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Kilmainham Gaol - go as soon as arrive, or wait

Posted by (Ohio) on

Hi. We will be arriving in Ireland early in the morning on a Saturday, after traveling all night. We will meet our tour group on Sunday around 4:00 PM. Kilmainham Gaol is on our list to see - should we schedule the visit for Saturday afternoon, or wait until Sunday morning? I want to allow enough time to really enjoy it, but also don't want to be so jet lagged that it will affect the visit.

Also - since we do have a day to enjoy Dublin, and our tour is going to Trinity College and St. Patrick's Cathedral, what are the other places that we MUST see? Guinness Storehouse, or skip that? I've seen comments both ways on that one. I know we have limited time, but would like to see 2-3 really awesome places. I imagine the hop on-hop off bus is the way to go? We will be leaving from Buswells.

Thanks, Linda

Posted by
475 posts

We arrived early morning and felt good enough to do some touring that day although we did take a short nap in the afternoon. So I think you could do either. We took the tour at Kilmainham and then walked around for another 30 minutes so I think 2 - 2.5 hours is plenty of time though it takes a little longer to get there and back since it is outside of town. Reminder to get tickets ahead of time!
Guinness Storehouse is worth a visit in my opinion, not for the tour but for the amazing view of Dublin (especially if weather is decent) from the bar at the top plus you have to have a Guinness while in Ireland!

Another thing we really enjoyed and was low on the radar was the General Post Office. They have an awesome exhibit of the Easter Uprising. We really enjoyed it.
Have fun!

Posted by
191 posts

Kilmainham is quite moving. I would probably choose to do it Saturday afternoon so you can take your time and not worry about packing up in the morning for your tour.

Be sure to buy your tickets online ASAP as they do sell out: http://kilmainhamgaolmuseum.ie/
There is a very nice café at the Gaol while you wait or to enjoy a coffee after.

The hop on - hop off bus is a great way to see the city. The Guinness Storehouse is not a great tour (self-guided so no need to queue for tickets), but the free Guinness at the bar at the top is pretty cool. Christ Church is a really interesting place to visit and St. Stephen's Green is a fun stroll.

Posted by
1172 posts

I would go on Sunday but I do not sleep on planes so between the lack of sleep and jet lag, day 1 is a blur for me.

I second the hop on and off tour if you want to get a good feel for the city

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