Sights & Attractions in Dublin

"In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty"—so went the centuries-old ditty. Today, there are parts of the city that may not be fair or pretty, but although you may not be conscious of it while you're in the center city, Dublin does boast a beautiful setting: it loops around the edge of Dublin Bay and on a plain at the edge of the gorgeous, green Dublin and Wicklow mountains, which rise softly just to the south. From the famous Four Courts building in the heart of town, the sight of the city, the bay, and the mountains will take your breath away. From the city's noted vantage points, such as the South Wall, which stretches far out into Dublin Bay, you can nearly get a full measure of the city. From north to south, Dublin stretches 16 km (10 mi); in total, it covers 28,000 acres—but Dublin's heart is far more compact than these numbers indicate. Like Paris, London, and Florence, a river runs right through it. The River Liffey divides the capital into the Northside and the Southside, as everyone calls the two principal center-city areas, and virtually all the major sights are well within less than an hour's walk of one another.

Our coverage in this chapter is organized into six sections exploring the main neighborhoods of Dublin city (plus one excursion into the northern suburbs of County Dublin). The first two sections—The Southside and Southeast Dublin—focus on many of the city center's major sights: Trinity College, St. Stephen's Green, Merrion Square, and Grafton Street. The third section, Temple Bar, takes you through this revived neighborhood, still the hippest zone in the capital. The Northside section covers major cultural sights north of the Liffey and east of Capel Street, including the James Joyce Centre, Gate Theatre, Dublin Writers Museum, and Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art. It also includes the majestic Custom House and the rapidly developing, high-rise Docklands area near the mouth of the river. The next section, Dublin West, picks up across Dame Street from Temple Bar and continues west through the historic, working-class Liberties neighborhood to the Guinness Brewery and Storehouse, the city's most popular attraction. In addition, it includes the two main cathedrals and the cobblestoned old market district of Smithfield, which has managed to combine change and tradition better than any other area in the city center. Finally, the Phoenix Park and Environs section covers the most western fringe of the Northside and the great public park itself. If you're planning to take in all the sights, you may wish to invest in the city's special tourist ticket, the Dublin Pass.

If you're visiting Dublin for more than two or three days, you'll have time to explore farther afield. There's plenty to see and do a short distance from the city center—in the suburbs of County Dublin. Worthwhile destinations in these parts of the county are covered in the Side Trips section.

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