Every guide to Dublin opens with the same landmarks, and the big ones do earn their spot. But these 49 are the places I'd actually walk you to: the icons worth your time, plus the quiet corners and viewpoints that never make the lists.
Trinity College DublinFreeStart where Dublin keeps its brains: Ireland's oldest university, founded 1592, and one of the prettiest campuses in Europe. Directions
Get TicketsThe Book of Kells Experience€26The reason most people come to Trinity: a 1,200-year-old illuminated gospel hand-painted by monks, then the jaw-dropper upstairs, the Long Room, that wood-panelled library straight out of a film. Directions
Temple Bar€7–€10 a pintYes it's touristy, yes the pints are dear, but those red-and-yellow pub fronts are iconic for a reason and the trad music is genuinely good. Directions
Get TicketsCeltic Nights Dinner, Music & Dance Show★ 4.2 · From €69A three-course dinner and an award-winning trad band and dancers, ending with a céilí that drags the room in. Directions
Skip the lineDublin Castle€8 (grounds free)800 years of Irish history in one courtyard, Viking foundations, a medieval tower, and grand State Apartments you can tour. Directions
Skip the lineSt Patrick's Cathedral€11.50Ireland's largest cathedral, founded 1191, where Gulliver's Travels author Jonathan Swift was dean (and is buried). Directions
Kilmainham Gaol★ 4.7 · 1–2 hours★ Tip: Book online weeks ahead. This is the one Dublin attraction that genuinely sells out, and there is no ticket office queue to fall back on. Directions
Get TicketsCroke Park Skyline Rooftop Tour★ 4.9 · From €24The same stadium from 30 metres up: a rooftop walkway over the pitch with the whole city laid out around it, plus GAA Museum entry. Directions
Grafton StreetFreeThe pulse of the city: pedestrian, full of buskers good enough to go pro (a few have), flower stalls and proper Irish coffee shops. Directions
Skip the lineChrist Church Cathedral€11.50 (Dublinia €18)Dublin's oldest building, Viking-founded, with a vast atmospheric crypt, the largest in Ireland, full of oddities including a mummified cat and rat. Directions
Saint Stephen's GreenFreeThe city's living room: a Victorian park with ponds, bandstands and locals eating lunch on the grass the second the sun shows up. Directions
Get TicketsCroke Park Stadium Tour & GAA Museum★ 4.8 · From €18Pitchside and into the dressing rooms of the stadium where hurling and Gaelic football are played, plus the GAA Museum. Directions
Ha'penny BridgeFreeFinish at the little white cast-iron footbridge over the Liffey: named for the half-penny toll they once charged to cross. Directions
Phoenix Park★ 4.7 · 2–3 hours★ Tip: The deer are usually near the Papal Cross in the early morning or around dusk. Keep your distance and never feed them: it is a wild herd, not a petting zoo. Directions
Molly Malone StatueFreeDublin's most photographed lady: the fishmonger from the song every Irish person knows by heart. Directions
Get TicketsDublin Bike & E-Bike Tour with a Local Guide★ 4.7 · From €32Two and a half hours, small group, covering ground you would not manage on foot: Dublin Castle, the Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol and Christ Church. Directions
Skip the lineEPIC The Irish Emigration Museum★ 4.6 · From €22 · 1–2 hours★ Tip: Your ticket includes a free return visit within 10 days, so there is no need to rush it. It is also two minutes from the Jeanie Johnston famine ship and the Famine Memorial: do the three together and the story actually joins up. Directions
Skip the lineJameson Distillery Bow St.From €31The original 1780 home of Jameson whiskey: a guided tour through how it's made, ending with a tasting (and yes, you'll learn to tell Irish whiskey from Scotch). Directions
National Archaeology Museum of Ireland★ 4.6 · 1–2 hours★ Tip: Free entry, no ticket needed. The bog bodies are in a dedicated dim room off the ground floor, and plenty of visitors walk past without realising it is there. Directions
Get TicketsDublin Ghostbus Tour★ 4.6 · From €32A comedy-horror bus through Dublin's darkest history: body snatchers, Bram Stoker and where Dracula actually came from, and a stop in a hidden city graveyard. Directions
Merrion Square45 minutes★ Tip: On Sundays local artists hang their work along the railings. It is the one day the square has a bit of noise to it. Directions
Famine Memorial★ 4.7 · 15 minutes★ Tip: It is a two-minute walk from the Jeanie Johnston, which is the ship those figures are walking towards. Seeing them in that order is the whole point. Directions
Marsh's Library★ 4.8 · 45 minutes★ Tip: One of the quietest places in central Dublin, and it sits right beside St Patrick's Cathedral, where the crowds are. Do the two together. Directions
Get TicketsDublin Highlights & Hidden Gems Walking Tour★ 4.8 · From €24Two hours and a thousand years, on foot: Dublin Castle, Christ Church, Temple Bar and Trinity College, with the stories that hold them together. Directions
Glasnevin Cemetery★ 4.6 · 1–2 hours★ Tip: The tour is what makes it. Walking it alone is just headstones; walking it with a guide is a century of Irish history in ninety minutes. Directions
