50 Fun and Unusual Things to Do in Dublin (Local Picks, With Prices)
I once spent forty minutes in the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse watching rain move across the Dublin hills like someone dragging a curtain, pint going warm in my hand because the view was better than the drinking. That is Dublin in one scene: a city that rewards you for slowing down and looking out a window. This list skips past the obvious photo stops where it can and tells you what is actually worth your limited hours and euros.
Only-here experiences
1. Trinity College and the Book of Kells
Yes, everyone goes. But the Long Room library, with its barrel ceiling and marble busts stacked two stories high, earns the queue, and the illuminated manuscript itself is smaller and stranger than photos suggest. Go right at opening or in the last hour. Timed entry sells out in summer, so book ahead; check current hours before you go. Tickets from around €18–35 depending on the version you choose.
2. Dublin Castle's undercroft
Most visitors photograph the pastel Georgian courtyard and leave. Underneath it, a guided tour shows the excavated Viking riverbank and the original medieval tower foundations, which is the more interesting castle. Allow 45 minutes for the tour, located just off Dame Street. Entry with guided tour runs roughly €8–13; check current pricing before visiting.
3. Marsh's Library
Dublin's oldest public library, opened in 1707, still uses wired alcoves called "cages" where readers were once locked in with rare books to stop theft. It smells exactly like you'd want a 300-year-old library to smell. Near St. Patrick's Cathedral, open limited afternoons — check current days. Entry around €5.
4. Kilmainham Gaol
The leaders of the 1916 Rising were executed in the stonebreakers' yard here, and the guided tour does not soften that history. It is the single best place in Dublin to understand modern Irish independence, not just admire architecture. In Kilmainham, west of the center; allow 90 minutes and book ahead, as tours sell out. Entry around €8.
Dark Dublin Walking Tour: Torture, Murder and MysteryCheck availability on Viator →
5. Dark Dublin Walking Tour
For visitors who find plague pits more interesting than pastel doors, this evening walk through the old city covers body snatchers, public executions and the odd haunting with more wit than melodrama. Two hours, starts in the city center, best after dinner when the streets thin out. From €24.
6. Viking/Medieval Quarter with a costumed guide
A guide in Viking dress walking you through Wood Quay and Christchurch sounds like it could be cheesy, and it occasionally is, but the history of Dublin as a Norse trading port rarely gets this much attention elsewhere. Three hours, small groups, runs most days. From €30.
Walking Tour of Dublin’s Viking/Medieval Quarter with a VikingCheck availability on Viator →
7. The GPO and the 1916 bullet holes
Walk down O'Connell Street and look at the pillars of the General Post Office — the pockmarks are still there from the Easter Rising. The free exterior view takes five minutes; the museum inside goes deeper for a modest entry fee, around €15.
8. Glasnevin Cemetery tour
This is where Michael Collins, Daniel O'Connell and a few hundred thousand ordinary Dubliners are buried, and the guided walk turns what sounds grim into one of the better history lessons in the city. Two hours, in Glasnevin north of the center, book the guided version rather than wandering alone. Around €15.
Guinness, whiskey and pubs
9. Guinness Storehouse
Overrated as a brewery tour, genuinely good as a city viewpoint — the self-pour class and the Gravity Bar's 360-degree window over Dublin are worth the price on their own. St. James's Gate, allow two hours, book ahead for summer slots. From €37.
Guinness Storehouse ExperienceCheck availability on Viator →
10. Jameson Distillery tasting
A tighter, faster alternative to Guinness if your afternoon is short: a 45-minute tour and tasting in Smithfield comparing Irish, Scotch and bourbon styles side by side. Good for whiskey newcomers who want the short version. From €31.
Dublin Jameson Distillery Tour and Tasting 45 minsCheck availability on Viator →
11. Irish Whiskey Museum tastings
Smaller and more personal than Jameson's flagship site, with three or four guided tastings and a clearer story of how Irish whiskey nearly died out and came back. An hour, near Trinity College, good rainy-afternoon filler. From €25.
