Dublin: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
At Easter 1916 some fifteen hundred people seized a few buildings in Dublin and declared an Irish republic. They surrendered after six days, and most of the city was angry with them. Then Britain executed fifteen of the leaders over two weeks — and that turned opinion, and within six years Ireland was independent. Two hours.
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A short history of Dublin
In 841 Vikings set up a camp beside the "black pool", Dubh Linn, on the River Liffey, and a trading town grew out of the camp. In 1170 the Normans captured it, and from then on it was the centre of English rule in Ireland. Trinity College was founded here in 1592. At Easter 1916 a rising against the British broke out in the city, and in 1922 Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State. James Joyce set the whole of "Ulysses" on a single day in the city, 16 June 1904. Chaim Herzog, Israel's sixth president, grew up in Dublin; his father was the Chief Rabbi of Ireland.
The ten best sights in Dublin
1Trinity CollegeFounded 1592. Catholics could not attend until 1793
2Book of KellsBook online. The Long Room upstairs is the real thing
3Dublin CastleSeven hundred years of British rule ended here in 1922
4Chester Beatty LibraryFree, and one of the great manuscript collections on earth
5St Patrick’s CathedralSwift was dean here for thirty-two years, and is buried in it
6Christ Church CathedralA mummified cat and rat found in the organ pipes, on display
7Marsh’s Library1707, unchanged, and the cages they locked readers in are there
8National Museum — ArchaeologyFree. Bog bodies two thousand years old, with their skin
9National GalleryFree, and a Caravaggio found in a Jesuit dining room in 1990
10Kilmainham GaolThe 1916 leaders were shot in the yard. Book weeks ahead
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What is an audio walk?
Tours in Dublin →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Dublin:
Free walking tours in Dublin
The Rising
At Easter 1916 some fifteen hundred people seized a few buildings in Dublin and declared an Irish republic. They surrendered after six days, and most of the city was angry with them. Then Britain executed fifteen of the leaders over two weeks — and that turned opinion, and within six years Ireland was independent. Two hours.
- GPO Witness History · Pearse read the proclamation from these steps to a small and largely uninterested crowd. The columns still carry bullet marks, and the building worked as an ordinary post office all through the rebuilding and still does.
- O’Connell Street · When it was laid out in the eighteenth century it was the widest street in Europe. The British gunboat Helga came up the Liffey in 1916 and shelled it flat; almost nothing on it predates the rising.
- Ha’penny Bridge · Built in 1816 by a ferryman who was told to either fix his unsafe boats or build a bridge. He built the bridge and was allowed to charge a halfpenny for a hundred years, which he did.
- Dublin Castle · Seven hundred and twenty years of British administration ended in this courtyard on 16 January 1922. The story goes that the viceroy told Michael Collins he was seven minutes late, and Collins replied that they had waited seven hundred years and could manage seven minutes.
- Kilmainham Gaol · Fourteen of the leaders were shot in the stonebreakers’ yard in May 1916. James Connolly could not stand because of his wounds, so they tied him to a chair. That detail is what changed the country’s mind.
- Glasnevin Cemetery · A million and a half people are buried here, more than live in Dublin, and the cemetery was founded in 1832 so that Catholics could be buried with a priest present — which the law had forbidden.
The Georgian City
In the eighteenth century Dublin was the second city of the British Empire, and the Anglo-Irish gentry built whole quarters of identical brick houses with coloured doors. After the union of 1801 they all left for London, and the houses became tenements with ten people to a room. Two hours.
- Trinity College · Founded by Elizabeth the First in 1592 and closed to Catholics until 1793 — and then the Catholic church forbade its own people to attend until 1970, so for most of its history most of Ireland could not go in.
- Book of Kells · Monks made it around the year 800, and there is more decoration on one page than in most whole manuscripts. Above it is the Long Room: sixty-five metres of oak and two hundred thousand of the library’s oldest books.
- Marsh’s Library · Opened in 1707 and almost nothing in it has moved since. Readers of rare books were locked into wire cages so they could not steal them, and the three cages are still standing at the end of the gallery.
- St Stephen’s Green · Rebels dug trenches in it in 1916, which was useless against the snipers on the roofs around. Both sides held fire every day at the same hour so the park keeper could come out and feed the ducks.
- Merrion Square · The doors are painted different colours and the reason is disputed — the best story is that two writers who lived on the square kept coming home drunk to the wrong house, so their wives painted the doors.
- 14 Henrietta Street · One Georgian townhouse, built for one wealthy family, which by 1911 held a hundred people in seventeen rooms with one tap in the yard. The museum takes you through both lives of the same house.
The Liberties
The quarter is called this because it lay outside the city walls and outside the city’s laws — whoever lived here was not subject to the mayor. Huguenot weavers came, then distilleries and breweries, and finally the worst slums in Europe. Guinness is still here, on a lease that runs to the year 2759. Two hours.
