Dublin - Map Walkthrough of Ireland's Capital

Mid october fall, in Herbert Park, Dublin. Photo by Maurice Frazer (redmofrazer)

Dublin bar scene at night
Photo by EuroCheapo

Dublin is now one of the most highly desirable locations in Europe for weekenders, with the city's pubs and bars becoming packed, as well as the city's many markets and cafes.

This economic growth has led to Dublin rapidly growing to a population of one and a half million; over one third of the population of the country lives in the city of Dublin - however, this has led to high housing prices and heavy traffic. Dublin is one of the youngest cities in the world, with about half of the population being 25 years or younger. Joining the European Union has transformed a lot of things in thee country, but Dublin was most deeply affected - the ancient city has been brought quickly into the 21st Century, where it takes its rightful place as one of the world's great cities.

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Dublin City. Photo by infomatique

Style in the City

Style in the City is a new fashion and shopping event in Dublin's Merrion Square, featuring accessories.Designer catwalk shows exclusive brands and top-end retailers.One of the highlights of the event is the Catwalk Show hosted by Trinny & Susannah.Other highlights include: The Haagen Dazc Oasis, where you can enjoy a pampering makeover; a showcase of work by Paul Sheeran Jewellers from diamonds to exclusive watches

Dublin Culture Night

Dublin Culture Night promises an evening of entertainment across the capital for the whole family. You can expect everything from late-night openings at galleries, poetry readings and filmmaking workshops to building tours and dance performances. More than 80 of the city's galleries, museums, theatres, libraries, historic houses, cathedrals, artists' studios and cultural centres take part in Culture Night.

International Comedy Festival

Bulmers comedy Festival.
Photo by Mylor


Dublin Horse Show.
Photo by DearbhlaS


Livia Dublin International Opera Festival.
Photo by Ilja

Bulmers International Comedy Festival brings some of the UK and Ireland's best comedy acts to Dublin's Olympia Theatre, Tivoli Theatre and The Sugar Club. So you'll need to book fast for some of the other acts.There are also various fringe acts at The Sugar Club.

Futura Fair

The Futura Fair trade show at the Royal Dublin Society explores the latest in fashion and footwear, allowing fashion professionals to view the entire collection of Irish-manufactured and international labels.The event covers everything from menswear, ladieswear and childrenswear to footwear, sports and leisure wear

Dublin Horse Show

One of the world's top equestrian events, the Dublin Horse Show offers a huge prize fund and is an important marketplace for Irish horse breeders. The final day produces some of the world's finest showjumping.This is as much a social event as a sporting occasion, with live music around the lawns and champagne bars littering the arena. The collection of hats on display, particularly on Ladies' Day (Thursday), rivals Ascot in its colour and diversity.

Livia Dublin International Opera Festival

The Anna Livia Dublin International Opera Festival brings performances of Verdi's Rigoletto and Saint-Saëns Samson & Dalila to the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. Rigoletto is a hunchback and court jester to the Duke of Mantua, a notorious libertine who constantly seduces innocent girls. This is the sample of this theme

Dublin Fringe Festival. Photo by voss

Dublin Fringe Festival

Dorfmeister rockin' the fringe
Photo by voss

The Dublin Fringe Festival, set up in 1995, offers the visitor two fantastic weeks of theatre, dance, comedy and visual arts, showcasing a number of new Irish works at venues around the city.

The festival has established itself as the fastest-growing cultural event in Ireland. Originating as a ten-venue event, with audiences of 12,000. it is now a 20-venue, boasting audiences in excess of 45,000. Stages include all sorts of disused shops, galleries, pubs and clubs, as well as the more standard city spaces.

International Tango Festival

The International Tango Festival returns to Dublin with a passionate programme of films, workshops and concerts. The festival opens with Tango Lounge, a club night at the Ri Ra with Argentinean mate tea and snacks served for free during the evening. Other events include the screening of a documentary about tango in Argentina, a workshop for beginners and Milonga de Mis Amores, a late night of tango dance and music.

101 Talbot

Cuisine International
it's actually a bright beacon of good cooking on the Northside. The menu features light, healthy food, with a strong emphasis on vegetarian dishes. Dishes change regularly, but mains might include seared filet of tuna, roast duck breast.The dining room is casually funky, with contemporary Irish art, big windows, and newspapers scattered about, if you should want one. The staff are endlessly friendly, making it a pleasure to visit.

