college at the Pearse Street entrance, is the excellent, new Science Gallery. Both thoughtful and thought-provoking, it hosts high-tech and interactive temporary exhibitions on all aspects of science, as well as an Italian café and interesting one-off events.

Other useful entrances to the college are at Lincoln Place (handy for the National Gallery) and Nassau Street. By the latter, in Fellows’ Square, on the south side of Library Square, the modern Arts Block is home to the Douglas Hyde Gallery, one of Ireland’s most important galleries of modern art, hosting top-notch temporary shows by Irish and international artists.

Trinity’s most compelling tourist attraction is the Book of Kells, kept in the eighteenth-century Old Library on Fellows’ Square. On the library’s ground floor, beautiful pages are displayed not just from the Book of Kells (around 800 AD), but from other works such as the Book of Armagh (early ninth century) and the Book of Mulling (late eighth century). The books themselves are preceded by a fascinating exhibition, Turning Darkness into Light, which sets Irish illuminated manuscripts in context – ranging from ogham (the earlier, Celtic writing system of lines carved on standing stones) to Ethiopian books of devotions.

Pre-eminent for the scale, variety and colour of its decoration, the Book of Kells probably originated at the monastery on Iona off the west coast of Scotland, which had been founded around 561 by the great Irish scholar, bard and ruler St Colmcille (St Columba in English). After a Viking raid in 806 the Columbines moved to the monastery of Kells in County Meath, which in its turn was raided four times between 920 and 1019. Although they looted the book’s cumdach or metal shrine cover, the pagan Norsemen did not value the book itself, however, and despite spending some time buried underground and losing thirty folios, it survived at Kells up to the seventeenth century when it was taken to Dublin for safekeeping during the Cromwellian Wars. The 340 calfskin folios of the Book of Kells contain the four New Testament gospels along with preliminary texts, all in Latin. It’s thought that three artists created the book’s lavish decoration, which shows Pictish, Germanic and Mediterranean, as well as Celtic influences. Not only are there full-page illustrations of Christ and the Virgin and Child, but an elaborate decorative scheme of animals and spiral, roundel and interlace patterns is employed throughout the text, on the initials at the beginning of each Gospel and on full-length “carpet pages”.

Upstairs is the library’s magnificent Long Room, built by Thomas Burgh between 1712 and 1732 and enlarged, with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, in 1860. As a copyright library, Trinity has had the right to claim a free copy of all British and Irish publications since 1801; of its current stock of four million titles, 200,000 of the oldest are stored in the Long Room’s oak bookcases. Besides interesting temporary exhibitions of books and prints from the library’s collection, the Long Room also displays a gnarled fifteenth-century harp, the oldest to survive from Ireland, and a rare original printing of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, made on Easter Sunday in Dublin’s Liberty Hall.

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Are you planning on visiting Dublin? If so, we’re here to help you. Introducingdublin.com offers you up-to-date information on the city’s top attractions , where you should stay , the best places to eat , and a lot of other interesting tips and buzz. 

Dublin Travel Guide

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• Top Attractions
• Getting to Dublin
• Transportation
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Why visit Dublin?

Founded as a small settlement by the Vikings at the beginning of the 9 century , the capital of Ireland was the scene of abundant wars and conflicts until it defined its own identity during the twentieth century. Today, Dublin is a modern and culturally rich city that will captivate its visitors with its unique blend of Gaelic traditions and its constant growth.  

Dublin’s busy city center and its lush green surroundings  make it an ideal destination for all types of travelers; those who prefer nature and the more urbanites.  

Dublin is also famous for its many writers like James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett or Bram Stoker , all of which reflect their unique vision of the city in their work.

Although the city does not stand out for its grandiose monuments or renowned museums , Dublin offers beautiful plush gardens, parks , picturesque neighborhoods, and great traditional and lively pubs  to rest in and have a pint of Guinness .

Looking for accommodation?

If you still haven't booked your accommodation, we recommend you visit our search engine, where you’ll find all types of hotels, hostels,   and apartments   with the best rates guaranteed (with up to 75% discount). Besides, in most cases, you'll only have to pay once you get to your destination, and you can cancel the booking just one day in advance.

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top activities

Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, Burren, & Galway Day Trip Venture to the wild and breathtaking Cliffs of Moher , the rugged Burren , and the charming Galway City on this day trip from Dublin!

Glendalough, Wicklow & Kilkenny Day Trip Explore Ireland's luscious green landscapes on this tour of the Glendalough valley, Wicklow & Kilkenny . An unmissable day trip!

Free Walking Tour of Dublin Our Dublin tour is the best way to discover the capital, taking in the main monuments, neighbourhoods, and stories which make up the city.

Go City: Dublin All-Inclusive Pass The Go City: Dublin All-Inclusive Pass offers free entrance to over 30 attractions , including the Guinness Storehouse, Christ Church Cathedral, and more.

Dublin Boat Trip Discover the sights of Dublin on this sightseeing cruise on the River Liffey. Learn all about the city's history as you see its most iconic monuments.

Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce Castle & Belfast Tour On this Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce Castle & Belfast Tour , you'll see one of Ireland's iconic symbols, a medieval castle, and Northern Ireland's capital.

Dublin Temple Bar Pub Crawl Discover the best pubs in Dublin on our Temple Bar Pub Crawl . You'll have an unforgettable night out on the town in the capital of Ireland.

Howth Peninsula Hiking Tour High cliffs, a prehistoric monument and a medieval castle will guide our steps on this hiking route through the Howth Peninsula. You'll fall in love with it!

Dublin City Sightseeing Bus Tour On this  City Sightseeing Bus tour of Dublin , you'll see the Irish capital's  most iconic points of interest . Don't miss out!

Tour to Game of Thrones Studio Visit the Game of Thrones studio on this tour from Dublin . You'll learn all sorts of behind-the-scenes secrets and see iconic costumes and props!

Dublin North Side Walking Tour Discover the historic North Side of Dublin , exploring these streets filled with reland's history and visiting the area's most fascinating attractions.

Dublin Private Tour Explore the sights around the Irish capital with this Dublin Private Tour. You'll have an exclusive guide at your disposal to discover the city with your group.

Big Bus Hop-on Hop-Off Tour Dublin The Dublin tourist busses have two routes with multiple stops where you can get on and off as many times as you like . Enjoy two days of exploring Dublin!

Giant's Causeway, Titanic Experience & Belfast Tour Discover the secrets of the  Titanic , see the iconic  Giant's Causeway  and explore vibrant  Belfast  on this unmissable full-day trip from Dublin!

Dublin Secret Societies Tour Discover the untold history of hidden power dynamics and underground orders on our Dublin Secret Societies Tour . Explore their influence and practices!

Irish Whiskey Museum Ticket Visit the Irish Whiskey Museum and discover the history of one of the Emerald Isle's traditional beverages: enjoying tastings of the famous golden nectar!

Ghost Bus Tour Dublin Climb aboard Dublin's creepiest bus and immerse yourself in the macabre history of the haunted Irish capital on a guided ghost tour... if you dare !

Dublin Folk Show and Dinner Enjoy a totally different night in Dublin at a Irish music folk show with dinner where you'll get the chance to taste the typical gastronomy!

Want to explore the Irish capital  in a unique way? Join this tour and discover Dublin while you sip on some afternoon tea onboard a vintage bus .

Cliffs of Moher & Boat Trip Discover the rugged beauty of western Ireland on this day trip to the Cliffs of Moher from Dublin and enjoy a boat trip along the wild Atlantic coast.

Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel & Cahir Castle Day Trip Explore historic castles, kiss the Blarney Stone and see one of the Seven Wonders of Ireland on our Blarney Castle & Rock of Cashel Day Trip from Dublin.

Dublin Food Tour Eat and drink your way through Dublin ! On this guided food tour, you'll visit local pubs and restaurants and taste classic Irish dishes and drinks .

Entrance to the Museum of Literature Ireland With your ticket to the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) , you'll get to explore multimedia exhibitions and learn about the country's literary heritage!

Celtic Boyne Valley & Ancient Sites Tour Explore Ireland's rich history on this day trip from Dublin. We’ll visit the Hill of Tara , Trim Castle , Loughcrew's Cairns , and Fore Abbey .

Dublin Music Tour History and songs star in this music tour of Dublin , where we'll listen to live tunes as we delve into the past of Ireland's capital and its folklore!

Bull Island Tour Did you know that Dublin is home to a Biosphere Reserve? On this tour of Bull Island , we'll discover the landscapes of this natural area protected by UNESCO!

Tour of Dublin's Bridges On this tour of the bridges of Dublin , we'll follow the course of the River Liffey to discover the stories behind its bridges – a unique route!

Boat Trip around Howth and Ireland's Eye Embark on a boat journey to Howth and the island known as  Ireland's Eye  - enjoy the spectacular Irish coastline and see  puffins , seals, and more!

Bike Tour of Dublin Tour Dublin's historic city center  by pedaling along its cobbled streets on this fun bike tour . You'll discover the Irish capital in an eco-friendly way!

Dublin Guided Tour + Castle Ticket If you want to explore Dublin , this tour is perfect for you. We'll walk past the city's most iconic sights and you can even  visit Dublin Castle !

Guinness Storehouse + Dublin Sightseeing Bus Visit the world-famous Guinness Storehouse and enjoy a route through Dublin's top attractions on board Dublin's sightseeing bus . Get to know the Irish capital!

EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum Ticket Discover one of the most important parts of the history of Ireland at EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum ; a must-see to understand this country's past.

Old Town Dublin: Famous Pubs Quest The history of the Irish capital is vast. Learn all about it with this adventure quest of   Dublin's famous pubs , which is done through an app. You'll love it!

The most complete guide of Dublin

This guide has been written after exploring Dublin thoroughly, taking photos of the city’s most charming streets and landmarks, and paying attention to every detail that may be useful for any traveler that wishes to discover this memorable capital.

The information provided in this guide is up to date as of  December 2022 . If you find a mistake or would like to make a suggestion, please do not hesitate to contact us .

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Dublin Travel Guide: Best Places To Stay, Eat And See (For 2024)

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Situated on a wide bay between Howth and the Dalkey headland, Dublin is a city renowned for its cultural heritage and delightful friendliness. Its name derives from the Irish words dubhlinn, which means “dark, black,” and lind, which means “pool,” alluding to a dark tidal pool.

This tidal pool was located behind Dublin Castle within the castle grounds, around the point at which the River Poddle entered the Liffey.

Archaeological evidence suggests that Dublin originated as a Gaelic community during or before the seventh century AD, followed by a Viking settlement. The city expanded along with the little Kingdom of Dublin, and during the Norman conquest, it became the dominant settlement in Ireland.

