Dublin is a small capital with a huge reputation and is filled with beautiful green spaces and great opportunities for entertainment.
The city is a living museum of its history, with medieval castles and cathedrals on display along with the architectural splendors of its 18th century heyday. Dubliners are a charismatic bunch with compelling soul and sociability.
There are a lot of things to do in and around Dublin.
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It is easy to sample the delights at Temple Bar Food Market, which is open on Saturdays. You can see a performance at the Project Arts Centre or see a street mural on the Icon Walk. Temple Bar can be more expensive than other areas, but there are still great places to drink in such as the Vintage Cocktail Club or the Palace Bar.
Trinity College is Ireland's most prestigious university and is located in the center of Dublin. It is the alma mater of writers like Swift, Wilde and Beckett, and has 16 hectares of land.
The Long Room is located in the Old Library. The home of the Book of Kells is one of Ireland's greatest cultural treasures. The neo-Gothic Museum Building is one of the top places to visit if you're traveling with children.
The Irish Emigration Museum is a great place for visitors to learn about Ireland's emigration. emigration and its effect on Ireland and the 70 million people who claim Irish ancestry are explored in an interactive high-tech museum. The World Travel Awards named it Europe's leading tourist attraction for the third year in a row.
There is a music section where you can learn to play the guitar, and a gallery where you can practice drawing with a motion detector. Professional genealogy service partners are available at the Irish Family History Centre.
The Guinness Storehouse is one of the most popular attractions in Dublin. The Storehouse is devoted to sharing the company's history and showcasing how the beer is made.
The top floor of the bar has a panoramic view of the city. If you want to check out your pouring power, you can go here and drink a beer and eat lunch on the floor below.
The Behind-the-Gate tour, which brings visitors to parts of St James's Gate that were previously off-limits to the public, is a planning tip.
Talking Statues Dublin is a great way to explore the city while listening to its story. You can find plaques at 10 of Dublin's most famous statues by using your phone. Each call features a famous Irish actor giving a monologue from the perspective of the statue in question.
You can get in touch with James Joyce who has a monologue that is voiced by Gabriel Byrne, Wolfe Tone, Oscar Wilde, Ruth Negga, and James Larkin. Dramatic, humorous, and pure fantasy are some of the approaches that are included.
As you explore the city center, make sure to check out the statues.
There are a lot of things to see and do in Phoenix Park. Dublin Zoo, ras an Uachtarin, the official residence of the US ambassador and the Papal Cross are some of the attractions. There is a large herd of deer in the park.
The Irish government's official guesthouse is located in the park and was once part of the Guinness estate. There is a guided tour of the library and glass conservatories. The pleasure gardens have a lake and a walled garden.
At the weekends, there is a farmers market in the grounds of Farmleigh House.
An imposing grey building built in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol played a role in almost every act of Ireland's painful path to independence from British rule. It was used as a temporary home for many rebels and revolutionaries. An exhibit on the history of Irish nationalism can be found in the museum that used to be the gaol.
The former prisoners' personal belongings and letters are available to view at the museum. The tour of the eerie prison is led by enthusiastic guides. The leaders of the failed 1916 EasterRising were executed in the yard.
There are 54 different galleries at the National Gallery of Ireland. Goya, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Orpen, Reynolds and Van Dongen are some of the big names in painting. There are high quality pieces from every major European school of painting in the collection.
Free tours can be booked in advance. There are several self-guided tours for families with kids.
Entry to the National Botanic Gardens is free. The gardens were founded in 1795 and are famous for their historic glasshouses that were restored in the 19th century. Plants from all over the world can be found in the 19.5-hectare gardens.
There are sculptures, two sundials, a bandstand and a viking house. There are refreshments at the garden tearoom.
Booking in advance for a daily guided tour is a planning tip.
The Liberties is a good place to stay if you want to see the Guinness Storehouse but it's also worth a visit. Christ Church Cathedral is the most photographed of Dublin's three cathedrals and is where the country's saint got his hands wetbaptizing the locals.
There is a cute independent bookstore called Marrowbone Books that sells pre-loved paperbacks and hosts intimate music concerts. Dublin has an antique quarter on Francis Street, broken up by small art galleries, and newer additions to the area include a couple of whiskey distilleries. Arthur's is the best place to drink Guinness after visiting the Storehouse because of the crackling fire.
The Malahide Castle is set on 260 acres of beautiful parkland and is located 9 km from Dublin Airport. You can listen to the stories of the Talbot family on a guided tour of Malahide Castle.
The gardens contain rare trees from all over the world and are very popular. The Walled Garden includes the pond, the Rose Garden, and the Victorian Conservatories. The butterfly house has over 20 species of butterfly.
If you're traveling with children, make time for the interactive fairy trail, which is full of magic and fun.
St Stephen's Green is one of the best green spaces in Dublin and a great place to have a picnic. The layout of the park is quintessentially Victorian, with tree-lined avenues, a duck pond, ornamental gazebos and a bandstand that are still used in summer.
There is a playground and garden for people who are visually impaired.
Grafton Street shopping area and The Little Museum of Dublin are close to the park, so there are lots of other things to do nearby.
The nation's artifacts are to be found in this institution, which opened in 1890 with a fine collection of coins, medals and Irish antiquities. The primary repository of Ireland's cultural and archaeological treasures is the National Museum of Ireland. Stunning Celtic metalwork, Ireland's most famous crafted artefacts, and a collection of mummified bodies from the Iron Age are all found here.
