Ireland
Dublin
A Georgian capital of doorways, libraries and pub sessions, small enough to cross on foot.
Dublin is a low, walkable capital on a bay, built around a Georgian core of brick terraces and fanlit doorways, with Trinity College and its illuminated Book of Kells at the middle of it. It is a city that has exported writers for two centuries and still trades on them, in a literary pub circuit that is only partly for visitors. The river splits it in two, and the arguments about which side is better are older than the state.
Suggested stay
2–4 days
Language
English, Irish
Currency
EUR
Timezone
UTC+1
Why you'll love Dublin
Literature Joyce, Beckett, Wilde, Yeats and Heaney all came through, and the city has never once let you forget it
The pubs not a theme but an institution, where the trad sessions are real and the conversation is the point
Georgian Dublin brick terraces, fanlights and coloured doors across whole squares south of the river
Walkability a capital you can cross end to end in an hour, with the sea and the mountains both close
Best time to visit
May-Oct
14-20° days
53.349° N, 6.261° W
UTC+1 · Europe/Dublin
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Weather & when to go to Dublin
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best May-Oct
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Dublin
There is no bad season so much as a permanently unreliable one: rain arrives in showers most weeks of the year, and the difference between the good and bad months is daylight rather than dryness. Late autumn to midwinter is dark by mid-afternoon and genuinely raw with the wind off the bay, and high summer, while the brightest stretch, is also when the city is fullest and the pubs least pleasant.
Top things to do in Dublin
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Trinity College and the Book of Kells
culture arts 👍 PopularA ninth-century gospel book of impossibly dense illumination, shown a page at a time, with the barrel-vaulted Long Room of dark oak and marble busts upstairs from it.
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Kilmainham Gaol
history ⭐ Highly recommendedThe prison where the leaders of the 1916 Rising were executed, walked with a guide who explains why a building this bleak sits at the centre of the national story.
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The old brewery at St James's Gate
food 👍 PopularThe city's most visited attraction, in the heart of a brewing complex that has run on the same site since 1759, ending in a glass room with a view over the rooftops.
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Georgian Dublin - the squares and doorways
historyMerrion Square, Fitzwilliam Square and the streets around them hold the brick terraces, fanlights and painted doors that are the city's visual signature, all free to walk.
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A trad session
nightlife music ⭐ Highly recommendedMusicians sit in a corner with no stage or amplification, start when they feel like it, and stop for pints. The good ones are in ordinary pubs rather than the ones with signs advertising it.
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The National Museum - Archaeology
historyBog bodies preserved for two thousand years, hoards of Iron Age gold and the Tara Brooch, in a domed Victorian building and free to enter.
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St Patrick's and Christ Church
historyTwo medieval cathedrals within a few streets, one with Jonathan Swift buried in it and the other above a crypt that runs the whole length of the building.
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Phoenix Park
nature wildlifeOne of the largest walled city parks in Europe, twice the size of anything comparable in London, with a resident deer herd, the president's house and a Victorian zoo inside it.
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The coastal DART to Howth
scenic 👍 PopularThe suburban train runs along the bay to a fishing harbour with a cliff loop walk, seals in the water and the whole city laid out behind you on the way back.
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Chester Beatty Library
culture artsA mining magnate's collection of Islamic, East Asian and biblical manuscripts in the grounds of Dublin Castle, quieter and arguably finer than anything else in the city, and free.
Best areas to stay in Dublin
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
City centre south
First-time visitors $$Georgian squares, shops and the college
Explore hotels in City centre south →
Temple Bar
Nightlife $$$Cobbled, loud, aimed squarely at visitors
Explore hotels in Temple Bar →
Portobello & Camden
Local & lively $$Canal-side, young, good eating
Explore hotels in Portobello & Camden →
Stoneybatter
Best value $Red-brick terraces north of the river
Explore hotels in Stoneybatter →
Ranelagh & Rathmines
Quiet & residential $$Leafy, residential, restaurants and cafes
Explore hotels in Ranelagh & Rathmines →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Dublin
Getting to & around Dublin
Getting there
Fly into Dublin airport, with frequent express coaches into the centre and no rail link
Flight
Dublin (DUB)
Ten km north of the centre, and Ireland's main gateway by a wide margin. There is no train or tram to the terminals: express coaches run every few minutes to the city centre and take around half an hour, and taxis are similar outside peak traffic.
