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I didn’t know what to expect of Dublin and was wonderfully surprised. As a musician, I was really able to love and appreciate Dublin, purely for the friendly vibe of the people and the constant (and wonderful) music-making that seems to happen 24/7. The city is beautiful and charming, and there is a lot to see, do, and eat!

Transportation

The airport is about an hour’s bus ride away from the city center. You can purchase your bus ticket at the airport. Be warned that Google Maps doesn’t always work that well when it comes to public transportation. The bus stop names were not the same, nor were they in the same place that Google Maps showed. Sometimes, the bus skipped right over a place that was supposed to be a bus stop according to the app! It is far easier to walk around and use Google Maps to get from place to place than to use it for public transport. 

Uber is also a good resource if you need a taxi. Generally, though, you can see much of Dublin by foot if you stay in a centrally located hotel. Along the way, you will see beautiful buildings and street sculptures, and if you ever need a pint of Guinness you can find it at just about every place selling food and drink along the streets and canal!

Accommodation

We stayed near St. Stephen’s Green and found that hotel prices weren’t terribly cheap, but it wasn’t as expensive as staying in other parts of Europe. AirBnB is also available, though the prices can be comparable to hotels.

Food

There are lots of cute cafes where you can find great coffee and breakfast food. If you are vegan there are also a lot of options for you! I was visiting a friend and she also introduced me to a great taco place called El Grito. Basically, you can find any kind of food you are craving in Dublin.

Dublin pubs are incredible and I would highly recommend visiting them. We went to The Old Storehouse Bar where I had an amazing Irish stew, accompanied by Guinness’s and Kilkenny’s. Pubs often have live music and the pub-goers can really get into the music. We loved the vibe of Dublin pubs – they were noisy and lively and everyone was friendly and genuinely having a good time 

At our pub, there was a live band and one girl got up to do an Irish jig. People also sang along with the music which gave the pubs a really friendly, familiar feel. My friend told me they went to a pub where there was a ukulele singalong and a room full of 50 people playing the ukulele! If you want the true tourist experience, head on over for another drink at The Temple Bar after dinner and have a Guinness while singing along with the live music.

What to do

Parks

St. Stephen Green’s park is a nice place to go for a short walk and enjoy some greenery inside the city. There were lots of families and dog walkers here, but it was quite small. The largest park is the Phoenix Park, located on the far west side of the city. Apparently it is very beautiful, but we didn’t quite have enough time to see it!

Molly Malone Statue

You will probably walk by the statue of Molly a few times during your visit. If you do, it’s good luck to get “handsy” with her (see us in the photo)! Apparently, she was a real person who was a fishmonger in Dublin, but as the song suggests, she was probably a nightwalker on the side … 

“Molly Malone” is the unofficial anthem of Dublin. No one knows if there ever was a real Molly Malone, but many people like to believe that she did exist.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral & Trinity College

Make sure to visit the beautiful campus of Trinity College, which is also where the Book of Kells is displayed. The entry fee is quite high, but if seeing famous old books is something you are interested in then it is worth a peek!

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, built in 1191, is also stunning, with a beautiful garden. It is apparently the tallest church in Ireland! When I was there I saw several people having a picnic and enjoying the sunshine. There is also a plaque commemorating St. Patrick himself.

Bridges

You can walk all along the canal to the harbor where the fishing and freight boats are, and you can also see three interesting bridges of the city. 

The Ha’Penny Bridge was built to save money in 1816. Previously, the only way to cross the canal in Dublin was by ferry. To make money to cover the cost of the bridge, pedestrians were charged half of a penny by the builder, who was granted the right to these charges for the next 100 years. The charges were dropped in 1919.

The Samuel Beckett Bridge is a relatively new and uniquely designed bridge that uses the famous Irish harp as a design focal point. It can also open up to allow ships to pass underneath.

The O’Connell bridge is famous because it is wider than it is long. There is also a plaque on the side about Father Pat Noise who died “under suspicious circumstances.” It sounds like a touching story until you know the background for the plaque. Apparently, some art students made the plaque as a joke which wasn’t discovered for 2 years, but the Irish people had become so attached to the story that they decided to keep the plaque on the bridge instead of getting rid of it! The joke mostly worked because the tricksters installed the plaque in a depression left by a control panel for a defunct Millennial Countdown clock which was supposed to rise out of the water on New Year’s Day in 2000. After many protests the clock was removed in 1996, years before it was supposed to be used.

The Guinness Factory

No visit to Dublin is complete without visiting the Guinness Storehouse. Usually referred to as the factory, the Storehouse walks visitors through every step in the process of making a Guinness, shows you the proper way to pour your own Guinness (there is quite the technique involved in the process), shows you how to taste a Guinness (sort of like a wine tasting, but foamier), and then finishes off the tour with a wonderful view of Dublin from the top of the factory while you enjoy your own, ice-cold Guinness from the source. The trip isn’t cheap, but it is memorable, assuming you like beer! 

If you want to do the tour, I would advise that you buy your tickets in advance online so you can skip the lines going in. They have blocks of time that you are allowed to enter in order to ensure there are not too many people in the factory. Make sure to choose your time wisely and show up on time! The tour is entirely self-guided, so you can spend as little or as much time as you like in the factory once you enter.

Final Thoughts

Dublin is the perfect city for anyone (especially Americans or Canadians) who would like to visit Europe but aren’t quite sure where to start. Everyone speaks English and the culture is very accessible and fun. The Irish are a wonderful, friendly folk, and I am pretty sure that once you visit you will want to return!

For those of you who live in Europe, Dublin is even easier – just a quick, cheap weekend trip away.

If you are looking to visit Ireland for the weekend, save the pin below to reference later! If you have already been to Dublin, what did you like or dislike about it? I think the next time I go I would like to bring my fiddle and learn some Irish tunes in the pub!