Dublin

What to Do in Dublin by A Dubliner

Darragh

11 Jun 2025 — 11 min read

This Is Dublin Too! See the Dublin Most Tourists Miss on the Sea Tour

Dublin By A Local

I just Googled “What to do in Dublin,” and the guides are as dismal as the Irish weather in January.

Written by people who don’t know Dublin. They just churn out the same Things To Do In Dublin list, copied from someone else who didn’t know it either.

Sure, the Guinness Storehouse and Book of Kells are popular for good reason. They are worth seeing. But if that’s all you do, you’re missing out.

Dublin’s Secret Side: Nature

Dublin has something that Paris, London, and Madrid don’t have. A gorgeous natural setting with sea on one side, mountains on the other.

The best of Dublin isn’t in the city at all. It’s in our coastal villages, which have everything people come to Ireland for: ancient ruins, castles, sea views, wild cliffs, authentic pubs and markets.

So please 🙏 spend one day in the city, then get out and explore the real Dublin, that 90% of tourists miss. You’ll thank me later.

Dublin By A Dubliner

I’m a Dubliner born and raised. I’m going to show you the best of my city.

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How Many Days Should I Spend in Dublin?

If you are in Ireland for 7-10 days, then you should spend 1 or 2 days in Dublin. One day exploring the city attractions and one day out in the coastal villages.

If you are here on a city break based in Dublin, you can easily spend 4 days here. One day in the city, one day in Howth, one in either my Sea or Village walks and a day trip to the Wicklow Mountains.

When Should I come to Dublin?

The Summer is best of course, long days and better chance of good weather, but Dublin a major capital city. There's events of year round. March is St Patrick's Day. December is perhaps my favorite month with the festive spirits. April/May/September/October have longer days and it's not as busy as summer.

Dublin Hotels

Where to Stay in Dublin

Dublin's has a place to rest your head no matter your style.I've sorted my recommendations by traveler type, luxury, budget, coastal, village stays with real guest reviews. All my Dublin hotel recommendations are on this page👇

Best Dublin Walking Tours

I've created 6 walking tours to show you to show you the best of Dublin. You can walk them yourself or on a guided tour with me.

Dublin City: Dublin City Centre. Where to stay, eat, drink & where to avoid.
Local Village: Off the beaten track in a local village, park & farmers market
Coastal Dublin: Our millionaire's coast with Dublin's best views
Howth Cliffs: The Howth Cliff Walk Loop. Famous for a reason
Jetlag Buster: You've flown all night. This walk is designed for you
Sunday Session: Traditional Irish music pub crawl where only locals go

Dublin City Centre Tour

Dublin is a 1000 year old Viking city full of history, winding streets, characters. I've been in all the attractions. The hardest part is deciding which to visit.

Here are my top 3 you should visit.

Guinness Storehouse - You have to go! Simple as that.
The Afternoon Tea Bus Tour - Cucumber sandwiches on a vintage bus!
The Pearse Lyons Distillery - More local than Jameson & in a church

Also within walking distance: The Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College, the Jameson Distillery, the River Liffey, the EPIC Museum, The Little Museum of Dublin, Grafton Street, Temple Bar, Christchurch Cathedral, Dublinia, the Irish Rock 'n Roll Museum, the Irish Whiskey Museum, and the National Museum.

The Local Village Walking Tour

The most off the beaten track tour. A walk in a local Dublin village.

You'll see how Dubliners spend their weekends, out in nature in Dublin's most beautiful park, playing Gaelic sports, eating at the Farmers Market, finishing with a walk on the beach in Dublin Bay Biosphere.

I lead a group walk through the Village every Saturday!

The Coastal Dublin Walking Tour

The Most Beautiful Walk In Dublin Along Millionaire Coast

This walk takes you through Dublin's wealthiest areas where the views are stunning! This is the side of Dublin you didn't know existed.

The Howth Cliffs Walking Tour

We have cliffs here in Dublin. No need to drive across the country

Howth is very firmly on the tourist trail, but rightly so with the utterly stunning Cliff Walk, have fresh fish & chips and take a boat around Ireland's Eye.