12. Combined Jameson and Guinness tour
If you only have one day and want both big-name drinks ticked off without doubling back across the city, this bundles both into one guided half-day. Good for first-timers who hate logistics more than they love either drink. Four hours total. From €123.
Dublin Jameson Distillery and Guinness Storehouse Guided TourCheck availability on Viator →
13. A pub crawl with actual literature attached
Dublin produced four Nobel laureates in literature, and a literary pub crawl threading between the pubs they drank in is a better evening than most organized nightlife. Book ahead, these fill up, especially in summer. Expect roughly €15–20 depending on the operator; check our pubs and music guide for current options.
14. A free trad session at a proper local pub
Skip the pubs with amplifiers and tour buses outside and head toward the Liberties or Stoneybatter for a session where musicians just turn up and play. No cover charge, buy a pint and stay quiet during the tunes. Best after 9:30pm midweek. Free beyond your drinks.
15. Teeling Distillery tour
The first new distillery to open in Dublin in over 125 years when it launched, and it still feels more like a working craft operation than a museum. The Liberties neighborhood, an hour, small-group tastings included. Check current pricing, typically in the €25–30 range.
16. The Palace Bar
A Victorian pub on Fleet Street that journalists have been drinking in since the 1940s, with a stained-glass skylight room at the back that nobody photographs enough. No entry fee, order at the bar, best on a weekday evening when it's not overrun. Free to enter.
Food and drink beyond the pub
17. Dublin 3-Course Irish Food Tour through historic pubs
This one earns its price by combining three separate pub stops with full courses rather than tasting plates, so you leave full rather than peckish. Three hours, small groups, good for a first dinner in the city. From €89.
18. Food on Foot street food tour
A cheaper, looser alternative that walks you through Dublin's street-food and market side rather than its formal restaurants, with a local guide who clearly enjoys the job. Three hours, good value at this price point. From €28.
19. Dublin Sweet Treats tour
Donuts, churros and the city's dessert history in two hours, pitched well for anyone traveling with a sweet tooth or a teenager who has had enough museums for one trip. From €63.
20. The Fishshack on Howth pier
Not fancy, just a counter serving fish and chips with the boats that caught your dinner tied up thirty feet away. Howth is 40 minutes from the city center by DART. Expect to pay around €12–16 for a meal, no booking needed.
21. Avoca on Suffolk Street
A food hall and café above a crafts shop, useful for a sit-down lunch between Trinity and Grafton Street without tourist-trap pricing. No booking, busiest at 1pm, go slightly earlier. Mains roughly €14–18.
22. The English Market comparison trip
Not in Dublin at all — it's in Cork — but if you're doing a day trip south, pairing Cork's market with Blarney Castle makes for a better food day than Blarney alone. Full day, bundled transport. From €85.
Outdoors and day trips
23. Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and Galway
This is the day trip people come back talking about, and for once the hype holds — 700-foot cliffs, limestone pavement that looks lunar, and a stop in Galway's old town. Long day, 12.5 hours door to door, book ahead in summer. From €78.
24. Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains
A sixth-century monastic settlement around two glacial lakes, an hour south of the city and genuinely different terrain from anything in Dublin itself. Half-day option available if you're tight on time. From €33.
25. Powerscourt, Wicklow and Glendalough combined
Adds a formal garden and waterfall to the Wicklow itinerary above, which makes for a fuller but longer day — worth it if gardens interest you more than ruins alone. Eight hours, small groups. From €65.
26. Giant's Causeway and the Antrim coast
Basalt columns that look engineered but aren't, plus a stop in Belfast — but budget the whole day and bring a pound-sterling card, since you're crossing into Northern Ireland. 13 hours, long but worth doing once. From €80.
27. Dublin to Belfast via Dunluce Castle in a black cab
A different way to do the Causeway run, with Belfast's black-cab tour tradition woven in and Dunluce Castle's ruins on the clifftop as a bonus stop. Good for people who've done the standard coach tour before. 13 hours. From €85.
