Dublin Environs Travel Guide

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Like an open-air museum layered with legendary Celtic sites, grand gardens, and elegant Palladian country estates, the small counties immediately north, south, and west of Dublin—historically known as the Pale—seem expressly designed for the sightseer. Due to its location on the Irish Sea, facing Europe, the region has always been the first to attract the earliest "tourists"—conquerors and rulers—and the first over which they exercised the greatest influence. Traces of each new wave remain: the Celts chose Tara as the center of their kingdom; the Danes sailed the Rivers Boyne and Liffey to establish many of today's towns; and the region's great Protestant-built houses of the 18th century remind us that the Pale was the starting point and administrative center for the long, violent English colonization of the whole island.

Hotels

Dublin Environs Hotels

A lot of people opt to stay in Dublin and take day trips to the environs. If that's the case, a hotel on the south side of the city or in South County Dublin...read more

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Restaurants

Dublin Environs Restaurants

Find the best Dublin Environs restaurants in every price category with our top picks.

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Things To Do

Things To Do in Dublin Environs

Keep in mind that it's easy to lose an hour or so making...read more

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Dublin Environs Experiences

  • Top Reasons to Go to Dublin Environs

    Newgrange in Winter: Just standing amid these 5,000-year-old tombs (which predate the pyramids), you'll wonder: how did they build them?... Read more

  • Calling All Hike-aholics

    Whether you're a novice or veteran hiker, Wicklow's gentle, rolling hills are a terrific place to begin an Irish walking vacation. Devoted hikers... Read more

  • Bloody Cromwell!

    In much of the English-speaking world Oliver Cromwell is regarded as something of a hero, a deeply religious self-made man, master general, and... Read more

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    Initially my husband and I were planning a trip to Belgium/Netherlands, but after looking at Ireland again, decided a trip to Ireland was in our summer future. Read more

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