The National Museum of Ireland - Decorative Arts & History has exhibits that include silver, ceramics, glassware, weaponry, furniture and folk life displays. The Museum of Natural History is a great place to visit if you have family members who like stuffed animals.
Most of the leading names of the past 150 years are buried here, including Daniel O'Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell. O'Connell established the Glasnevin Cemetery in response to the Protestant cemeteries' refusal to bury Catholics.
The social and political story of Ireland can be found in the museum. The City of the Dead covers burial practices and religious beliefs of half a million people in the cemetery, while the Milestone Gallery has an interactive timeline of the most famous residents.
You can combine a visit to this place with a visit to the Botanic Gardens.
The Little Museum of Dublin is located in a Georgian house and is open to the public. There is an original copy of the fateful letter given to the Irish envoys to the treaty negotiations of 1921 and a lectern used by John F Kennedy during his visit to Ireland in 1963.
A whole room on the 2nd floor is devoted to the history of the band U2, and the museum has a treasure hunt that can take 60 minutes to complete. The Green Mile tour is a popular walking tour of St Stephen's Green that starts outside the museum.
Children love to look through the public viewing telescopes at the lighthouse, which is located in the south Dublin port town of Dn Laoghaire.
The people's park has been open to the public since 1890 and hosts a farmers market every Sunday. There are examples of Victorian architecture with the Gate Lodge and the Tea Rooms. If you want to visit Dn Laoghaire you have to go to Teddy's Ice-Cream.
The James Joyce Tower and Museum in Sandycove has a great view of the coast and the surrounding countryside and is a good place to start planning.
Demonstrating that science is fun, engaging and relevant to our everyday lives in more ways than we could imagine is the mission statement of the immensely popular Science Gallery. It is located in a college.
Its exhibitions have ranged from design and violence to light and love and from biomimicry to the futures of the human species. Providing programs and experiences that allow visitors to participate and facilitate social connections is the focus of the program.
A good puzzle would be to cross Dublin without going to a bar. The pub is still the main hub of social interaction in Dublin. A night out in the pub is one of the highlights of a visit to Dublin as it is the perfect social lubricant and the city's relationship with alcohol is complex.
Every Dubliner has a favorite haunt, from the always changing traditional pub to the new opening that brings in the beautiful people. There are more than 1000 in the city.
If you want to see some of Dublin's best-loved drinking holes, leave Temple Bar and go to John Mulligan's, where John F Kennedy paid his respects in 1945.
The IMMA is the country's foremost modern art gallery and was built in the 17th century. The blend of old and new comes together wonderfully, and you'll find contemporary Irish artists such as Kathy Prendergast, and a film installation by Neil Jordan. There is a permanent exhibition with paintings from Picasso and Mir, as well as regular exhibitions.
When you're done visiting the cutting-edge collection, take a stroll around the building and gardens.
Grafton Street is a good place to find buskers and live music, with many streets and pubs having live music. The Button Factory is the most popular live-music venue in the city.
Local music can be found at the International Bar. The comedy venue upstairs is one of the best. The Workman's Club is known for its acoustic warblers and electronic harmonizers.
You're never far from a beach in Dublin whether you're looking for a family day out, some cold water in the open sea, or just a long stretch of sand to walk on. Sandycove Beach is very popular with young families. Dubliners come all year round to swim in the Irish Sea at the Forty Foot Pool.
Seapoint Beach is located on the south side of the city between Blackrock and Monkstown. Dog-walkers, joggers, swimmers, paddlers, and kite-surfers can all be found at Dollymount Strand. Dublin's Poolbeg Chimneys and Howth Head can be seen from the 5 km-long stretch.
The North Bull Island Nature Reserve is a great place to watch wildlife in the city.
O'Connell Street is Dublin's main thoroughfare and contains many sculptures, monuments, shops and historic buildings. The city's most visible landmark is The Spire, a needle-like monument that is 120m high and is located on one of the widest streets in Europe. Notable statues include those of political leaders.
Ireland's struggle for independence can be traced back to the General Post Office building, where the Proclamation of the Republic was read. As command HQ for the rebels during the 1916 Easter Rising, the GPO has become the focal point for all kinds of protests, parades and remembrances, and is also home to the interactive GPO Witness History visitor center.
If you want to cram in the sights or avoid blisters, a simple sightseeing tour is all you need. It's worth considering a guided tour for those with a penchant for food, history or literature.
The 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour is led by Trinity graduates, who give you the lowdown on where, why, and how the 1916 Rising happened. The Dublin Literary Pub Crawl is where actors escort you through a selection of the city's most renowned literary boozers. The Dublin Musical Pub Crawl explores the history of Irish traditional music and its influence on contemporary styles in many Temple Bar pubs.
If you just want to see the sights, planning tip is to put your feet up. The Viking Splash Tours explores the city center before taking a plunge into the canal.
14 Henrietta Street is a new addition to the Dublin museum circuit but has been very well received. Behind the facade of one of Dublin's famous Georgian townhouses, visitors can see how the social history of the area has changed over time. Over 100 people were in number 14 on Henrietta Street, which was originally built for wealthy Dublin families.
Visitors are given an insight into the stories of the humans who passed through the house, examining their changing circumstances, their experience of family life, and the impact of politics and world affairs on their circumstances.
The article was first published in April of this year.
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