Avoca Café. Photo by adactio

Avoca Café

Cuisine Modern Irish

Eden. Photo by psd


The Bad Ass Cafe.
Photo by infomatique

Who would think that one of the best places to have lunch in all of Dublin is on the third floor of a shop? It's true! This polished, casual cafe is perched above the vibrant pinks and reds of the knitted wools and painted doodads in the charming Avoca shop near Trinity College. If you can tear yourself away from the shopping, there are thick homemade soups, fresh salads, and big sandwiches to keep you going in the buzzing cafe.

Eden

Cuisine International, Mediterranean

This is one of Temple Bar's hippest eateries, a cool minimalist space with an open-plan kitchen overlooking Meeting House Square. The food is influenced by the global village, with a special penchant for Mediterranean flavors and local seafood, so homey smoked haddock will appear on the menu alongside exotic Moroccan lamb tagine with couscous.

The Bad Ass Café

Cuisine American

This loud, bright restaurant has been packing in tourists and local families for more than 20 years now. The draw is the approachable menu with the familiar burgers, pasta, steaks, salads, and fajitas that you'll recognize from back home. Still it's cheap, and it has an entertaining system for placing orders, wherein waitstaff clip your order to a wire above your head and it whizzes off to the kitchen.

Nosh Restaurant. Photo by infomatique

Nosh

Cuisine American

This light, bright, and buzzing restaurant is so laid-back that it has plastic chairs, and yet it delivers the sort of hit-the-spot food that you wish you could get every day: French toast with bacon, bananas, and maple syrup; wonderful soups; and big club sandwiches or salads. For dinner, there's grilled filet of plaice with crabmeat, and wine from the short-but-sweet list. Weekend brunch is simply fabulous here.

The Red Bank

Cuisine Seafood

The waiter takes your order in the cozy lounge, where you wait with a drink until the appetizers are ready and you're brought to a table. This place is at its best with timeless icons, such as scallops in butter, cream, and white wine, or the divine lobster thermidor. Service is correct and respectfully old-school, highlighted when the dessert cart is wheeled in, laden with a mouthwatering selection of confections

One Pico

Cuisine Modern European

this is a sophisticated, grown-up, classy place, with excellent service and fantastic food. The food is a mixture of European influences in a menu that changes daily. If you're lucky, you might find the duck confit with red cabbage and beet-root chiffonade, or the roast pheasant with red-wine risotto. For dessert, a caramelized lemon tart is the end to a near-perfect meal.

Fitzers Café

Cuisine International

This is one branch of a chain of winning cafes that serve up excellent, up-to-date, and reasonably priced food. modern decor. Choices range from chicken breast with hot chile cream sauce or brochette of lamb tandoori with mild curry sauce to gratin of smoked cod. There are also tempting vegetarian dishes made from organic produce.

Ely

Cuisine Organic Irish

The food is simple but expertly prepared, the crowd enthusiastic, the service attentive. Think fantastic "bangers and mash" (sausages and mashed spuds), delicious Clare oysters, superb Irish stew, and a great selection of cheeses from Sheridan's. Factor in a smashing wine list and you've got a winner

Photo by Neil Weightman

Chapter One

Cuisine Modern Irish

Arguably the city's most atmospheric restaurant, this remarkable eatery fills the vaulted basement space of the Dublin Writers Museum. Artfully lighted and tastefully decorated, it's one of the best restaurants in town. Meals are prepared with local, organic ingredients, all cleverly used in remarkable dishes like the ravioli with Irish goat cheese and warm asparagus, and the Irish beef with shallot gratin.

Ardgillan Castle and Demesne

Between Balbriggan and Skerries, this 18th-century castellated country house sits on the coastline on sumptuously manicured lawns. The house was built in 1738 and contains some fine period furnishings and antiques. But the real draw is the setting, at the edge of the wild Irish Sea, with miles of walking paths and coastal views, as well as a rose garden and an herb garden. Behind the lavish rose garden, there's a nice cafe for a quick bite or some ice cream.

Dublin Civic Museum

In the old City Assembly House, a fine 18th-century Georgian structure next to the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, this museum focuses on the history of the Dublin area from medieval to modern times. In addition to old street signs, maps, and prints, you can see Viking artifacts, wooden water mains, coal covers -- and even the head from the statue of Lord Nelson, which stood in O'Connell Street until it was blown up by the IRA in 1966.