Beginning in the 17th century, the city grew rapidly and briefly held the title of the second-largest city in the British Empire following the 1800 Acts of Union. Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, which was subsequently renamed Ireland when Ireland gained independence in 1922.

Dublin is now Ireland’s educational capital, as well as the country’s historic center for arts and culture, government, and industry.

This city boasts enough art, culture, and landmarks to cover several tourist itineraries. It can be challenging to organize a vacation that includes all of Dublin’s finest attractions , but it is possible.

This Dublin travel guide will arm you with the knowledge necessary to make the most of your vacation to the Irish city.

Things you'll find in this article

Dublin Travel Guide (For 2024)

Best time to visit dublin, how to get around dublin, where to stay, where to eat, where to drink/party, things to do in dublin.

Related Read:

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Despite the rain, Dublin remains a year-round holiday destination thanks to its pleasant and temperate environment.

During June through August, Dublin is at its busiest. Accommodations will be scarce because it is peak season.  St. Patrick’s Day in March is a fun time to be in Dublin, as it fills up with locals and tourists eager to celebrate.

It’s also a great time to visit Dublin for the Samhain (Halloween ) events. This time of year, the weather is pleasant, and Ireland remains as lovely as it has always been.

Overall, the off-seasons are the best times to visit ( March – May and September – October ). The city is less congested, and the prices are less expensive. The weather conditions are great for exploration.

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Walking is the most effective way to travel about Dublin’s center. Despite its small size, Dublin’s public transportation system is quite efficient. Between Dublin’s bus and train networks, you’ll have plenty of options.

Do you want to know more about navigating Dublin during your visit to the Irish capital? The following guide will help you get around Dublin and make the most of your visit.

● Airlink Express bus (if traveling from the airport to Dublin city center. Here are other transfer options .) ● Bus ● Light rail system ● DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) for travel to the suburbs. ● Taxi ● Ridesharing ● Bike ● Car rental

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The city of Dublin offers a wide variety of accommodations. Choosing a plane to stay on, on the other hand, depends solely on your vacation goals. Are you in need of some time to unwind and unwind?

You may want to be close to the city’s bars and other points of interest. Or is there a particular neighborhood you’d like to be close to?

To help you plan your trip, check out this Dublin travel guide for some fantastic choices for the best places to stay in Dublin .

Abbey Court Hostel

If you’re looking for a completely packaged hotel that will fit your budget, Abbey Court Hostel is a good choice. This budget hostel is perfect for every backpacker who wants to keep the bustling Dublin nightlife closer.

Located just right off O’Connell Bridge, Abbey Court Hostel features modern rooms with all-you-can-eat breakfast. Its bunk beds come with a free locker each. The hotel also offers a free guided walking tour for  first-time visitors in Dublin .

For the latest rate,  click here .

Kinlay House Dublin

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A lot of backpackers prefer Kinlay House Dublin because of its location. Situated in the famous Temple Bar district, you would want to enjoy these cheap offers too.

Kinlay House Dublin offers private rooms and shared rooms at an affordable price. Guests can also enjoy a continental complimentary breakfast here. It is also located close to Dublin’s top attractions like  Temple Bar ,  Dublin Castle , and Trinity College . Bus stops and stations are close-by too.

Ashfield Hostel

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Ashfield Hostel is perfect for travelers who are looking for cheap accommodation that is close to all the good stuff in Dublin. Check out its private and dormitory-type rooms.

This hostel has an excellent location— centrally located in Dublin. The rooms are also very affordable which is the reason why backpackers and budget travelers prefer it. The no curfew policy also makes it very appealing to younger guests.

For the latest rate,  click here.

Dublin as a tourist attraction consists of more than just historical sites. In recent years, the city has increasingly grown as a culinary destination.

Fresh seafood from Dublin Bay, trendy little eateries geared to fill the stomach, exquisite traditional Irish cuisines, and artisan cafés with hearty breakfasts and sinfully good desserts abound in this city. Here are some great dining options in Dublin .

The best cheeseburgers in Dublin, according to food reviews, are found in the humble Bunsen restaurant. With eight quality restaurants found in Ireland, one is sizzling juicy Irish-beef burgers in Wexford St., Dublin.

And with the simplest menu to offer amongst all the restaurants listed here, they do not and  will not  disappoint—their friendly staff is glad to help you choose and serve highly affordable quality burgers.

Grab a delectable Irish-beef cheeseburger for only €8.15! And their creamy milkshake, for only €4.75, is a must-try.

If you want to pair your burger with a hearty lager, you can only get it for €5.00. Their signature dish consists of burgers, but they also offer hand-cut, shoe-string, and sweet potato fries as perfect side dishes. 

 If you’re around Wexford St., or at any part of Dublin, Bunsen is an  absolute  must-try.

Umi Falafel

Falafels are golden-brown croquettes that are a bit crunchy on the outside but soft in the middle. A famous savory bread in the Middle East, the Umi Falafel’s signature dish is the Lebanese Falafel, for only €6.00.

A must-try is the Falafel Your Way, for only €6.50, you can create your own Falafel with a choice of 4 toppings and a sauce.

The Grilled and Breaded Haloumi Cheese Sandwiches also make a delightful treat for those who can’t live without the flavor of the cheese in their sandwiches, for €6.50 only.

A variety of salads, mezzes, soups, and extras are all available to order, all for less than €6.00!

If you want to taste the flavors of the Arabian lands while in Dublin, then Umi Falafel will be a great choice!

Dall’Italia Pasta Bar

If you’re used to pasta being served to you at your local restaurant from a strict menu, then Dall’Italia Pastabar will surely make you smile, for a change.

Here, you create your own pasta! The first step into making your pasta is choosing a one—from Tagliatelle to Macheroni Rigate.

The second step and the most crucial part is choosing your sauce—from their €7.50 Carbonara sauce to their €6.50 Tomato sauce, your pasta will be your own work of art. Other sauces include Aglio E Olio, Pesto, Quatro Formaggi, and Ragu.

The final step and the most fun part is choosing your toppings!

From their €0.70 Cherry Tomatoes toppings to their €1.50 Bacon toppings, combine all of these, and your Instagram-worthy pasta will await your camera and your taste buds.

Add some homemade tiramisu and Cannoli Siciliani for a sweet after-taste of your great Italian-dining experience in Dublin.

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There are over 700 pubs in Dublin, and a trip to the city wouldn’t be complete without a stop at one of them. Prices are reasonable, and you may even get to try some of Ireland’s most popular drinks while pub-hopping.

Here are the best drinking and party spots in Dublin, whether you want a pint of any of these beers after a day of walking, a pint of jager, or a glass of whisky with friends.

Also read: Drinking Age In Ireland: Drinking Laws And Tips

The Bath Pub

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Located near the Aviva Stadium, The Bath Pub is the perfect pub for big games and concerts since  February  2012. Sports enthusiasts and locals love to spend some time here to enjoy the pub’s selection of Match Day drinks- from beers, gins, and even rum!

Not only that, but the Bath Pub is also serving steak and eggs, Irish smoked salmon, Irish pork sausage, and a lot more mouthwatering meals for brunch. Pizza and beer is also a popular duo here.

This cozy pub has enough space for indoor and outdoor seats. It also accepts reservations and booking for guests who want to celebrate birthdays, after wedding parties, and corporate events in The Bath Pub.

O’Donoghue’s

O’Donoghue Pub also makes it to the list of best pubs in Dublin. This popular bar has been serving live Irish music and comfortable rooms since 1789. The rich heritage of the pub has earned the attention of tourists who intend to experience an authentic Irish nightlife.

If you happen to be in Dublin’s south side, O’Donoghue can be easily spotted near the popular  St. Stephen’s Green . Guests usually spend an hour or two here for a single pint.

Grogan’s

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Don’t forget to pair it with toasted ham and cheese sandwich too if you want something to munch on. Since it is the only meal served by the pub, expect it to be the best toasties you’ll find in Dublin as it has already been practiced to perfection.

Aside from these, Grogan’s also exhibits original art pieces. These pieces add up to the cozy and artsy aura of the pub. And if you fancy one of these masterpieces, they are also available for sale.

Walking around Dublin is a breeze because the city is small and flat. Planning ahead of time will allow you to cross off many of the “must-see” items on your itinerary much more swiftly.

Here are some of the best things to do and see in Dublin if you’re short on time or want to start planning your trip right now. This guide covers activities that kids will enjoy, free attractions , castles , gardens and parks , museums , and unusual tours.

Take a glimpse of the past in Trinity College

Long Room, Trinity College

If you enjoy walking down memory lane, give it a shot at Trinity College where you can find a collection of Ireland’s treasured past in its Long Room Library. This 200-foot-long room holds 200,000 books as old as you can possibly imagine.

The most popular treasure in this library is the  Book of Kells  which has a great role in the Irish identity. Trinity College is also one of the  best free things to do in Dublin, Ireland.

Revisit an old prison cell in Kilmainham

So you think that visiting a mummy is not creepy enough? Then go ahead and add the Kilmainham Gaol in your things to do in Dublin. The Kilmainham Gaol used to be a place for executions and public hanging.

Martyrs and Irish leaders were also imprisoned within the walls of this infamous prison which makes it a perfect exhibit on the history of Irish Nationalism. It is also one of the best museums in Dublin.

Visit the Glasnevin Cemetery

A visit to the  Glasnevin Cemetery will surely not disappoint if you want to learn more facts circulating Dublin. Feel free to walk around this cemetery, chit chat with their experienced set of tour guides, touch the coffin of Daniel O’Connell, and dig deep into Dublin’s history.

Shake hands with the St. Michan’s Mummies in Dublin

If you’re brave enough to spice up your  Dublin tour , why don’t you try shaking hands with an 800-year-old mummy? Kept in a vault underneath St. Michan church, dozens of coffins are left as-is for the public eye to see.

As time pass by, these coffins slowly disintegrate revealing a mummy inside. Well, not every coffin contains a preserved mummy though and nobody, not even the church, can tell which coffin has mummies in them.

If you are in the city, this is surely one of the most interesting things to add to your  Dublin itinerary.

Hi, I’m Christine – a full-time traveler and career woman. Although I’m from the Philippines, my location independent career took me to over 40 countries for the past 8 years. I also lived in 3 continents – from the Caribbean, South East Asia to Africa. But despite living in several countries, my love for Ireland remains the same. A country that had been a part of my life since I was 14 because of my love for Irish music and bands. Ireland Travel Guides was born because of this passion and hopefully, in some little ways, this website will be able to help you on your next trip to Ireland.

Visiting Dublin: a travel guide for first time visitors

Travel guide for visiting Dublin, Ireland. expert travel tips to make the most of your time in Dublin Fair City

Dublin, the beautiful capital of Ireland, is a lovely destination: whether you come to Dublin for a city break, a work meeting or use the city as a jump-off point for visiting Ireland , Dublin has something to offer.