Dublin Pubs

This is a topic that deserves a page all of its own so I wrote one. Writing about Guinness & pubs was my favorite page to write for some strange reason 😂

Dublin Pub Crawls

Here are the best pub crawls in Dublin.

A traditional pub crawl in Dublin. It's a group tour and a good way to meet new people while seeing the pubs of Dublin.
The Literary Pub Crawl so you can feel like you're learning smart while drinking
A Private Pub Crawl with Me! We go far from the tourist bars and visit my locals. I've put a lifetime of research into picking these Dublin bars!

Dublin Distilleries

Dublin's Golden Triangle is famous for its whiskey production. We have Teelings, Roe & Co, Jameson but my favorite of them all is The Pearse Lyons Distillery. It's the only one that is owned by an Irish family and is located in a church!

Temple Bar

I shake my head in disappointment when I hear of people going to Temple Bar or Disney Dublin as locals call it.

Dublin is a city with the greatest pubs in the world full of friendly Irish people. And so many visitors to walk by these beautiful bars and go to touristy Temple Bar

Traditional Irish Music

The guidebooks say go to The Cobblestone for Irish traditional music. The musicians are excellent but they are tucked away in a corner and you have to be very quiet out of respect for them. I understand it but I don't love it.

Instead:

If you want to hear Irish music and learn how to Irish dance, my good friend Dan runs the brilliant Irish Dance Party.
The Irish Rock n Roll Museum is the best thing in Temple Bar. Rated 4.9 by more than 5,000 visitors.
I just started the Sunday Session Trad Music pub crawl where we go to locals only spots

Dublin Restaurants

Dublin has the quality of restaurants that you'd expect in a capital city. To make this easy, walk to this intersection and explore the streets in this area. They are full of local restaurants where Dubliners eat. And leave room for dessert at Murphy's Ice Cream at the end.

Dublin Food Tours

I do a food tour in every city I go to. Just love them, a good mix of exploring the city, entertaining guide and of course, food. Here are the 3 best in Dublin

Delicious Dublin is the highest rated of all the Dublin food tours
The Dublin Walking Food Tour is superb and a good idea to do on your first night, so you can pick up tips on where to eat for the rest of your time here.
This is a private food tour where you get 10 different tastings. Come hungry!

Dublin Museums

There's a museum for every day of the year in Dublin. The best for me is the EPIC Emigration and the most interesting for learning about the history of Dublin is Dublinia. Here's my reviews of the best museums in Dublin.

The Most Fun Things To Do in Dublin

Afternoon Tea Bus Tour. Take a vintage old bus around Dublin while having afternoon tea on the bus. It's a blast, lots of fun!
You have got to take a tour of Dublin Bay on the brilliantly named Goat Boat. It is the most fun thing to do in Dublin. I just did it & here's my review.
Walk on the roof of Croke Park, Ireland's national stadium.

Dublin Day Trips

It's amazing how quickly you go from busy city to barren wilderness in the Wicklow Mountains and castles ruled by ancients rules. Base yourself in Dublin and go on these day trips.

A full day tour of Wicklow Mountain National Park and Glendalough’s medieval monastic settlement. . This company uses small buses so you can get to places the big coaches can't. Very highly recommended!
Ancient Sites of Ireland Day Tour - You'll see some of the oldest sites in Ireland including Trim Castle and the Hill of Tara where the High Kings of Ireland ruled from.
The Blarney Stone, Rock of Cashel & Cahir Castle. If you're short on time in Ireland but still want to see three of Ireland's most famous sites, this is perfect.
Newgrange is Ireland's version of the Pyramids except it's even older! Here is my review of my recent day trip to Newgrange.

Getting Around Dublin

Dublin is small. Everything in the central city area is walkable. The Dublin Hop-on Hop-Off bus is the easiest way to see get around main tourist area.

But we do have bus, train, trams & taxis to get you wherever you need to go. It's a bit complicated so I wrote a full guide to help you.

Dublin Airport

You're probably landing at Dublin Airport. I'm an extremely regular visitor there and here's my advice for less stress at DUB. If you are flying back to the US, you have to read my guide to getting through US Preclearance at Dublin Airport.