Phoenix Park. Photo by leppre

Phoenix Park

The vast green expanses of Phoenix Park are Dublin's playground, and it's easy to see why. This is a well-designed, user-friendly park crisscrossed by a network of roads and quiet pedestrian walkways that make its 704 hectares (1,739 acres) easily accessible. Avenues of oaks, beech trees, pines, and chestnut trees are shady hideaways, The homes of the Irish president and the U.S. ambassador are both in the park, as is the Dublin Zoo. Livestock graze peacefully on pasturelands, deer roam the forested areas, and horses romp on polo fields. The Phoenix Park Visitors Centre, adjacent to Ashtown Castle, has an audiovisual presentation on the park's history, for the particularly curious.

National Botanic Gardens

National Botanic Gardens Dublin
Photo by *Cathrin*


Skerries Mills.
Photo by infomatique

Established by the Royal Dublin Society in 1795 on a rolling 20-hectare (49-acre) expanse of land north of the city center, this is Dublin's horticultural showcase. The attractions include more than 20,000 different plants and cultivars, a Great Yew Walk, a bog garden, a water garden, a rose garden, and an herb garden. A variety of Victorian-style glass houses are filled with tropical plants and exotic species. Remember this spot when you suddenly crave refuge from the bustle of the city. It's a quiet, lovely haven, within a short walk of Glasnevin Cemetery. All but the rose garden is wheelchair accessible. There's free roadside parking outside the garden gates.

Skerries Mills

Originally part of an Augustinian Priory, the mill has had many lives (and deaths). Last known as the Old Mill Bakery, providing loaves to the local north coast, it suffered a devastating fire in 1986 and lay in ruins until it was reborn as Skerries Mills in 1999. An ambitious restoration project brought two windmills and a water mill back into operation. There's even an adjoining field of grains -- barley, oats, and wheat, all that's needed for the traditional brown loaf -- sown, harvested, and threshed using traditional implements and machinery. The result is not only the sweet smell of fresh bread, but also an intriguing glimpse into the past, brought to life by guided tours and the chance to put your hand to the stone and grind flour. If you've worked up an appetite, there's a lovely tearoom and a fine gift shop of Irish crafts.

Guinness Storehouse. Photo by missha

Guinness Storehouse

Founded in 1759, the Guinness Brewery is one of the world's largest breweries, producing a distinctive dark stout, famous for its thick, creamy head. You can explore the Guinness Hopstore, a converted 19th-century four-story building housing the World of Guinness Exhibition, an audiovisual presentation showing how the stout is made; then move on to the Gilroy Gallery, dedicated to the graphic design work of John Gilroy; and last but not least, stop in at the breathtaking Gravity Bar where you can sample a glass of the famous brew in the glass-enclosed bar 60m (197 ft.) above the ground, with 360-degree views of the city.

Leinster House

Leinster House - Dublin.
Photo by PhilPankov.com

The home of the Dáil (Irish House of Representatives) and Seanad (Irish Senate), which together constitute the Oireachtas (National Parliament), this is the center of Irish government. Dating from 1745 and originally known as Kildare House, the building is said to have been the model for Irish-born architect James Hoban's design for the White House in Washington, D.C. It was sold in 1815 to the Royal Dublin Society, which developed it as a cultural center. The National Museum, Library, and Gallery all surround it.

Newbridge House and Park

This country mansion 19km (12 miles) north of Dublin dates from 1740 and was once the home of Dr. Charles Cobbe, an archbishop of Dublin. Occupied by the Cobbe family until 1984, the house is a showcase of family memorabilia: hand-carved furniture, portraits, daybooks, and dolls, as well as a museum of objects collected on world travels. The Great Drawing Room, in its original state, is one of the finest Georgian interiors in Ireland. The house sits on 140 hectares (346 acres), laid out with picnic areas and walking trails. The grounds also include a working Victorian farm, as well as a craft shop and a coffee shop. There's a terrific, up-to-the-minute playground where children can let off some steam.

The Irish Museum of Modern Art. Photo by infomatique

Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)

In the splendidly restored, 17th-century edifice known as the Royal Hospital, the IMMA is frequently used as a venue for theatrical and musical events. The small permanent collection contains mostly works by Irish artists, and the big draws are the numerous temporary exhibitions that pass through. Outside, the formal gardens have been restored to stellar condition.

GAA Museum

On the grounds of Croke Park, principal stadium of the Gaelic Athletic Association, this museum dramatically presents the athletic heritage of Ireland. The Gaelic Games (Gaelic football, hurling, handball, and camogie) have long been contested on an annual basis between teams representing the various regions of Ireland. Test your skills with interactive exhibits, and peruse the extensive video archive of football finals dating from 1931.