Looking for history? Dublin has museums and a castle for you! In need for a fun night out? Dublin has lovely pubs, music venues and great restaurants 9did you know? Yes, really, it does!). Looking for family activities: Dublin has those too!

I have been calling Dublin home for the last 15 years and, over this time, I have faced all the questions of the visitors and found all the answers as a local!

This is my travel guide to Dublin for first-time visitors.

This post contains affiliate links. Should you make a purchase through them, we might make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Table of Contents

How many days in Dublin?

Dublin is a dynamic European capital with many museums and things to do, however, most of its must-see attractions can be seen and enjoyed in about 3 days

This is not to say that 3 days will be enough to see everything or that you will get bored if you stay any longer.

Rather, it is the amount of time that I believe is ideal for a visitor to get a sense of the city, see some of its main sights and feel they have actually seen the place.

With three days in Dublin, you can have a nice stroll in the city center, enjoy Dublin’s pubs and restaurants, relax in a park, see some museums and even the Guinness storehouse, one of Dublin’s biggest attractions.

Where to stay in Dublin?

Dublin is a surprisingly large city with a compact city center and large residential areas sprawling towards the surrounding counties.

The best area to stay in Dublin for sightseeing is the city center and in particular, the areas around Trinity College, Merrion Square and Christchurch.

These areas are all on the Southside of the river and put you in close proximity to most of Dublin’s main sites and attractions. These are also areas that will allow you to discover most if not all of the city on foot.

The Trinity and Merrion Square areas are a little more expensive while around Christchurch you have more mixed prices.

Another good address I always recommend is the Hilton Garen Inn on the river. Unlike the other areas above, this is a stretch of Dublin on the Northside of the river and while it is not the most atmospheric, it will well connected to the city center and pleasant (it is also where the Epic Ireland exhibition is). This is a good mid-budget option.

Hotels I recommend in Dublin city center are:

• Merrion Hotel (5 stars) – stunning and right in the city center
• Hilton Garden Inn Custom House (3 stars) – on the river, close to the center
• Radisson Blue Royal hotel city center (4 stars) – very well located for sightseeing
• Clayton hotel Chaerlemont (4 star hotel) – new hotel in an excellent central location

How to budget for a trip to Dublin

Dublin is an expensive city, surprisingly so. How much or how little you spend is always down to own decisions however, to give you an idea, consider that:

• A good room in a mid-range hotel costs easily between 100 and 200 Euro, closer to the 200 Euro mark
• A cup of coffee is about 3.60 Euro
• A beer is about 5.50 euro depending on size/brand
• A nice dinner for two in a mid-range establishment is around 60 euro
• Single hop bus ticket is 1.15 to 3.80 euro (depending on your exact journey and if you are paying cash/with leap card) – you can find more info on how to get around Dublin here

The best things to see in Dublin: Dublin must-see attractions

Dublin has many beautiful interesting attractions, most of them in the city center.

Trinity College and the Book of Kells

Trinity College and the Book of Kells, the unique medieval manuscript in its old library, is one of the most if not the most famous attractions in the whole of Dublin.

The College is right in the city center and therefore really easy to reach from almost anywhere in the city: I usually recommend it as the first stop for any Dublin trip both for location, interest and visual impact.

Worth seeing here are both the college grounds, the Library and the Book itself. Crowds can be intense so I do recommend you book tickets in advance.

A good offer is this one , which combines fast track entry to see the book and entry to Dublin castles, down the road from Trinity College and the next attraction on this list.

How to get there: any bus serving College Green, Luas Green Line Colleg Green, walking distance from O’Connell Bridge and Grafton Street.

Dublin Castle

Dublin castle is right in the center of Dublin and while not the most impressive castle you will see in Ireland, it is so significant in Irish history it rightly appears as a must-see place in Dublin.

The inside is also very beautiful and it is still now used for official State functions.

Dublin Castle is a short walk from Trinity College and you can visit both the college and the castle on the same day with this combined ticket here.

If you prefer to visit it separately, you can buy tickets on the official site or get hold of the Dublin Pass, which gives discounted and easy access to many city attractions.

How to get there: bus, walking distance from Trinity College and Christchurch cathedral

The Guinness Storehouse

Another heavyweight among Dublin attractions is the Guinness Storehouse, a place to famous and quintessentially Dublin to make a visit to the city without a stop here almost unthinkable.

The Storehouse is very touristy but also a lot of fun. The space itself is fun (it also has lovely spaces for drinks and events), the tour is fun and the view from the Gravity Bar at the end, where you can taste Guinness with a 360-degree view over the city is special.

Good to know: you don’t need to be a drinker to enjoy the tour. While you can taste a pint at the end, if you do not drink alcohol for any reason (whether you are an adult or a child) you will be offered a soda / juice instead. the tours is fun and informative anyway.

The Guinness Storehouse is very popular: I recommend you book skip the line tickets in advance here .

Jameson Distillery Visit

If you are more into whiskey than beer, then you may like to visit the Jameson Distillery in the area of Smithfield. This is a very fun visit that even I, a non-whiskey drinker really enjoyed.

The distillery itself is lovely and the tour fun (you also learn what makes Irish whiskey different from Scotch): definitely one I recommend! You can find cost and tickets here

St Patrick’s Cathedral

St Patrick’s Cathedral is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland and a wonderful place to see when in Dublin. Dating back to the 13th Century, the cathedral is said to be on a well allegedly used by St Patrick’s himself and is beautiful to visit inside and out.

Admissions to the cathedral is ticketed and you can pay the small entry fee on arrival. Tours of the church are available: you can find official info and how to pre-book here

Good to know: beside St Patrick’s Cathedral lies the Marshs’ Library, which is an old library said to be inhabited by a ghost! Make sure you add a stop here when visiting St Patrick’s, it is just around the corner from the main entrance.

Temple Bar is maybe the most famous street in Dublin, a pedestrianized road full of pubs, bars and restaurants. Temple Bar is nice during the day and can be fun at night but you need to know what you are in for, should you decided to go.

During the day and early evenings, you have a buzzy, dynamic atmosphere with lots of places to eat and drink and you have a huge variety of styles and people. later ar night, it becomes party central and you mostly have hen and stag parties.

Good to know both if you want to join them or avoid them!

Ha’Penny Bridge

Close to Temple Bar lies cute Ha’Penny Bridge, one of the most iconic bridges in Dublin. While not as impressive as the newer Calatrava ones farther down the river, the Ha’Penny Bridge is so quintessentially Dublin you simply have to see it and take a photo of its peculiar iron frame!

St Stephen’s Green Park

If you are in Dublin on a sunny day (and yes, you have many!), you may want to have a break in lovely St Stephen’s Green, the large city center park at the top of Grafton Street.

laid out with nice paths, a duck pond and kids playgrounds, this is a lovely place for a romantic stroll or just getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city and hang out with the locals.

EPIC Ireland

A newer and wonderful attraction in Dublin is the EPIC exhibition , the permanent exhibition about Irish Immigration. Hosted in a beautiful dedicated space along the Liffey, this is a place to learn about Irish emigration and find your Irish roots visiting the Irish Family History Centre located right at the exit of the museum

Fun things to do in Dublin

As well as Dublin attractions, there are many fun things to do in Dublin for all types of visitors.

Go to the pub

Dublin has a huge number of pubs and they are so varied in size, style and clientele you are sure to find one to your liking!

Some pubs offer a more traditional experience (no food, slightly older clientele, lots of chatter), some offer cooked dinners and even cater to families, some are more local, some have beer gardens and so on: whatever pub experience you are after, Dublin has one for you! Head to the streets behind Grafton street for the widest selection and just pick any you like

Go on a literary pub crawl

Dublin has a fantastic literary tradition and a wonderful way to learn about it while having a good time is to join a literary pub crawl. This will bring you to some cool establishments and will make you familiarize with Irish writers and writing thanks to the aid of skilled readers and actors. This is a great activity and something pretty special you can do in the city.

Take a hop on hop off bus tour

A hop on hop off bus tour is a touristy activity but a fun one in Dublin. While most attractions in the city center are walking distance from each other, other cool Dublin attractions such as the Guinness storehouse, the zoo and the botanical gardens are not. A hot on hof off tour is a great way to add something a little more off the beaten track to your visit.

You can see exact stops and book your ticket here

See Irish dancing

Another really fun thing to do in Dublin is to go and see Irish dancing, a show that is incredibly energetic, fun and addictive! You can see Irish dancing at the Arlington Hotel , the (wonderful) Johnny Fox’s pub on the Dublin mountains and on selected nights at O’Sullivan’s on 2 Westmoreland St, Temple Bar.

Useful Dublin Travel resources: how to get around Dublin

Dublin has a decent public transport network made of:

• Tram (the Luas)
• Light urban railway (the DART)

Bus tickets can be bough on the bus itself and must be paid with coins (no cards accepted): the fair depends on the number of stops you need to reach your destination and has a maximum fare of 3 euro.

If you are staying in the center, you are likely to only need the bus occasionally however, if you are planning on staying in Dublin longer or your hotel is not in the city center, it can be convenient to buy a prepaid visitors card that allows you good saving on individual tickets.

You can find all you need to know about getting around Dublin and how to use Dublin’s public transport here .

Visiting Dublin with kids

Dublin is wonderful to visit with kids. Most main sightseeing attractions are easy to visit with children in tow and, if you need some entertainment that is just for them, Dublin delivers with both indoor and outdoor family activities!

To give you an idea, Dublin offers:

• Imaginoslity Children Museum
• Indoor play centers (Jumpzone for trampolining, Climbing walls, Pottery painting studios etc)
• Many parks and playgrounds
• Dublinia (the interactive museum of Dublin’s Viking history)
• Dublin splash tour

You can find my full guide to visiting Dublin with kids here and the best indoor activities for kids in Dublin on our sister site learning escapes here.

What to pack for Dublin

Dublin is a relaxed city and you can be as dressy or as casual as you fancy and be pretty sure you will fit in! The variety of styles in the city is one of my favorite things about it.

However, you always have to deal with the weather and since what you get changes every few minutes, some attires are better than others! I recommend you pack for Dublin your Ireland travel essentials plus:

• Good walking shoes
• Short-sleeve tops for the summer / long sleeve tops for the winter
• LIght sweater for summer /warm woolen sweater for winter
• Light jacket for summer evenings / warm waterproof coat for winter
• Scarf, gloves and hat for winter
• A nicer dress/shirt and shoes for going out
• Sunglasses for the summer
• Power bank for phone and all your tech
• Travel adapter for Ireland (we use a 3 pin sock, like the UK)

You can find Here >>> my full packing list for Ireland, month by month .