28. Howth cliff walk
A proper coastal walk with seals, a lighthouse and views back toward Dublin Bay, reachable on the DART in 40 minutes for the price of a transit ticket. Two to three hours round trip, bring decent shoes. Free beyond transit, roughly €3–5 each way.
29. Boyne Valley ancient sites
Newgrange predates the pyramids, and this day trip covers it along with the Hill of Tara, which gets overlooked next to flashier sites. Ten hours, north of the city, book ahead for the Newgrange chamber access. From €70.
30. Kilkenny's medieval center
A smaller, quieter day trip than the big coastal ones, built around a genuine castle and narrow medieval lanes rather than natural scenery. Good pick if you did Wicklow already and want contrast. Check current Dublin day trips for combined Glendalough-Kilkenny options.
31. Phoenix Park, free and enormous
Bigger than any city park in London, with a resident herd of wild deer you'll likely spot near the Furze Road. Rent a bike at the gate or just walk — an hour covers the highlights, a full afternoon covers the deer and the zoo. Free to enter.
Free and nearly free
32. Grafton Street buskers
Some of the acts performing here on a Saturday afternoon have genuinely gone on to record deals — it's a legitimate launching point, not filler. Free, best between noon and 4pm on weekends.
33. St. Stephen's Green
A proper Victorian park at the top of Grafton Street, good for a sandwich break between museum stops. Free, gates close at dusk, check current closing time seasonally.
34. National Gallery of Ireland
Free permanent collection with a genuinely strong Caravaggio and an entire room of Jack B. Yeats that most visitors skip past on the way to the gift shop. Allow 90 minutes. Free.
35. National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology
The bog bodies here are unsettling in the way good museums should occasionally be — preserved Iron Age remains found in Irish peat, displayed with more care than you'd expect. Kildare Street, free, allow an hour.
36. Chester Beatty Library
Easily the most underrated stop on this list: an extraordinary collection of Islamic, East Asian and biblical manuscripts behind Dublin Castle, with a rooftop garden that almost nobody uses. Free, allow 90 minutes.
37. Ha'penny Bridge at dusk
The cast-iron pedestrian bridge over the Liffey, best seen lit up just after sunset rather than at midday with every tour group crossing at once. Free, five minutes to walk across, worth the detour.
38. Little Museum of Dublin
A guided tour through twentieth-century Dublin life told through donated objects — concert posters, old shop signs, a U2 exhibit — in a Georgian townhouse on St. Stephen's Green. An hour, and the guides are the reason to book rather than wander alone. From €18.
39. Dublin Highlights and Hidden Corners walking tour
A broad orientation walk for a first morning in the city, pitched at people who want the layout and the stories before deciding what to come back to. Two hours, starts near Trinity. From €24.
40. Iveagh Gardens
A genuinely overlooked formal garden tucked behind the National Concert Hall, with fewer visitors than St. Stephen's Green and more interesting features — a sunken lawn, a maze, a rustic grotto. Free, open daytime hours.
Rainy day and indoor options
41. EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum
An interactive museum on the Dublin docks tracing Irish emigration worldwide, better suited to a wet afternoon than most Dublin museums because it's almost entirely indoors and screen-based. Allow two hours. Check current entry pricing, typically around €18.
42. The Hugh Lane Gallery
Home to Francis Bacon's reconstructed studio, moved brick by brick from London, which is stranger and more compelling than the description suggests. Free, in Parnell Square, allow an hour.
43. Dublin Private Walking Tour, tailored
For travelers who want the city explained around their specific interests rather than a fixed script — architecture, literature, whiskey history, whatever you ask for. Three hours, private group, pricier but genuinely flexible. From €135.
44. Marlay Park's Dublin Mountains visitor center
A good fallback when the weather turns on a day you'd planned to hike — indoor exhibits on the Dublin mountains with enough outdoor trail access nearby if the rain breaks. Free entry, on the southern edge of the city.
