Suggestions on exploring Dublin only for 4 days
 

My husband and I are visiting Dublin for the first time for 4 full days in April and want to know the main attractions and how best to spend the 4 days. Also want to know whether, since we are only going to be in Dublin, to hire a car or use public transport. We will definitely do the Guinness experience. We like walking, good food and drink, castles, ruins, estates and any unusual sites or sites that are typically Irish.
Thank you.

Dublin as a City Break for 4 days in April. Bear in mind that Good Friday is Dry Friday in Ireland, you will only get an alcoholic beverage in the residents bar/restaurant of some hotels and for some reason on a train? Subject of Trains, and Bus's.. no you don't need a car for Dublin, public transport is fairly good throughout the city and there are a couple of Hop on hop off bus's that do 2 day tickets including the bus ride into the city from the airport I believe? Tickets from the tourist office at the airport.

That said assuming you are over a time other than Easter.
The Guinness Storehouse is an Interactive Museum so don't expect a tour of the brewery or you will be disappointed. Along similar lines Jamesons Distillery in Smilthfields. Also that end of the City (west) Kilmainham Gaol should be on anyone's list. There are a number of Museums, Churches and Libraries that make the Guide books, Glasnevin cemetery has climbed the ratings of visitor attractions and Dublin zoo boasts the highest visitor numbers of any attraction on the island with the exceptions of a 1/2 mile cliff over here in the west.

Tours run all over the island from Dublin but I only ever recommend Glendalough and Wicklow, possibly with Powerscourt? or The Boyne and Newgrange. If you want a walk try the Bray head walk? (scenic train ride to Greystones, walk back to Bray over Bray head and train back to Dublin) Howth is worth a look and has a good Sunday Market

Sites which are typically Irish.. you do know the colloquial name for a Dubliner is a Jack. used by us Culchies who live outside Dublin it refers to Dublin itself being more Union Jack that Tricolour. Dublin is typically Georgian/Edwardian/Victorian in its architecture. 99.9% of any Viking or Norman Irish features are long gone. Perhaps a visit to Ireland when you have more time? Clare boasts over 100 castles from rock piles to fully renovated although Irish rather than Norman Castles are harder to find with the exception of Cashel and Blarney. If you want a long day trip then you could get an explorer ticket and go, Dublin, Cashel Cahir to Cork, local bus to Blarney and express bus back to Dublin late on.

I'm a long way from being a Dublin expert but I would suggest you check out a few of the many tourist type guides which relate to the city.

Tony2phones, you're a star, expert or not, that is more than enough for us to begin with so thank you very much. As for visiting Ireland again, yes, this is the first of what I hope are many many more trips but we thought giving Dublin are full attention is a good way to start our first trip to Ireland! So watch this space as I will be posting future questions on places in Ireland other than Dublin.

Teeling Distillery actually gives tours and is a stop on the hop on hop off bus. Just make a reservation on line because they fill up fast, same with Kilmainham Gaol, reservations are a plus.
I would get a leap card so that you can use the Luas and bus.

https://about.leapcard.ie/ You can buy inside the airport at the tourist info booth. They can explain what your best option would be. We love it for the Luas.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...ty_Dublin.html

an example of a good day tour, small bus and hit a lot of great spots.

I have only been to Dublin twice but it is one of my favorites so far. I second the Gaol as a great place to get a feel for Irish history. We also liked the Dublin Castle tour. We went to a service at St Patricks which was special. The Temple Bar area is a bit of a tourist trap but neat to walk around never the less. Our favorite pub was O'Neills on Suffolk Street for music. We also thought the Porterhouse had good pub grub and music. Both places get packed on Friday and Saturday nights. We found Sunday to be the best to hear music since there were less people around. Madigan's on O'Connell Street was smaller and more intimate. They had a single musician playing on the weekend. I agree with Tony that no car is necessary. If you stay in the vicinity of Trinity College, all the touristy things to do are close by and easy to walk to. We did 2 Paddywagon tours from Dublin. The first to Belfast & the Giants Causeway was a long 12 hour day but I thought well worth the time. The second was to Glendalough/Wicklow which was about an 8 hour day. Also well worth the time. If you do the Jamison tour, make sure you volunteer at the beginning of the tour. The volunteers get to do a taste comparison between Jamison, Johnny Walker, and Jack Daniel. Everyone else just gets to try the Jamison.

Just share this that popped into my email
http://gotireland.com/2013/07/17/ten...by-a-dubliner/

I agree with everything but Leo Burdocks. I have tried twice but fish was greasy and the chips were undercooked.

St Michan's is worth a trip.

http://www.thechurch.ie/ very cool history and at least stop for a drink.

Dart to Howth or Dún Laoghaire to see a little countryside.

Agree with Porterhouse and http://boxtyhouse.ie/ early birds are everywhere.

http://www.fxbuckley.ie/pembroke/ if you are wanting some red meat

Wagamamas is my go to if I want Asian.

If you have a free evening, I would recommend a literary pub tour. Tickets can be obtained at tourist info. offices. Actors lead you to a number of pubs, connected to well known Irish authors. Interesting, informative and fun.

We enjoyed Chester Beatty Library, the National Library and the National Museum. There is a W. B. Yeats display in the cellar of the National Library (and check out the ladies' restroom!). Also did the literary pub crawl and enjoyed that. One of my granddaughters is a college history major so we tried to get in as much history as possible.

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