What to eat in Dublin

In the last few years, Dublin has grown to become a real foodie destination with excellent restaurants catering to most types of palate. The most traditional food you find here is spring lamb and salmon, but ethnic restaurants now abound too.

While not as popular as you may expect in a city on the sea, seafood can be great in Dublin too. I personally love it in Howth, the coastal area of North Dublin with the fishing port.

I hope you enjoyed this essential guide to visiting Dublin: safe travels!

Mama Loves Ireland

Céad míle fáilte! A thousand times welcome! I am a travel-loving Italian Mama lucky enough to call Ireland her home. Let my articles help you plan your trip to Ireland and get ready to fall in love with the Emerald Isle, just like I did. With love. M x

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Dublin Travel Guide

Ireland is poised to remain Europe’s fastest growing economy for a fifth consecutive year—and there’s no better place to embrace the Celtic Tiger 2.0 than in Dublin. The Vikings were the first to establish a settlement here in the 9th century along the River Liffey, naming it Dubh Linn (Black Pool). One thousand years later it became home to famed authors James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, and Samuel Beckett, known worldwide for their cultural contributions. Today, the city is a major hub for tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Airbnb. Blessed with gorgeous Georgian architecture, world-class museums, libraries, and public parks, and an astonishing five Michelin-starred restaurants, the city is fueled by the ever-endearing Gaelic trait of craic (crack)—a hodgepodge of innate humor and all-around appreciation of fun.

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Dublin   Travel Guide

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22 Best Things to Do in Dublin, Ireland

Locals might say Dublin is full of "craic" (good times), with a healthy mixture of history and little debauchery that can be found on nearly every street corner. Start in the north at Phoenix Park and head south to the River Liffey, cross the famous

• All Things To Do

Trinity College and The Book of Kells Trinity College and The Book of Kells

Note: The Old Library is undergoing a massive restoration and conservation effort. While the Old Library will remain open for visits until construction begins in 2025, all books have been removed from the shelves. The Book of Kells is still on display and there will be a new exhibit about this important manuscript.

U.S. News Insider Tip: This must-see attraction is worth the (typically) long wait. The gift shop is a particularly good spot to pick up inspiring gifts and souvenirs to commemorate your trip. – Rachael Hood

St. Patrick's Cathedral St. Patrick's Cathedral

U.S. News Insider Tip: After seeing the sights, take a short walk to the cozy Brazen Head pub, said to be the oldest pub in Dublin. Come for the fish and chips but stay for the live music. – Elizabeth Von Tersch

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Dublin and the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. Built on the site where St. Patrick is said to have baptized converts some 600 years earlier, this massive cathedral was erected between 1220 and 1259 with major restorations beginning in the 1860s. It remains one of the few buildings still standing from medieval Dublin.

Chester Beatty Library Chester Beatty Library free

Widely known as one of the mote notable museums in Europe, the Chester Beatty Library is often overlooked by tourists. The library is home to an extensive collection of rare books, manuscripts and drawings dating back to 2700 B.C. The museum includes religious and artistic collections from across Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

The library's namesake comes from the American mining millionaire and collector, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, who donated his immense collection to Ireland when he passed in 1968. Works include Babylonian clay tablets, the Biblical Papyri and more than 250 different manuscripts of the Quran.

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St. Stephen's Green St. Stephen's Green free

This beautiful park (known for remaining green throughout the year) is a great place to spend a day outside without leaving central Dublin. It's been enjoyed by locals and visitors since 1880 when Arthur Edward Guinness re-opened it as a public park after it served as a private community for the wealthier residents of Dublin for more than century.

These days, the park is maintained by the Office of Public Works and includes a playground and garden for people with blindness or low vision. The green space is also home to several monuments dedicated to some of Ireland's most important figures, including James Joyce and Arthur Edward Guinness. Past visitors appreciated the peaceful grounds and described it as a great place to relax in the middle of the city. Reviewers also praised the park's cleanliness and recommended future visitors pack a picnic to enjoy the tranquil atmosphere.

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

This interactive museum details 1,500 years of Irish history, with stories of the 100 million people who left Ireland, how and where they lived, and their impact on the rest of the world. State-of-the-art interactive exhibits feature touch screens, quizzes and audio and video recordings, which bring Irish history to life. Everything from Irish music and dance to Irish literature to touching letters home, reveal the Irish emigrant experience from multiple points of view.

Recent visitors called the museum highly educational and informative and said it's a must-see for anyone of Irish descent.

Phoenix Park Phoenix Park free

When the hustle and bustle of the city gets to be too much, seek refuge in Phoenix Park, one of the largest enclosed parks in a European capital. Encompassing more than 1,700 acres, Phoenix Park features plenty of lush green lawns, shady wooded areas and cool, clean lakes. Once upon a time, it was the royal hunting park (in the 1600s) and opened to the public in 1747. To this day, visitors can encounter fallow deer.

Travelers can start out at the park's Visitor Centre & Ashtown Castle to learn about the history of the park and tour the medieval tower that dates back to the 17th century. The park is also home the 78-acre Edwardian estate, the Farmleigh House , which still acts as a working farm as well as a Victorian walled kitchen garden. Recent visitors called the park beautiful, clean and peaceful.

Kilmainham Gaol Kilmainham Gaol

U.S. News Insider Tip: While a prison may not be the most uplifting place to visit, a tour here really provides insight into the lives of the Irish people and the hardships they endured. – Rachael Hood

According to many, this gaol , or jail, gives its visitors one of the most unique looks into the darker side of Irish history. Occupied from 1796 to the 1920s, the prison housed many famous figures in the fight for Irish independence, including Thomas Francis Meagher and James Connolly, and was also the site for more sinister executions and hangings. Additionally, the prison acted as a transportation point for approximately 4,000 prisoners to Australia – then a penal colony – in the early 19th century. The gaol was known for the harsh treatment of its inhabitants, with no segregation by gender until 1861 when men were transferred to the newly built East Wing. It was later abandoned in 1924 and reopened as a museum in 1966 (though remodeling and updates have taken place since).

National Gallery of Ireland National Gallery of Ireland free

If you're an art lover, make sure to save some time for this extensive (and free!) museum, which has housed Ireland's national art collection since 1854. Here you'll find numerous works by such renowned artists as Caravaggio, Vincent van Gogh and the French impressionists. But the main attractions are works from some of Ireland's masters, with an impressive collection of works by notable residents such as Jack B. Yeats and Helen Mabel Trevor. The National Gallery also hosts notable traveling exhibitions as well as concerts and lectures.

Recent visitors called the museum outstanding and well worth a visit. If you're a fan of the arts, previous travelers recommended you set aside several hours to tour the museum. You'll also want to grab a map at the entrance as its collections are spread out.

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Dublin Castle Dublin Castle

Right in the heart of the city, the site of the Dublin Castle has played a part in Ireland's history since the land was used by Vikings to build a fortress in the 900s. Parts of the castle were built and torn down through the ages, but the oldest remaining structure, the Record Tower, dates back to the 13th century.

In addition to having been a stronghold against foreign attacks on the city, the castle and its grounds have also been home to a prison, an office of record, a water station, a seat of parliament, a royal court for entertainment and a military residence – all before 1850. The castle grounds were also the site where the Easter Rebellion of 1916 began, and after five years of fighting, where the treaty that granted Irish independence was signed. Many previous visitors recommended taking the guided tour, which they say is more extensive and informative that the self-guided tour.

Christ Church Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral

Formally known as the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the Christ Church Cathedral has been visited for almost 1,000 years. Originally a Viking church founded in 1030, Archbishop Laurence O'Toole (the future patron saint of Dublin) merged it with the Irish Church in 1152. The Romanesque gothic church is known for its magnificent architecture and its famous bells (one of which is from 1738). This church also holds the largest and oldest crypt in Ireland and is full of historical objects of worship. Among the items stored in this church is a royal plate given by King William III, a rare 14th-century copy of the Magna Carta Hiberniae, and the heart of St. Laurence O'Toole. There's even a morbid oddity of a mummified cat and rat, better known as Tom and Jerry, frozen in eternal pursuit on display for all to gawk at.

Past visitors declare that it's a must-see attraction when visiting Dublin and it's quite affordable as well. Self-guided audio tours – included in your ticket fee – are available and recommended to get an experience filled with hidden facts and stories. Others say it's still a great place to wander about without the audio.

Jameson Distillery Bow St. Jameson Distillery Bow St.

Did you know that in Irish, whiskey is called  uisce beatha  and literally translates to "the water of life"? Chronicling the history of the Jameson family and the "water" they're known for, the Jameson Distillery no longer makes the hard stuff (that's done elsewhere) though it does offer tours that provide insight on just how to do it. Whiskey drinkers hail the 45-minute guided tour (and the included tastings) as informative and fun, with energetic guides and a beautiful refurbished facility.

Whether you're a fan of whiskey or not, learning about the history is sure to entertain anyone. Even non-drinkers say they enjoyed the informative tour. Learning that the founder of the most famous Irish whiskey, John Jameson, was actually a Scotsman is a favorite tidbit. Or that the Latin on the bottle's label,  Sine Metu , means "without fear."

Guinness Storehouse Guinness Storehouse

Like the Jameson Distillery , the Guinness Storehouse is no longer a functioning brewery, but it will give you an insider's view into the history and process behind the storied stout. Take the self-guided tour through the former brewery's seven floors to learn about the history of the one-of-a-kind beer, from the ingredients used in the brewing process to the iconic advertisements seen around the world. At the top, you'll be treated to a complimentary pint and city views from its rooftop Gravity Bar.

The best part of the tour for some visitors? The complimentary pint at the end along with the rooftop views. Even non-beer drinkers enjoyed the storehouse for its interactive and multimedia exhibits, but noted that during peak times they can be crowded. Other comment that tickets are a bit pricey. To make sure you get in at your preferred time, book your tickets online in advance. If you sign up for one of the best Dublin tours , you'll likely also visit the storehouse.

The Little Museum of Dublin The Little Museum of Dublin

To discover Dublin, head on over to The Little Museum of Dublin to learn about the city's illustrious history in approximately 30 minutes. Located in a quaint 18th-century Georgian townhouse near St. Stephen's Green , this charming museum was founded in 2011, with more than 5,000 artifacts donated by Dubliners. You'll find items from Queen Victoria's visit, a copy of James Joyce's "Ulysses" and tokens from the Abbey Theatre's long history. There's even an exhibit on the top floor dedicated to the rise of U2 featuring signed albums, photographs, and gig tickets.

Being that the museum is so small, it's best to book a tour in advance as tickets sell out quickly. You can walk around on your own, but a guided tour is highly recommended and should not be missed, according to travelers. Museumgoers routinely praise the lively guides who left everyone – even small children – mesmerized.