Dublinia★ 4.5 · 1–2 hours★ Tip: It connects to Christ Church Cathedral by the old covered stone bridge, and the combined ticket is cheaper than paying for both separately. Directions
Little Museum of Dublin★ 4.7 · 1 hour★ Tip: It is guide-led rather than wander-at-your-own-pace, so turn up for a tour slot rather than expecting to drift through. Directions
Get TicketsDublin Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour★ 4.5 · From €34Unlimited hop-on hop-off for 24 to 72 hours with live commentary, past everything on this page. Directions
The Jeanie Johnston Famine Ship★ 4.7 · 1 hour★ Tip: Tours run on the hour and the below-deck section is genuinely low. If you are tall, mind your head on the beams. Directions
Iveagh Gardens★ 4.7 · 45 minutes★ Tip: The entrances are easy to miss: the usual one is off Clonmel Street, through a gap that looks like a service lane. That is exactly why it stays quiet. Directions
National Botanic Gardens★ 4.8 · 1–2 hours★ Tip: Free entry, and there is a gate straight through to Glasnevin Cemetery. Doing both in one trip is the obvious move and almost nobody plans it. Directions
Get TicketsFast-Track Book of Kells & Dublin Castle Tour★ 4.6 · From €79A guide, the queue skipped, and the Book of Kells explained rather than glanced at, then the grounds and gardens of Dublin Castle. Directions
Powerscourt Centre★ 4.6 · 1 hour★ Tip: Do not confuse it with Powerscourt Estate, which is the gardens an hour south in Wicklow. Same name, completely different day. Directions
George's Street ArcadeFreeA red-brick Victorian covered market full of vintage clothes, records, jewellery and proper independent food stalls. Directions
National Museum: Decorative Arts & History★ 4.6 · 1–2 hours★ Tip: Free. The courtyard is vast and the wings are far apart, so pick the section you want before you walk in or you will lose an afternoon crossing it. Directions
Get TicketsForge a Silver Ring Workshop★ 4.9 · From €96Two hours at a bench in a Drury Street studio making a sterling silver ring you keep. Directions
Phil Lynott Statue★ 4.6 · 10 minutes★ Tip: It is on Harry Street, just off Grafton Street beside Bruxelles, which is the pub he actually drank in. Directions
Irish National War Memorial Gardens★ 4.8 · 45 minutes★ Tip: It is a walk out from the centre and it goes with Kilmainham Gaol rather than on its own: the two are close and the histories sit against each other. Directions
Stephen's Green Shopping CentreFreeA bright glass-roofed mall on the corner of the Green, handy if it's raining (it will, embrace it) or you want a quick bite and a wander. Directions
Get TicketsGeneration Pub Crawl★ 4.6 · From €14Five venues, a welcome Guinness, and VIP entry to the last club, run for people travelling alone who want to not be alone by midnight. Directions
Skip the lineGuinness Storehouse€22The big finish: Dublin's no.1 attraction. Seven floors inside the old fermentation house telling the story of the black stuff, ending in the Gravity Bar with a free pint and a 360° view over the whole city. Golden tip: book the… Directions
Get TicketsHowth Coastal Boat Tour★ 4.8 · From €25Fifty minutes around Ireland's Eye, the island off Howth: seals, puffins in season, and sea birds on the cliffs. Directions
Get TicketsIrish Coffee Masterclass★ 4.6 · From €22Forty-five minutes making your own Irish coffee properly, with the story of where the drink came from, at the Irish Whiskey Museum. Directions
Get TicketsIrish Music & Dance Show with Dance Lesson★ 4.7 · From €25Learn the steps badly for half an hour, then watch people who can actually do it, upstairs in a Temple Bar pub. Directions
Get TicketsIrish Whiskey Museum Tour & Tasting★ 4.6 · From €25The one whiskey tour in Dublin that is not owned by a distillery, so the tasting runs across three or four whiskeys from different houses and nobody is selling you a brand. Directions
Get TicketsJameson Distillery Tour with Tastings★ 4.7 · From €31The Bow Street distillery guided properly, ending in a comparative tasting against a Scotch and an American whiskey so you can taste why Irish is different, then a cocktail at the JJ Bar. Directions
Get TicketsRiver Liffey Sightseeing Cruise★ 4.4 · From €21Forty-five minutes on the water through the middle of Dublin, under the Ha'penny Bridge and past the Custom House from the angle the city was actually built to be seen from. Directions
Get TicketsTeeling Whiskey Distillery Tour & Tasting★ 4.6 · From €22The first new distillery to open in Dublin in 125 years, in the Liberties where the whiskey trade used to live. Directions
Viking Splash Tours★ 4.6An amphibious WWII truck that drives Dublin's Viking sites and then drives straight into the Grand Canal Basin and floats. Directions
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Get TicketsDublin Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour★ 4.5 · From €34Unlimited hop-on hop-off for 24 to 72 hours with live commentary, past everything on this page. Directions