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Famed for its literature, music, and wit, Dublin brings together the best of Irish culture and heritage. Combining the ancient with the modern, the coastal city is teeming with things to discover, from historic tours to hiking. These top 10 experiences show Dublin at its authentic best.
Sit in on an Irish traditional music session
The Cobblestone pub, a hub for Irish music in Dublin since 1988, hosts trad music “sessions” every night of the week. The session—where fiddlers, flautists, and accordion players sit in a circle and play tunes together informally—is the heart of Irish music, a bona fide Irish cultural experience. This family-run pub was recently saved by petition after hotel developers sought to take over the building in 2021, spawning a documentary about the pub’s fortunes. Construction was prevented, and visitors are still guaranteed joyful jigs and reels every evening beginning at 5 p.m. Hup!
Cheer on Ireland’s Gaelic sports
The GAA Museum in Dublin’s Croke Park stadium showcases the history of Ireland’s Gaelic sports, both hurling and football. Dating back 2,500 years, hurling is referenced in Irish folk mythology, and both sports continue to be extremely popular countrywide today. “The games played a big role in the reawakening of Irish identity and culture, which eventually fueled the Irish independence movement,” says Cian Nolan, a senior tour guide at the GAA Museum. From April to the end of July, tourists can catch a match either live at Croke Park itself, in the north of the city, or on the big screen in any Dublin pub—as Ireland’s 32 sporting counties battle it out for the title of All-Ireland Champions.
Tap your toes to Riverdance
Dublin has many great theaters—including the Abbey, the Gaiety, and the Gate—presenting plays by Irish playwrights both classic and contemporary. But if you’re in Dublin during the summer, don’t miss Riverdance at the Gaiety from June through September each year. As spectacular now as when it first debuted during Eurovision 1994, the blockbuster show’s percussive clicks and euphoric melodies will hypnotize you right up until its showstopping finale (and your palms will be sore from clapping to the beat).
Bite into a chicken fillet roll
Tourists sometimes operate under the misconception that the Irish are eating the food of bygone days, such as boxty, colcannon, and Irish stew. In reality, these leftover legacies of traditional Irish fare are rarely cooked at home anymore. But if you want to sample genuine Irish comfort food, pick up a chicken fillet roll. Hot breaded chicken in a baguette with lettuce and mayonnaise, it’s the quintessential Irish lunch on the go and is available in convenience stores citywide. An enterprising emigrant in London recently opened a chicken fillet food truck business, becoming an instant success with the British capital’s Irish population longing for a taste of home.
Stroll the North Dublin seafront
Historically underappreciated, North Dublin is experiencing a renaissance in recent years and with good reason. A walk along the seafront at Clontarf Promenade to the beach at Bull Island gives a unique perspective over Dublin Bay. Watch as the ferries sail off to Wales, with the city’s iconic Poolbeg Towers keeping guard in the background. If you fancy a swim yourself, the recently refurbished Clontarf Baths are now open to the public after being closed for over 20 years. Dating from 1886 when the club used to host water polo matches, the outdoor saltwater pool has been restored to its former glory and makes for a dreamy dip in the Irish Sea.
Gallivant down Grafton Street
Pedestrianized Grafton Street is Dublin’s main shopping drag. Visitors browse a mix of chain stores, like Marks and Spencer and River Island, as well as local businesses, such as upmarket Irish department store Brown Thomas, established nearly 180 years ago. Buskers serenade passersby with covers of Ed Sheeran or Passenger. If you’re peckish, pop in to long-running café and Dublin institution Bewley’s for a scone with jam and cream. Avoca café and craft shop, just off Grafton Street, serves a modern take on the full Irish breakfast, as well as bowls of homemade soup with traditional Irish brown bread. In the evenings, find some of that famous Irish craic, or fun, at restaurants and pubs that branch off the main thoroughfare.
Learn about the Famine on board the Jeanie Johnston
On the banks of the River Liffey in Dublin’s Docklands, the Jeanie Johnston is a full-sized replica of a famous ship which carried Irish emigrants to North America during the Famine (1845-1852). Over 1 million people emigrated at that time, packed onto overcrowded, disease-ridden “coffin ships” on which many died en route. But no lives were ever lost on the Jeanie Johnston, likely thanks to the ship’s owner, who refused to overload the ship and who provided a doctor for the voyage.
Visitors now explore the moored ship on a guided tour, getting a sense of what life was like for passengers below deck. David Cleary, the ship’s director of sales, says the tour is “a great way to get a sense of what Irish people were leaving behind, but also that story of hope for the future.” Just across the street, Ireland’s Emigration Museum, EPIC, further shares the stories of Irish emigrants around the world.
Play chess like a Viking
Yes, Vikings once roamed Dublin. At Dublinia Museum, kids and history buffs especially enjoy exploring the city’s Viking past: learning how the warriors lived, trying on Viking-style clothes, and even playing Viking chess. To continue the theme, head to Stephen’s Green and hop aboard the Viking Splash Tour, an amphibious vehicle that takes passengers around the heart of Viking Dublin, ending with a cruise along the Grand Canal.
Raise a glass to Irish authors
In this UNESCO City of Literature, where an old book is a major tourist draw, the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl is a must-do. The tour gets visitors up to speed on who’s who in Irish literature (James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, to name a few), while also celebrating some of the city’s well-known watering holes. These pubs served as meeting places for writers and editors from 1929 onwards, the year that Ireland’s censorship laws became particularly strict. “Films were banned, books were banned, the evils of jazz were banned, and the writer either got out of the country or went underground into pubs to look to journalists to help them get their work into print,” says Colm Quilligan, who founded the Pub Crawl in 1988. The tours are led by professional actors, and if you’re competitive, there’s even a quiz at the end. Conclude on a fitting coda at MoLI, the Museum of Literature Ireland.
(For more tips on what to do in Dublin, see our Explorer’s Guide.)
Karen McHugh is a writer and musician based between Galway and Reykjavik. Follow her on Instagram.
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