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Grafton Street Grafton Street free

U.S. News Insider Tip: If you're looking for something special to bring home from your trip, head to Weir & Sons for fine Irish jewelry, Brown Thomas is a lovely department store to peruse and Avoca on nearby Suffolk Street has Irish-made Avoca Mill Handweavers wool goods. For a treat, tuck into Bewley's Cafe for coffee or tea and a scone. – Rachael Hood

When you need a break from all the museums and historical sites, head to Grafton Street. This pedestrian street – which runs from  Trinity College to  St. Stephen's Green  – is Dublin's premier shopping district. Here, you'll find everything from familiar brands to more unique items like quirky shoes and used books. There are also two shopping centers in the area, the Stephen's Green Shopping Centre and the upscale Powerscourt Centre. So, if you're looking for a place to exercise your credit card, this would be it.

Temple Bar Temple Bar free

Often compared to Bourbon Street in New Orleans , this neighborhood is Dublin's famous party hub. During the day, this district thrives on artistic vision, featuring numerous independent galleries and performance art venues. At night, dozens of pubs (including one with the same name as the district) open their doors to those looking to share a pint of Guinness and click their heels to spirited Irish music.

Many visitors say the district has become more of a tourist trap than an authentic representation of Dublin's pub culture, but while in Dublin it is a sight one must see. Pull up a chair, order a (likely overpriced) pint and enjoy the music. For help navigating the crowds, sign up for one of the best Dublin tours , many of which stop in the area.

Abbey Theatre Abbey Theatre

U.S. News Insider Tip: Be sure to check out the nearby National Leprechaun Museum . It may sound a little cheesy, but this museum is dedicated to preserving Irish folklore and myths about the fair folks plus other Irish heritage tales through the art of oral storytelling. – Yolanda Evans

Although the Abbey Theatre looks quite contemporary, even swanky with its glass front and the theater name bathed in blue light, the performance venue has turn-of-the-century origins. Famed poet, W.B. Yeats, along with another Irish writer, Lady Augusta Gregory, opened the national theater in 1904. It's since been rebuilt and now features 620 seats between  the Abbey and Peacock auditoriums and a continuous playbill of Ireland's most promising playwrights.

Wicklow Mountains National Park Wicklow Mountains National Park free

U.S. News Insider Tip: Spend time in Glendalough  exploring the ancient ruins of the Christian settlement nestled in between two beautiful lakes. Then pick up a bottle of Glendalough whiskey or gin with the image of Saint Kevin plastered on the bottle to remind you of your visit. – Yolanda Evans

Just south of Dublin, Wicklow National Park is one of Ireland's largest parks consisting of more than 20,000 hectares (more than 50,000 acres) of winding mountain paths, bogs, lakes and breathtaking views for all that venture to the park. There are plenty of hiking trails – like the Wicklow Way – for outdoorsy travelers who want to spend more time in nature. For less adventurous visitors, you can seek out historical sites such as the old mine ruins or take a drive around the Great Military Road for a stunning view of the mountains. Also, be sure to check out Glenmacnass waterfall for photo for your Instagram!

Dublin Zoo Dublin Zoo

The biggest attraction within Phoenix Park is the Dublin Zoo. Opened by the Zoological Society of Ireland in 1831 with just four acres, this zoo is one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. The zoo's first collection included monkeys, lions, bears and parrots; an elephant and rhinoceros later joined the collection as rentals (though London gifted the zoo an elephant in 1835). Today, Dubin Zoo spans nearly 70 acres and is home to more than 400 animals in a variety of large habitats. Popular exhibits include the Humboldt penguins and western lowland gorillas. Recent visitors praised the zoo for its size, cleanliness and obvious commitment to the care of its animals. Others note that the zoo can get extremely busy, especially in the peak summer season. After you leave, you can keep a keen eye on the animals via webcam.

The zoo is open every day starting at 9:30 a.m. and closing at 6 p.m. Admission costs 22.50 euros (about $24) for adults and 17 euros (about $18) for children ages 3 to 15. Family tickets and tickets or visitors who need additional assistance are also available. If you book online, you'll save a few euros. Learn more on its website .

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Farmleigh House & Estate Farmleigh House & Estate

U.S. News Insider Tip: After wandering the estate grounds soaking up the history, treat yourself to a little snack and drink at the on-site restaurant, The Boathouse, for Italian and Irish cuisine. Located along the beautiful lake, it's the ideal setting for rest and relaxation. – Yolanda Evans

Once the home of the famous Guinness family, Farmleigh was purchased in 1999 by the government to house visiting dignitaries. This lavish Edwardian estate is nestled on 78 acres that includes the main house, a walled and sunken garden, a beautiful lake and the famous clock tower. Then there's the large collection of art as well as a rare collection of rare books and manuscripts in the library that remained in the house to be on display for visitors. Also on-site is the charming Cowshed theater where artists and performers can showcase their craft. As a bonus, there's a food and craft market behind the Gallery on the first Sunday of the month from Easter Sunday to December.

Glasnevin Cemetery Glasnevin Cemetery free

U.S. News Insider Tip:  After visiting the cemetery, stop by  John Kavanagh – better known as "The Gravediggers" – for a pint. This bar's nickname was coined because gravediggers used to visit this pub after completing their shift. – Yolanda Evans

Opened in 1832, Glasnevin Cemetery was once one of the few places where Irish Catholics could be buried. It was founded by Daniel O'Connell, who largely helped remove restrictions on Irish Catholics in the early 1800s. Not only is Glasnevin the final resting place for O'Connell, but it's also the burial location for other famous Irish icons like politician Charles Stewart Parnell; the co-founder of the Irish Republican Army Michael Collins; and politician and first female cabinet minister in Ireland, Countess Markievicz. In fact, more than 1.5 million souls are buried in this cemetery. The tombs are also a great work of art, as many are adorned with Irish symbols such as the harp and clovers. There are also indoor exhibits exploring the cemetery's history and burial practices from around the world. With so much to offer, it's little wonder that Glasnevin is Ireland's national cemetery.

St. Michan's Church St. Michan's Church

Located about a block from the Old Jameson Distillery , St. Michan's Church was founded in 1095 and is the oldest church on the north side of the River Liffey in Dublin. Rebuilt in 1686 by William Robinson, this church has a stunning vaulted ceiling and a large pipe organ. In fact, the organ is rumoured to be the one that George Friedrich Handel played when performing "Messiah" for the first time. Besides the history and architecture, the main draw to this church is its famous, yet eerie, crypts that contain the mummified remains of Dublin's most notorious residents dating back to the 17th century. Among the dead in the vaults are Irish rebels John and Henry Sheares, Earls of Leitrim, and Wolfe Tone. There are also four mummified corpses on display without lids, famously called the Unknown, the Thief, the Nun and the Crusader.

Travelers say visits to St. Michan's Church were still interesting due to their engaging tour guide who entertained them with the historical facts and spooky tales. 

National Museum of Ireland – Natural History National Museum of Ireland – Natural History free

Note: The National Museum of Ireland – Natural History is undergoing extensive renovation. At this time, only the ground floor is open to visitors.

Nicknamed the "Dead Zoo" due to it being a zoological museum, the National Museum of Ireland on Merrion Street was opened in 1867. It features exhibits of animals native to Ireland like badgers, golden eagles, mussels, trout and insects (Ireland is home to some 12,000 of them!). Also available is the Wonder Cabinet, a take on the Victorian curiosity cabinets that showcases about two million scientific specimens of mammals, birds, and insects. This unique space also doubles as a filming location – it was featured in an episode of "Ripper Street" and "Penny Dreadful" – due to its charming architecture.

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Where to go

One amazing island. Six unique regions

Soaring cliffs, buzzing little towns and a way of life forever inspired by the sea, that's what you'll find on the world’s longest defined coastal touring route.

Amazing cliff-walks, Game of Thrones® adventures, Titanic attractions – let Northern Ireland stir your soul.

A UNESCO City of Literature, a historic powerhouse and a super-cool capital that’s been named Europe’s friendliest city twice by TripAdvisor.

Did you know that there are over 5,000 years of history hidden amidst these lush landscapes, winding rivers and glorious gardens?

Cutting-edge food, traditional pubs and incredible Titanic history take Belfast to the next level – welcome to one of Ireland's most exciting cities.

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2 days 99 miles

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2 days 114 miles

Experience Ireland at its wildest.

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Dublin Travel Guide

• Introduction
• Attractions
• Where to Stay
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Dublin City Gateway to Ireland

Dublin is Ireland's largest city and is seen as the gateway to The Emerald Isle. If you're travelling to Ireland by air, there's a good chance you will land and begin your tour in the capital. However, Dublin is far from a stopover on your Irish vacation: this vibrant city has plenty of attractions to suit all visitors and easily merits a few days in itself. Of course, this isn't always possible and, for those who have a tight travel itinerary, we have written a pieces detailing exactly how to do Dublin in one day , and how to do Dublin on foot .

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Dublin's Top Attractions

Dublin is Ireland's capital city and its most historically significant, having been the second city of the British Empire until Ireland's independence in 1922. Dublin today is teeming with enough art, culture, and monuments to fill multiple itineraries. Planning to see all the top attractions in Dublin can be a daunting task, but there's good news...

In comparison with other major cities in Europe, Dublin is compact, flat and easily walkable. With the right amount of pre-planning, you can start getting the 'must-see' attractions off your list pretty quickly. Every visitor to Dublin will have their own unique bucket list, but, in case you're caught for time or want to start plotting your adventure straight away, we've drawn up a list of the classic, 'I can't go home without seeing' attractions of Dublin.

1 Temple Bar

Temple Bar is perhaps the most visited district of Dublin, with many tourists scarcely venturing beyond Dame Street and the Liffey which mark the upper and lower reaches of this cultural quarter. Tourists who enjoy Trinity College and Christ Church Cathedral won't have far to go to enjoy the nearby Meeting House Square with its galleries, archives and weekly food market. Stalls with Irish produce and food trucks take over the Square every Saturday between 10am and 5pm.

The price of a pint or a bite to eat in Temple Bar is higher, on average than the rest of Dublin City. For this reason, many people walk through the area to soak up the atmosphere rather than spend the whole evening there.

Insider Tips

Temple Bar is a favourite for stag and hen (bachelor/bachelorette) parties and can be very crowded, especially during weekends and summer months.

Visit Temple bar during the day and browse the shops and galleries.

2 Trinity College

Ireland's most prestigious university is arguably its most attractive too. Covering no less than 16 hectares, the college buildings and grounds are a poetic tribute to the best of Victorian architecture. Receiving its charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1592, Trinity remained exclusively protestant until 1793. Today, such prejudices and exclusions are long gone, and Trinity enjoys a global reputation as a leading institution for learning, teaching and research.