Train
Heuston & Connolly
Trains from Cork, Galway and the south use Heuston in the west of the city; Belfast and the northeast arrive at Connolly, near the centre
Coach
Busaras
The national coach network runs from the central bus station beside Connolly, and reaches most towns the railway does not
Ferry
Dublin Port & Dun Laoghaire
Car and passenger ferries cross from Holyhead in Wales and from Liverpool, docking a short ride from the centre
Getting around
Walking
The centre is flat and small, and walking beats every other option for anything inside the canals
Free
Luas tram
Two lines, green and red, crossing the centre and reaching Heuston station and the southern suburbs
TBC
DART train
The coastal suburban line, and the best value sightseeing in the city on the run out to Howth or Bray
TBC
Bus
A dense network covering everything the tram and DART miss, though traffic makes it slow in the centre
TBC
Bicycle
Docked city bikes and a growing lane network across a flat city
TBC
Taxi
Plentiful and metered, and the practical answer late at night when the buses thin out
TBC
Day trips from Dublin
Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains
Full dayMonastic valley
A sixth-century monastic settlement with a round tower between two dark lakes, ringed by walking trails through the mountains behind.
Getting there
bus | car | tour
1 hr 15 min by coach or car south
Bru na Boinne
Full dayNeolithic tombs
Passage tombs older than the pyramids, with a roof box engineered so the sun reaches the chamber at the winter solstice, visited by shuttle from the centre.
Getting there
car | tour | bus
1 hr by car or tour north
Howth
Half dayFishing harbour & cliff walk
A working harbour on a headland at the end of the suburban line, with seals, seafood and a cliff loop back over the top.
Getting there
train
30 min by DART
Kilkenny
Full dayMedieval city
A castle, a round tower and a mile of limestone lanes between them, and the easiest medieval city to reach from the capital.
Getting there
train | bus | car
1 hr 30 min by train southwest
Belfast and the Causeway coast
Full dayCity & basalt columns
A long day, but the fast train crosses the border to a city with its own hard history, and tours run on to the hexagonal basalt columns of the north coast.
Getting there
train | bus | tour | car
2 hr 15 min by train north
A little history of Dublin
Vikings founded a trading settlement at a black pool on the Liffey in the ninth century, and the Normans took it in 1170. For most of the following seven centuries Dublin was the seat of English and then British administration in Ireland, and its 18th-century boom as the empire's second city produced the Georgian squares, the parliament building and the wide streets that still define the centre.
The Act of Union in 1801 moved parliament to London and the city declined sharply, its Georgian houses turning into some of the worst tenements in Europe. The 1916 Rising began at the General Post Office on the main street and ended with executions at Kilmainham; independence followed in 1922, and a civil war immediately after it. The city stayed poor and emigrating until the 1990s, when a technology boom reversed the flow so fast the country is still adjusting.
Vikings establish a longphort at the black pool that gives the city its name
Normans under Strongbow capture Dublin, beginning centuries of English rule
Trinity College is founded by royal charter
The Act of Union abolishes the Irish parliament and the city goes into decline
The Easter Rising begins at the General Post Office and its leaders are executed at Kilmainham
The Irish Free State is established with Dublin as its capital
Know before you go
Payment
Cards everywhere
English
Everywhere
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type G
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+353
FAQs about Dublin
▸ How many days do you need in Dublin?
Two full days covers Trinity, Kilmainham, the museums and a proper evening. A third lets you get out to Howth or Glendalough, which is where the trip stops being a city break.
▸ Is Temple Bar worth it?
Worth walking through once, in daylight, for the cobbles and the painted fronts. It is the most expensive place in the city to drink and the least likely to hold a good session. The pubs locals use are a few streets in any direction.
▸ Is Dublin expensive?
Yes, and accommodation is the worst of it: the city has a genuine shortage and prices reflect it. Museums are largely free, walking costs nothing, and the transport is cheap once you have a Leap card.
▸ Do you need a car in Dublin?
No, and it would be a liability. The centre is walkable, the tram and DART cover the rest, and parking is expensive and scarce. Hire one only if you are heading west afterwards.
▸ When do the pubs have live music?
Most nights somewhere, with sessions typically starting mid-evening and running late. They are informal by nature, so ask locally rather than trusting a schedule, and the best ones are rarely advertised.
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