- Christ Church Cathedral · Founded by Vikings around 1030. In the crypt sits a mummified cat and rat found inside an organ pipe in the 1850s — the cat chased the rat in and both got stuck. Joyce mentions them in Finnegans Wake.
- St Patrick’s Cathedral · Jonathan Swift was dean here for thirty-two years and is buried in the floor beside the woman he may or may not have married. He left his money to found a hospital for the mentally ill, which is still open.
- The Liberties · Huguenot silk weavers settled here in the 1690s, and at its height there were three thousand looms. When the trade collapsed the quarter became the most densely populated slum in Europe, worse than anything in London.
- Guinness Storehouse · In 1759 Arthur Guinness signed a lease on four acres for nine thousand years at forty-five pounds a year, fixed. The company owns the land outright now, but the original lease is framed in the floor by the entrance.
- Smithfield · A horse fair has been held on this square since 1665 and still is, twice a year — boys ride bareback through the middle of a European capital, and the city has tried and failed to stop it.
- George’s Street Arcade · Opened in 1881 and the first purpose-built shopping arcade in Europe — a covered street of small traders, which is exactly what it still is. Second-hand records, old books and a hat stall.
Getting to Dublin and getting around
- Dublin Airport · No train. The Airlink bus is €8 and takes 30 minutes
- Heuston Station · Trains west and south, and the tram runs to the centre
- Connolly Station · Trains north, and the coastal DART to Howth
- Busáras · Buses to Belfast, Galway and the airport
Cheap eats in Dublin
Eight counters where Dublin eats and drinks standing. A chip shop frying since 1913 that has no seats at all, a pub from 1198 that claims to be the oldest in Ireland, and a bar where talking is allowed but a phone is not — the sign says so, and they mean it.
- Leo Burdock · €9 for cod and chips, and no chairs
- The Brazen Head · Live music every night from nine thirty
- The Long Hall · 1766, chandeliers, and the mirrors are the original glass
- Kehoe’s · The snug by the door seats four, and it was for women
- Grogan’s · A toastie and a pint, and that is the whole menu
- Mulligan’s · 1782, no music, no television, and the best pint in town
- The Cobblestone · Traditional music every night, and you must be quiet for it
- Murphy’s Ice Cream · Made with Kerry milk, and sea salt from the Dingle coast
Museums in Dublin
- National Museum — Archaeology · Free, closed Mondays, and the bog bodies are at the back
- Chester Beatty Library · Free, and the roof garden is open to anyone
- National Gallery · Free. The Caravaggio was found hanging in a dining room
- EPIC Emigration Museum · €21, and it explains the whole country in ninety minutes
- Irish Museum of Modern Art · Free, in a 1684 hospital, and the grounds are free too
- Little Museum of Dublin · Everything in it was donated by Dubliners. Guided only
- 14 Henrietta Street · €12. One house, two centuries, and a hundred people in it
Parks and gardens in Dublin
- Phoenix Park · Free, open always, and the deer are genuinely wild
- Iveagh Gardens · Behind a wall off a side street, and nearly always empty
- St Stephen’s Green · The Guinness family paid to open it to the public in 1880
- Howth cliff walk · Free, and bring a coat even in July
- Forty Foot, Sandycove · Swimming every day of the year, and the water is nine degrees
- Glendalough · An hour out, two lakes, and a round tower from the 900s
Things to do in Dublin with kids
- Dublin Zoo · 1831, inside Phoenix Park, and the lions are the famous ones
- Natural History Museum · Free, and nothing in it has changed in 165 years
- Dublinia · Viking Dublin, hands-on, and the tower at the end
- Jeanie Johnston · A famine ship replica, and not one passenger ever died on it
- St Michan’s crypt · Mummies you can stand beside. Not for every child
- Malahide Castle · Eight hundred years with one family, and a walled garden
Live music in Dublin
- The Cobblestone · Free, every night, and the session starts at seven
- Whelan’s · Where everyone played before they were anyone
- Vicar Street · A thousand seats at tables, and the sound is the reason
- National Concert Hall · Was the university great hall, and lunchtime concerts are €8
- Abbey Theatre · Founded by Yeats in 1904, and the riots are part of its history
- Gate Theatre · Orson Welles talked his way onto this stage at sixteen
Nightlife in Dublin
- Temple Bar · A pint is double the price. Go once, then walk five minutes
- Grogan’s · The pavement outside is the real pub in summer
- The Long Hall · Victorian, narrow, and nobody is shouting in it
- Stoneybatter · Where Dublin drinks when it wants to avoid tourists
- Portobello · Canal banks in summer, and everyone sits on the grass
- Teeling Distillery · The first new distillery in Dublin in 125 years
Frequently asked questions about Dublin
What is there to see in Dublin?
The top sights in Dublin are Trinity College, Book of Kells and Dublin Castle. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Dublin?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Dublin without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Dublin?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Dublin, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The Rising.
How do you get to Dublin and get around?
The main ways are Dublin Airport, Heuston Station and Connolly Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Dublin, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Dublin that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Dublin for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.