The Old Library building at Trinity College is home to the Book of Kells , which is the most richly decorated of Ireland's medieval illuminated manuscripts. The book contains the four gospels in Latin. Some of the dyes used were imported from as far as the Middle East. When you are visiting the Book of Kells exhibition, take some time to admire the Long Room. Its oak bookcases hold 200,000 of the library's oldest books.

On a sunny day, be sure to bring a picnic so you can enjoy the stunning grounds over a relaxing lunch break.

Take a guided tour led by one of the students to learn more about the history of Trinity College. A guided tour includes admission to the old library and the Book of Kells exhibition.

Looking for budget accommodation in the heart of Dublin? From May to mid-September you can book a room on campus.

Practical information

Located in the heart of Dublin, Trinity is easily accessible by Luas, bus or on foot and close to other attractions such as Temple Bar and Christ Church Cathedral.

Opening hours

You can visit the book of Kells and the Long Room seven days a week.

From October to April opening hours are 09.30 to 17:00 (Monday to Saturday) and 12:00 to 16:30 (Sunday).

From May to September opening hours are 08.30 to 17:00 (Monday to Saturday) and 09.30 to 17:00 (Sunday).

Admission fee

Tickets for the book of Kells exhibition must be pre-booked online . A standard ticket costs €18.50 and children under 5 are free. Concession tickets for students or seniors (over 60) are available from €15.

3 Guinness Storehouse

Shaped like a giant pint of the black stuff, this most popular of Dublin attractions towers over the surrounding neighbourhoods. The site of the brewery itself is massive, at a staggering 26 hectares. However, it will be the old grain storehouse that you visit. The building was constructed in 1902 and was the St. James's Gate Brewery's fermentation plant - where yeast is added to the brew. Designed in the style of the Chicago School of Architecture and classed as one of the first skyscrapers in the British Isles. In 1997 the building was redesigned to become the tourist attraction we know today, the Guinness Storehouse.

Opened in December 2000, Guinness Storehouse has become the most visited attraction in Ireland. To date, they have welcomed over 20 million visitors. Over the years there have been numerous investments made to ensure that the tour features the most cutting-edge technology available to explore the past, present and future of St. James's Gate. At the end of the tour, at the top-floor Gravity Bar guests are greeted with a delightful panorama view across the Dublin cityscape with a complimentary well-earned pint (providing the guest is 18 or over). The Guinness Storehouse is a favourite memory for a lot of people on their tour of Ireland.

The self-guided tour will take you through the history of the brewery and the brewing process spread out over 7 floors. The visitor experience uses audiovisual and interactive displays to tell its story. The experience will take about 90 minutes.

One thing that we regretted during our visit to the Guinness Storehouse was that we didn't have a pair of binoculars, to take in the full detail of the cityscape as we enjoyed a pint in the panoramic Gravity Bar.

Visit early in the day to avoid the big crowd.

Open on Monday to Thursday from 13.00 to 18.00. Last entry an hour before closing.

Open on Friday & Saturday from 11.00 to 19.00. Last entry an hour before closing.

Open on Sunday from 11.00 to 18.00. Last entry an hour before closing.

You can book a time slot for your visit online. Tickets for a self-guided tour start from €18 and include a pint of Guinness. A child ticket (5-17 years) is €10 and children up to the age of 4 go free. The ticket rate is based on the time of your visit.

4 Shopping in Dublin

Dublin provides plenty of opportunities for some retail therapy, and if you are looking to hit the shops during your time in the capital, it is Grafton Street that you will want to head for. This district of Dublin has all the high-street stores you could ask for, with British-owned chains being perhaps the best represented here.

If you're looking for something a little more unique or boutique, then you won't have to wander very far. The streets that intersect this main artery of Dublin centre have plenty to tempt you. This is perhaps not the cheapest shopping district you will find on your travels, so be sure to pack your Euro.

Visa and Mastercard are accepted in nearly all Irish stores, but be advised, that not all shops will take American Express.

5 Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral was founded by Viking King Sitric, almost 1000 years ago, in 1034. The nave, or central part of the church, contains the tomb of medieval warlord Strongbow—leader of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. It also contains the heart of Dublin's patron saint, Saint Laurence O'Toole. The crypt of the church, which is one of the largest in Ireland and the UK, has been restored from the 12th century and houses an exhibition called the Treasures of Christ Church. Amongst other manuscripts and artefacts is a 14th century copy of the Magna Carta Hiberniae (a book of law dating back to 1216). Perhaps the crypt's most popular exhibit is the mummified remains of a cat and a rat. Known locally as 'Tom & Jerry', the cat is believed to have chased the rat into a pipe of the church organ, where they both eventually became stuck.

On guided tours, there is also the chance to ring the church bells. The oldest of that dates back to 1743 and, collectively, the 19 bells form the world record for the number of bells available for full-circle ringing. Getting to the Belfry in Christ Church Cathedral involves climbing 86 stone steps in a medieval building and crossing the roof at the South transept – quite the experience! Please note , because of this steep climb a visit to the Belfry is not suitable for children under 12 or if you have walking difficulties

Visit on a Sunday evening and linger for an enchanting evensong service to experience the heavenly acoustics of this historic building.

Many events are organised throughout the year at the Cathedral, such as free lunchtime concerts and lectures. Don't miss the 'Carols by Candlelight' events if you are visiting at Christmas time.

You will find Christ Church Cathedral in the heart of medieval Dublin. It is on many of the city centre bus routes and served by the Luas Red Line (Four Courts Stop).

Leaflets in 11 languages are available, free of charge. There is also a children's leaflet in English. Just ask for them at the welcome desk.

Please check their website for the most recent updates regarding the opening hours.

Admission prices

Please find the rate for a self-guided tour below:

• Student & Senior (65+): €6.5
• Child under 12: €3.50
• Toddler (0 - 4 years): Free

6 Dublin Castle

Visitors who set off in search of ramparts and turrets are likely to walk past Dublin Castle in search of something more medieval-looking. So, be warned that there won't be jousting and suits of armour. For 700 years, the bastion of British rule in Ireland, the castle is really a Victorian architectural mish-mash, and wouldn't look out of place in London or Paris.

This is perhaps one of the more sedate attractions you'll find set against Dublin's bustling backdrop, and it's certainly not a day out for the kids, but the 45-minute tours are frequent and informative. A visit to the castle will appeal to anyone who has a keen interest in Irish history.

Especially for visitors following a tour guide for one quick 'lap', Dublin Castle will be more of a short visit than a full day out.

Use the free Wi-fi access in the Castle to download the Dublin Castle app.

The castle grounds and gardens are free to explore. A self-guided guided visit to the State Apartments is available and takes about 40 minutes. Guided tours are also available. You can get a brochure in 17 different languages or download the free Dublin Castle app.

Open 7 days a week from 9.45 to 17.45, with last admission a half-hour before closing.

Getting to Dublin

Arriving by plane.

Almost everyone who arrives on a visit to Dublin from abroad will arrive by plane (though some self-drive visitors from the UK may arrive by Ferry). Dublin Airport is located just 10km (6 miles) from Dublin City Centre and is accessible by both the M50 and M1 motorways. It is made up of two terminals. Visitors arriving from the USA and Canada will be arriving at Terminal Two.

Terminal One

Short-haul flights. Served by Ryanair, British Airways, Germanwings, Iberia, Lufthansa, Norwegian, SAS and Air France.

Terminal Two

Long-haul flights. Served by American Airlines, US Airways, Delta, Air Canada and Aer Lingus. Recent additions to Terminal 2's roster include United Airlines, Etihad and Emirates.

Airport Shuttle Bus Services

There are bus services available to and from both terminals, provided by Aircoach , Airlink , Dublin Bus and GoBus . Aircoach will bring you to multiple stops in Dublin City, including O'Connell Street and Grafton Street. They also operate routes to and from Cork City (€19- Adult, Single, 3hrs) and Belfast City (€12- Adult, Single, 2hr 20mins). You can follow their distinctive blue signs from the arrivals hall in both terminals. GoBus offers a route from Dublin Airport to and from Galway City (€18- Adult, Single, 2hrs 30mins). A ticket to Dublin City Centre from Dublin Airport costs €6 (Single)/ €11.50 (Return). Dublin Bus also operates a service between Dublin Airport and Dublin City for a similar price.

Like all international airports, there is a large number of taxis available outside both terminals at all times. To travel to the city centre by taxi will cost between €30-€40.

Currently, there is no direct railway link between Dublin Airport and Dublin City.

Arriving by Bus

The main bus terminal of Dublin City is Busáras Central Station . Located on the eastern edge of the city centre, on the same street as Connolly Train Station. Busáras Central Station is the terminal for all state-run buses coming in and out of Dublin City, both locally and across Ireland.

There are also a number of private bus companies that operate in and out of Dublin City. Their pick-up and drop-off points differ from one another and depend on what part of Ireland you are going to/coming from. The majority will have pick-up and drop-off points at Dublin Airport.

Arriving by Train

Train services in and around Dublin serve local commuters better than they do visiting tourists. To get to Dublin from a different region of Ireland by land, the bus is usually the recommended option.

Arriving by Car

Most people who visit Dublin City would usually advise against driving there. The traffic in the city centre can come to a stand-still for large parts of the day and you have to travel miles outside the city before you can find any free parking. If driving to Dublin city is a must you can find more information on parking here .

Arriving by Ferry

Dublin Port operates ferries across the Irish Sea to Liverpool in England, Holyhead in Wales and, during Summer and Christmas, to Douglas on the Isle of Man. The ferry companies that operate to and from Dublin Port are Irish Ferries, Steam Packet, P&O Ferries and Seatruck Ferries.

Getting to the City Centre

Dublin Port is connected with Dublin City Centre via Dublin Bus ( the number 53 bus ). Bus fares are payable with coins (Euro), smart cards or pre-paid tickets. There is a plentiful number of taxis outside Dublin Port at most times of the day, expect to pay in the region of €9 to €12 for a taxi to the city centre. The Luas Red Line tram operates 7 days a week and is located on East Wall Road, opposite the entrance to Dublin Port, and a one-way ticket to the city centre costs €2.

Is it easy to get around Dublin?

Because the roads are so busy, driving in Dublin is not usually recommended. In the capital, public transport is usually the best way to get around. When navigating your way around the city itself, the following three options are usually the best, depending on the weather and what luggage you may have with you.

Dublin Bus Services

Dublin City and its suburbs are well catered for in terms of bus services. The state-owned Dublin Bus company, founded in 1987, has a reputation of being reliable, plentiful and not too harsh on the pocket.

