Dublin

Dublin bridge

One ques­tion that I am asked more than any other about Ire­land is whether Dublin is worth vis­it­ing. The answer is a resound­ing yes, but with so much else to see and do on the Old Sod, don’t let it take up too much of your vacation.

The first thing that you should do is get a Dublin Pass Sight­see­ing Card which gives you free entry to 32attrac­tions in and around Dublin includ­ing the Guin­ness Store­house, The Dublin Zoo, all of the major muse­ums, the Kil­main­ham Gaol (jail), the Old Jame­son Dis­tillery and both Croke Park and Aviva Sta­dium. The card will also get you dis­counts on many other attrac­tions and rides like Viking Splash Tours or His­tor­i­cal Walk­ing Tours of Dublin.

The best way to get around Dublin is by foot but, if you are not so inclined or are trav­el­ing with young chil­dren, con­sider get­ting a “hop on, hop off” bus ticket which will take you to most of the major attrac­tions in town. There are sev­eral other pub­lic trans­porta­tion options available.

You may also want to con­sider day trips to nearby Pow­er­scourt Gar­dens, the Wick­low Moun­tains, New Grange or the Irish National Stud Farm and Japan­ese Gar­dens in Kildare.

Dublin is the youngest city in Europe with more than 50% of its res­i­dents clock­ing in at less than 25 years old. Combine all this youth with 665 licensed pubs and you get a city with a lot of energy and a vibrant nightlife. So after your day of sight­see­ing you will as the Irish like to say “be spoilt for choice”.

Tem­ple Bar is the most famous party des­ti­na­tion for those that are so inclined. Unless you are anx­ious to “Party like a Viking” (Dublin’s found­ing fathers were Vikings), it is prob­a­bly an area to avoid. Their are many other venues that fea­ture pubs with tra­di­tional music and a gen­er­ally more sedate environment.

If you fancy your­self more of an intel­lec­tual, get your­self to Duke Pub which is one block from Trin­ity Col­lege. A Lit­er­ary Pub Crawl starts each night at 7:00 PM in the summer.