45. Jameson's indoor cocktail-making add-on
Some whiskey tours include an indoor cocktail session as the finale, which is a sensible way to spend a wet hour that would otherwise be wasted. Ask when booking; check current whiskey distillery tours for which include it.
After dark
46. Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
A genuinely odd but fun concept: tea and pastries served on a moving double-decker bus touring Dublin's landmarks, which sounds twee and mostly isn't. 90 minutes, book ahead, good for a birthday or a rainy itinerary gap. From €60.
47. A late trad session in the Liberties
Past 10pm, the sessions get looser and the crowd thins to mostly locals, which is when the music tends to get better, not worse. Free beyond your drinks, no booking, just show up and find a seat near the musicians.
48. Whelan's live music venue
A mid-size venue on Wexford Street with a strong track record for breaking Irish acts before they get big. Check the listings before you travel; ticket prices vary by show, typically €15–30.
With kids
49. Dublin Zoo in Phoenix Park
A proper full day out, especially paired with the park's deer herd outside the gates. Book ahead in summer for lower queue times; check current family ticket pricing, generally in the €20–25 per adult range. See our Dublin with kids itinerary for a full-day plan.
50. Dublin Hop-On Hop-Off Bus with Little Museum entry
Useful for families managing tired legs between the Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham and the city center, with a museum ticket bundled in. Two-hour loop, hop off wherever interests you. From €29.
| Category | Example | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Chester Beatty Library, Phoenix Park, National Gallery | €0 |
| Under €20 | Little Museum, whiskey tastings, walking tours | €15–18 |
| Half-day tours | Glendalough half day, Dublin Castle | €8–33 |
| Full-day trips | Cliffs of Moher, Giant's Causeway | €70–85 |
For a fuller rundown of the city's headline sights before you build your own list, our Dublin things-to-do hub covers the basics this list deliberately skips past.
How to plan it
- Base yourself in Temple Bar's edges, the Liberties or around Merrion Square — walkable to Trinity, Dublin Castle and most pubs, and quieter at night than Temple Bar's core.
- Three days covers the city plus one day trip properly; see our Dublin in 3 days itinerary for a working structure.
- Get a Leap Card for the Luas and DART if you're doing Howth or multiple suburbs — cash fares add up fast.
- Book the Guinness Storehouse, Book of Kells and any Cliffs of Moher or Giant's Causeway trip at least a few days ahead, more in summer.
- Pack a waterproof regardless of season — Dublin's weather turns on no notice.
- If whiskey and Guinness are the priority, our Guinness and whiskey itinerary sequences the tastings so you're not drinking on an empty afternoon.
Questions people ask before going
Is two days enough to see Dublin?
Two days covers the big sights — Trinity, the castle, the Storehouse, Temple Bar — plus one day trip if you start early. Three days is more comfortable and lets you add Wicklow or the coast without rushing.
What's overrated in Dublin?
Temple Bar itself, after dark. It's the one part of the city built almost entirely for tourists, with pub prices to match — go for the daytime market and leave the nightlife to the Liberties or Stoneybatter instead.
What's underrated?
The Chester Beatty Library, full stop. It's free, world-class, and usually near empty while coach groups queue two streets over for the Book of Kells.
Do I need a car?
No — the center is flat and walkable, the Luas and DART cover the rest, and day trips to the Cliffs of Moher, Wicklow or the Giant's Causeway are better done as organized tours that handle the driving.
When should I avoid visiting?
Not avoid exactly, but know what you're walking into: St. Patrick's week in mid-March fills hotels and tours months ahead, and summer weekends push prices up across the board. Late spring and September offer milder weather with thinner crowds.
Should I book the Cliffs of Moher or Giant's Causeway if I only have time for one?
The Cliffs of Moher are closer, shorter, and pair naturally with Galway; the Giant's Causeway is a longer day but adds Belfast and a second country. If budget and time allow only one, most first-time visitors get more out of the Cliffs.