It is always advisable to check their timetable and stop locations if you are planning a bus journey, especially if you are new to the city. For more information, visit their website...

NOW Dublin Bikes

Dublin City runs a bike hire scheme, sponsored by a subscription-based TV service NOW. It is a cost-effective and quick way to get around the city. There are 109 stations in total, each within close proximity to another.

A user must first take out a subscription, which allows an unlimited number of rentals. A long-term subscription is €35, a 3-Day ticket costs €5. Under 30 minutes is free and prices only go up after this. For longer rides, it is advisable to get to a terminal in under 30 minutes and take a new bike. For more information, visit their website...

Dublin City taxis are also known as hackney carriages, the kind that you can flag down on the street or find at a taxi rank. There are also private hire vehicles, which are not licensed to "ply for hire" or stand in a taxi rank and can only be booked in advance.

A taxi journey of 35 minutes (for example from Dublin Airport, in the North of the city, to the city centre) would cost between €30 to €40. See here for more info on Dublin Taxi ranks .

Other Regions of Ireland & Britain

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Adare Village and Thatched Cottages

About Adare Village and Thatched Cottages

Adare is a small town in Co. Limerick, known for its quaint and colourful thatched cottages. Adare is considered to be one of Ireland's most beautiful towns so stop and take in the view. Don't forget your camera today - the perfect chance to capture the essence of old Ireland.

Explore Adare Village along the Wild Atlantic Way .

Black Taxi Tour Belfast

About Black Taxi Tour Belfast

Take a journey through this once troubled city. See the murals of the Loyalist Shankill Road & Nationalist Falls Road. The Troubles took their toll on the economic life of Belfast, but the past ten years of peace have returned much prosperity while the genuine friendliness of the city never left.

Blarney Woollen Mills

About Blarney Woollen Mills

Originally built in 1823, Blarney Woollen Mills was mainly used for the spinning and weaving of wool. After it closed in 1973, it reopened in 1975 — as an Irish heritage shop.

Visit their website...

Culloden Battlefield

About Culloden Battlefield

The Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre commemorates the last pitched battle fought on British soil, in April 1746. Learn more about the Jacobite intent to overthrow the House of Hanover and return the House of Stuart to the British throne.

Glenveagh Castle

About Glenveagh Castle

Located within Glenveagh National Park, Glenveagh Castle was built by Captain John George Adair between 1870 and 1873. Having made his fortune through land speculation in America, Adair return to Ireland and began large amounts of land in County Donegal. The castle was built in the Scottish Baronial style and is surrounded by a garden and commands stunning views of the nearby mountains, lakes, woodlands and valleys.

Highland Folk Museum

About Highland Folk Museum

About Highland Folk Museum is a museum and open-air attraction located in the Scottish Highlands. It is designed to showcase the domestic and working lives of the early highland people.

King John's Castle

About King John's Castle

Located alongside the River Shannon in County Limerick, on King's Island. Dating back to 922, to a time when Vikings were the inhabitants of the island (Thormodr Helgason, the Viking sea-king, built the first settlement here. The castle itself was built in 1200, under the instruction of King John of England.

About Moriarty's

Located close to the Killarney National Park, Moriarty's is an Authentic Irish Gift Store and Restaurant. Hand crafted Irish jewellery, Waterford Crystal and classic and modern tweed fashions and furnishings are all on offer at the gift store. The restaurant is an 85 seater offering stunning views of the surrounding landscape.

Mount Congreve Gardens

About Mount Congreve Gardens

Mount Congreve Gardens. Located in Kilmeaden, County Waterford, Mount Congreve Gardens is an 18th century Georgian estate and mansion. It was designed by the same architect that created both of Waterford's cathedrals, John Roberts.

Mount Stewart House & Gardens

About Mount Stewart House & Gardens

Recently recognised as being one of the top 10 gardens in the world, Mount Stewart is a rich tapestry of planting plant life and stunning walking trails. The house dates back to the 19th century, and was the Irish seat of the Vane-Tempest-Stewart family.

Muckross House

About Muckross House

Located on the grounds of the expansive and idyllic Killarney National Park. Muckross House, and its 11,000-acre grounds, was donated to the Irish state in 1932.

Muckross House Traditional Farms

About Muckross House Traditional Farms

Located on the grounds of the picturesque Muckross House and its impeccable gardens. Take a step back in time and see the Irish farming lifestyle of the 1930s and '40s. A time when the horse was responsible for much of the labour and the weather was the be all and end all in terms of production.

The Quiet Man Museum

About The Quiet Man Museum

The Quiet Man Museum. A reproduction of the quaint thatched cottage from the John Wayne starring, John Ford directed movie of the same name. all costumes, artefacts and furnishings have been recreated in precise detail, to reflect the setting of the 1952 classic. Located in the picturesque village of Cong, County Mayo.

Ireland Travel Guide

As a local Irish company, we at My Ireland Tour are passionate about our country and our local community. We're thrilled that you're interested in visiting the place we call home. That's why we put together this definitive travel guide for anyone who wants to come to Ireland and discover this amazing place for themselves.

This is a completely free resource covering everything from top tourist attractions to the nearest yoga centre. We hope it helps!

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Your guide to the perfect Dublin break

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Festivals and events coming up

Grease - Bord Gáis Energy Theatre

Tue, 23 Apr - Sat, 4 May

Bord Gáis Energy Theatre

One Dublin One Book

Mon, 1 Apr - Tue, 30 Apr

Various Locations, Dublin City

Children of the Sun

Sat, 13 Apr - Sat, 11 May

Abbey Theatre

CONGA BEAT - Fiesta of Music & Culture

Fri, 26 Apr 20:00

Sat, 27 Apr 20:00

Whelan's

Hanami Festival 2024

Sun, 28 Apr 12:00

Farmleigh House & Estate

More Than a Friend: LGBTIQA+ and Joyce

Sat, 27 Apr 14:00

The James Joyce Centre

The Dublin Jazz Co-op International Jazz Day Celebration

Sun, 28 Apr 19:00

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Dublin City Guide: Your Insider’s Handbook to Exploring the Best of the Irish Capital

You are planning a city trip to Dublin, but you don’t know where to start? This Dublin city guide is here to help. I’ve been living in Dublin for more than a decade, and I’ve seen and visited pretty much everything in this historic city, from its biggest attractions to its hidden gems often ignored by mass tourism. I’ve poured everything I know into this Dublin city guide so that you can enjoy the best of the Irish capital.

Tips to help you prepare for your city trip to Dublin have also been included in this guide. Check out when it is best to travel to Dublin, where to book your hotel and how to get around the city. I also share with you my favourite (and reliable) booking and planning resources. Everything (or nearly everything) you need to know about Dublin is here.

Disclaimer This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on a link, I earn a little money at no extra cost to you.

Flying to Dublin

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Let’s begin this Dublin city guide with your options for getting there from abroad.

With many airlines offering direct flights to Dublin International Airport from almost everywhere in Europe and beyond, it has never been easier to travel to Dublin. Low-cost Ryanair is, of course, the airline that comes to mind when planning a trip to Dublin. However, don’t disregard other companies offering very competitive prices, such as Aer Lingus or Air France/KLM .

From Asia, airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways fly all the way to Dublin. It’s also very easy to travel from the United States with direct transatlantic flights offered by Aer Lingus or American Airlines .

From Belfast in Northern Ireland, you can easily reach Dublin by train in 2.5 hours. Currently, no security or identity checks are required to cross the border with the Republic of Ireland (at least for now).

If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly option, several bus companies, such as Aircoach and Dublin Express , regularly depart from Belfast city centre. Bus tickets are typically half the price of a train ticket, and the travel time is roughly similar.

Thought about travelling to Dublin by ferry? You can board a ferry from Holyhead in Wales to Dublin, with a sailing duration of just a few hours. Dublin is also connected by ferry to Cherbourg in France, but be prepared for an overnight journey at sea.

Dublin city centre is fairly compact, and you won’t really need to rely on public transport. You’ll mainly be walking between the city’s main landmarks and museums, so make sure to pack comfy walking shoes.

Getting around Dublin by public transport is relatively simple. If you need to cover more distance, such as between the airport and the city centre, buses will be your main option. You can find all the information you need about Dublin Bus at their office on O’Connell Street or online. From the airport, you can take public double-decker buses or private coaches to reach the city centre. Taxis are also available outside the terminals.

Dublin has recently expanded its tram network called the Luas , with two lines now intersecting each other. The green line connects the north to the south of the city, while the red line goes east to west, connecting Dublin’s main train stations.

Unique to Dublin, the city has a railway system called the DART, which connects seaside towns nestled around Dublin Bay , such as picturesque Howth or posh Dun Laoghaire. It is a favourite means of transport for Dubliners to escape the city for the day, especially during the warmer months.

The Best Things to Do in Dublin

Let’s continue this Dublin city guide with a list of must-see attractions.

From the Viking invasions in early Medieval times to the 1916 Easter Rising , Dublin is a city steeped in History with beautiful landmarks waiting to tell you their very own stories. Among those not to be missed are:

• Dublin Castle : with its lavish interiors, it is one of the best castles to visit in Dublin . A centre of power for centuries, Dublin Castle is an absolute must-see to understand Ireland’s past under British rule.
• Trinity College’s Old Library : A jaw-dropping library, home to the world-famous Book of Kells and one of Ireland’s most cherished treasures.
• Kilmainham Gaol : a former prison with high political significance (booking is advised) in Irish modern history.
• St Patrick’s and Christ Church : the city’s two competing and historic cathedrals, built just 500 meters apart.

A great way to discover the city’s landmarks at your own pace is through a self-guided walking tour of Dublin , allowing you to explore up to 15 sites in a single day.

If you are worried about crowds and are not afraid to step away from the tourist trail, check out my favourite off-the-beaten-path things to do in Dublin for a more relaxed city trip.

All the major museums in Dublin are free of charge! Whether you are visiting Dublin on a budget or are a museum aficionado, here is your chance for an affordable cultural experience.

In this Dublin city guide, I recommend:

• The Chester Beatty Library : the home of a world-renowned collection of richly decorated manuscripts, ranging from 12th-century Bibles to an 18th-century Turkish Quran and much more. It is the perfect museum for book lovers on a Dublin literary walking tour .
• Glasnevin Cemetery Museum : an active cemetery, the largest in Dublin, it is also a museum. Glasnevin Cemetery is the resting place of numerous personalities who shaped Irish history. Access to the cemetery is free, although guided tours and access to the O’Connell Tower are not.
• The National Museum of Ireland : the Museum has three distinct branches in Dublin: the Archaeology Museum, the Decorative Arts and History Museum and the Natural History Museum. Out of the three, my preference goes to the Archaeology Museum for its exhibits of Celtic metalwork!
• As for the arts, you can access the permanent collection at the National Gallery of Ireland for free and admire paintings by well-known artists such as Monet, Picasso, and Vermeer, to name just a few. Along with the Hugh Lane , they are among the best art museums in Dublin .

Ireland is world-famous for its whiskey and beer, so a detour to a distillery or brewery should be on your bucket list.

The Guinness Storehouse is the one everybody thinks about when coming to Dublin. Possibly a tad overpriced, it is still a very interesting dive into the story of Guinness, a company intricately tied to the history of Dublin .

When it comes to Irish whiskey, the Jameson Distillery comes to mind. However, please note that you won’t see the whiskey-making process in action, as no Jameson whiskey is produced in Dublin any more. My advice is to visit one of Dublin’s four working distilleries instead. At the Teeling Distillery , for instance, visitors can witness the operation of the huge copper pot stills. Just make sure to enjoy the tasting at the end of the tour on a full stomach, as it can have quite an effect!

For more whiskey tasting tours in Dublin, check-out the recommendations below:

Dublin’s nightlife reputation has travelled beyond the borders of the Irish Republic, and many choose Dublin to celebrate…anything! The Irish pub is a quintessential part of life in Dublin, and some will say you haven’t seen the city until you drink a pint in one of its pubs.

What is Dublin’s best pub then? That’s a question people could argue over for days. Everyone has a favourite depending on what they are looking for: the crowd or quiet socializing, modern or traditional (live!) music, Irish beers or foreign. 

Although you can find a pub at almost every corner, let me suggest a few popular neighbourhoods to help you find your own favourite pub:

• Temple Bar and its colourful establishments lining medieval looking cobbled streets lure crowds of tourists looking for an Irish pub with live Irish music. But it’s all a bit overpriced, and you’ll barely meet any Irish at the bar. Expand your search slightly beyond the cobbled streets for a more local crowd.
• Definitely Dublin’s best entertainment district, Camden Street attracts a crowd ready to party until late into the night. Mismatched looking pubs quickly fill up with locals and expats eager to chill out after a long week at work. Pick one and move to the next until you find the right one for you!
• The area roughly stretching from George’s Street to Dawson Street is a maze of streets filled with pubs, bars and clubs. Hotspots include George Street, Dame Lane, South William Street, Fade Street and Dawson Street.

You finally found a pub to your liking? Make sure to follow the Irish pub etiquette to blend in and have a great time in Dublin.

Alternative Things to Do in Dublin

What else can you do in Dublin? Here come more recommendations.

Finding the city crowd too overwhelming? Why not venture outside Dublin to escape the city’s hustle and bustle for a short while? There are great places to visit around Dublin that are easily accessible by public transport.

For instance, head north to Malahide , a seaside town just 30 minutes on the DART, with a superb medieval castle and walled garden to explore. Alternatively, visit Howth , a quaint little harbour with one of the prettiest lighthouses in Dublin Bay and excellent seafood restaurants.

If you head south, you’ll find Bray , a sleepy seaside resort with a long stretch of pebble beach. From there, a scenic path along the cliffs will lead you to the village of Greystones in under two hours, offering breathtaking views along the way. It’s undeniably one of the best things to do on the East coast of Ireland .

Another option is to take a bus to Powerscourt Estate and discover its magnificent landscaped gardens. The 47 acres include romantic ornamental lakes, an exotic Japanese garden, dramatic terraces, and much more. Alongside the monastic settlement of Glendalough , they are considered one of the best places to visit in Wicklow , a breathtaking county just south of Dublin.

You can also take full advantage of Ireland’s public transport to discover another side of the country, with amazing day trips from Dublin by train . Explore historic cities like Waterford, Kilkenny, Galway, or even Belfast for a day out and about, thanks to frequent and affordable train services.

Looking to buy a new outfit or fill your suitcase with souvenirs and gifts? You’ll find all your favourite high street brands on Grafton Street , a posh pedestrian-only street on the Southside of Dublin. On the Northside, you can find two shopping centres and two department stores on Henry Street .

Back on the Southside, the Creative Quarter is home to Irish design and some of the best craft shops in Dublin . At its heart, you’ll find the Powerscourt Centre, a beautiful 18th-century townhouse converted into an elegant shopping venue with fashion boutiques, jewellers, antiques, and art stores.

If vintage is your thing, Dublin is not short of vintage boutiques. Labelled as Europe’s oldest shopping centre, George’s Street Arcade is a colourful mix of quirky cafés, vintage, and second-hand shops. Temple Bar, Dublin’s cultural quarter , is another hotspot on the vintage scene. I enjoy browsing the many vintage boutiques found around its cobbled streets.

Like every capital, Dublin has its fair share of parks and manicured gardens that you can visit for free. Probably the most famous of them is Phoenix Park , the largest enclosed park in Europe. As you cycle around the 707 hectares, you may stumble upon a herd of 400 wild deer or decide to visit the elegant Farmleigh House , among other interesting things to do in Phoenix Park .

My all-time favourite garden in Dublin is the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, created in the late 18th century as the first botanical garden in Ireland. Its 19th-century glasshouse, made of curved iron and glass, houses a fantastic collection of tropical trees and cacti.

Dating back to the 18th century, manicured Georgian squares such as Merrion Square, St. Stephen’s Green, and Fitzwilliam Square are worth a visit. They are exceptionally popular during the summer months, when locals love to spend their lunch break on the grass and soak up as much sunlight as possible.

Dublin hosts festivals throughout the year, so if you happen to be in town during the St. Patrick’s Festival, music festivals, or arts festivals, why not join in!

In March, the week-long St. Patrick’s Festival culminates with the St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 17th. Many people travel to Dublin to celebrate the Irish national day in the Irish capital. Brace yourself for the crowds and join the green and orange tsunami!

One of the most established music festivals in Dublin is the Temple Bar TradFest , which takes place in January. Another major music event is the Forbidden Fruit Festival in June, conveniently organised on the grounds of the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

For film enthusiasts, the Dublin International Film Festival usually takes place around February or March, while the Dublin Tiger Fringe Festival in September brings an eclectic range of theatrical performances to the Dublin audience. Other arts festivals include the Dublin Dance Festival, Bram Stoker Festival, GAZE Festival, and more.

Genealogy is a hobby that is growing in popularity, and every year more people travel to Ireland in search of their Irish roots. In Dublin, two places should be on your radar to get the answers you need:

• The National Library of Ireland : Visit the NLI’s free Genealogy Advisory Service located on Kildare Street. There, you’ll find experienced researchers ready to assist you.
• Glasnevin Cemetery Museum : If you have ancestors buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, the Genealogy Research Centre at the Glasnevin Museum has a dedicated genealogist to help you find the answers you seek.

You want to stay as close as possible to Dublin city centre so that you don’t have to rely on public transport to get back to your hotel, especially at night when fewer buses run after 11:30 pm.

Hotels on the south side of the Liffey are ideally located, but can be expensive. If you can afford it, by all means, stay at the luxurious Merrion Hotel (known to host celebrities!) or the iconic Shelbourne Hotel overlooking the leafy St. Stephen’s Green. You won’t find anything better than that in central Dublin.

If you’re on a budget and still want a room in a central location, you’ll find several reputable hostels in the city centre . However, be sure to book early as private rooms tend to get booked quickly. In terms of hotels, those located on Dublin’s Northside or a bit further out, such as in Smithfield, can save you a few bucks.

If you’re hoping to enjoy a good night’s sleep, you’ll want to avoid hotels located in Temple Bar , or make sure to bring your earplugs.

To help you decide where to book your hotel, be sure to read my in-depth guide on the best neighbourhoods to stay in Dublin .

The unpredictable weather in Dublin makes it almost pointless to determine the best month to visit. Showers regularly give way to dry spells, and temperatures generally stay moderate throughout the year. It’s best to be prepared and bring a rain jacket regardless.

The tourist season usually kicks in with the St. Patrick’s Festival in March, followed by a slow build-up until August when Dublin becomes very busy, making it challenging to navigate the city centre.

My favourite months to visit Dublin are April/May and September . The crowds are manageable, and the sun makes regular appearances (no, I’m not kidding). You can enjoy longer days compared to winter, and hotels are usually more affordable during this time.

These are my favourite websites for researching and planning a trip to Dublin. You’ll find a selection of international and trustworthy booking websites that every traveller should know about. I’ve also included some go-to local websites used on a daily basis by every Dubliner.

Heymondo – If you’re looking for travel insurance, Heymondo is offering a 5% discount to my readers! They also have a nifty app t help you get the assistance you need while on the go.

Skyscanner – Skyscanner is a great search engine for finding flight deals. It also provides a helpful tool for planning the best route to reach Dublin, especially when departing from an airport without direct flights to Ireland.

Irish Ferries and Stena Line – If you’re traveling from the UK or France, you can also reach Dublin by ferry. Check Irish Ferries or Stena Line for prices.

Booking.com – My go-to website when researching accommodation is Booking.com. The site offers a wider and more affordable selection of hotels and B&Bs that may not be found on other booking websites.

Hostelworld – If you’re on a budget, Hostelworld offers a good selection of hostels in Dublin with great city centre locations.

AirCoach and Dublin Express – These are my favourite bus companies for travelling from Dublin Airport to the city centre. Buy your ticket online and head straight to the bus!

Dublin Bus – The Dublin Bus website will help you navigate the city’s transportation network if you ever need to take a bus.

Irish Rail – Plan your day trips from Dublin with Irish Rail. Buying your ticket online and well in advance will guarantee you the best price.

Lonely Planet – Even after spending many years in Ireland, Lonely Planet remains one of my number one travel guides when planning a trip around this beautiful country. Buy a copy online and take it with you to Dublin; it always makes for a great travelling companion! Alternatively, read about all my favourite Ireland travel books .

• Dublin is a safe place to visit, but like any major European city, be aware of your surroundings. Some people will try to snatch your smartphone from your hands if you are too distracted.
• You won’t be partying all night. Pubs serve alcohol until 11:30 pm (00:30 am on Friday & Saturday); some clubs can stay open till 2:30am.
• Tipping is not compulsory in bars and restaurants (unless you’re part of a big party) but always appreciated (around 10%).
• Travel prepared: pack a rain jacket as weather can change quickly.

With a history dating back more than a thousand years, Dublin is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Its rich heritage can be seen everywhere as you walk along Dublin’s lively streets. From centuries-old cathedrals to Georgian townhouses, from traditional pubs to ancient libraries with links to French Huguenots fleeing religious persecution , Dublin oozes history. It is the ideal destination for a city trip, and I hope you will enjoy your stay!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on a link, I earn a little money at no extra cost to you.

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