Dublin - Recommended things to do

I like boat tours and go on every one I come across. The one there stank.

You husband can see all of the historical stuff in a day easy. Give him an ultimatum and move on the better stuff.

For pubs: Temple Bar Pub and Oliver St John Gogarty are probably the two best known -- both are on the same street in the Temple Bar area.

My wife rode the bus out to Malahide and Howth and poked around in the shops while I was in one of my history frenzies -- she thought it was pretty good. It probably took her less than an hour each way and fifteen minutes between the two.

Leave Dublin 2 days earlier :)

You could try St. Michans Church, it is a little different. If you are looking for a pub with excellent seafood and a chance to converse with Dubliners instead of tourists try the "Lord Edward Pub" just across the street from Christ Church. Leo Burdick's fish and chips is just around the corner about 50 feet from the Lord Edward. It's nice to get your fish and then walk down the street a few minutes to St. Patrick's and set on a bench in the churchyard to eat them, or just walk across the street to Christ Church and do the same thing.

The small towns outside Dublin,either north or south, are nice,relaxing places to spend an afternoon or evening.

I would have skipped Dublin altogether. I was there almost 30 years ago and have no desire to go back again. My husband is into history and wants to see it. I wonder if he thinks it will be like Paris, London, or Rome. Is there a boat tour that might be interesting? We will be staying overnight near Howth the last day of our trip before flying home.

While I love the rest of Ireland, I love Dublin, too. They're different experiences, but I can't imagine going to Ireland and not going to Dublin. I'm a huge fan of the 1916 walking tour, took it last summer, it's a great view of history. It's 2 history professors from Trinity who do the tour, instead of your average college kid making an extra buck. The info's in Rick's book.

Phoenix park can also be a nice break from the town, if you're looking for that.

The Tourist Information Office

http://www.visitdublin.com/seeanddo/touristoffices/dublin.aspx

can help you, for example, book a day trip outside of Dublin (such as to Newgrange)... Also I remember seeing these amphibious vehicles driving around Dublin, full of tourists apparently doing something "fun and different" -

http://www.vikingsplash.ie/

For your husband and nephew, I'd recommend the following walking tours:

http://www.1916rising.com/ (the one Maureen mentioned)

http://www.historicalinsights.ie/

All of you would probably enjoy the following pub crawls:

http://www.dublinpubcrawl.com/

http://www.discoverdublin.ie/musicalpubcrawl.html

You can get tickets for the pub crawls at the Tourist Info Office.

Trinity College students also offer tours of their campus. I've stayed there, but I haven't taken a tour...

I loved the Georgian house tour at 29 Lower Mount St, off Merrion Square. I'm curious, though - why don't you want to see the "regular tourist sites" with them?

Hi Nancy,
I saw all the regular tourist things in Dublin my first trip there years ago before I met my husband. I fell in love with the countryside. Some cities I would go back to again and again, but I don't feel that same pull to revisit Dublin. This will be the first time for my husband and nephew. My husband love history, so I am sure he will enjoy it. Maybe I'll take a day trip into the countryside area we won't be seeing by car.

Your husband and nephew should definitely visit Kilmainham Gaol while they are in Dublin.

Go to Newgrange and Knowth to see the prehistoric art and passage tombs. Something like 2/3 of all known prehistoric art in Europe is in that one little part of Ireland, and it's absolutely beautiful countryside, too.

Darn, Tom. You mean things have changed that much in the last ten days? It seems like twenty-five percent of the conversations I overhead were in Polish and the place is rife with abandoned Polish-language newspapers. A big chunk of the waiters and hotel workers were also Polish. One fellow did tell me, however, that folks in the far-beyond have gone back home and the greater concentrations are now in the cities. My observation was that in the RoI the economy has really tanked, judging by the amount of vacant residential and commercial property. Poor NI was even worse.

I guess Dublin has not changed in 30 years.

Pat, I actually read that Dublin has changed alot since 1990's. I read the pub scene is very active and social and alot of young people from other areas of the world are settling there. I am sure my husband and nephew will enjoy their time there. I am looking into some of the day trips others have recommended for myself for one of the days. Thanks for all the replies.

One last thing in preparation for going to Dublin: learn to speak and read Polish.

Ed, you're behind the times. According to my Irish friends, the Poles in Ireland are going back to Poland because these days the Polish economy is better than the Irish economy.

You might be able to do a daytrip to Glendalough, a beautiful ruined monastery south of Dublin.

Dublin is very different than it was thirty years ago. I can't speak for this year, but when I was there in 2006 and 2009, it was very pleasant. I'm sure the recent souring of the economy has altered that somewhat, but not back to what it was in 1980. I did meet some immigrants from Eastern Europe on both trips, mostly working in service jobs, although language wasn't a problem at all in my experience; but since all of my ancestors were immigrants at one point in time and almost none of them spoke the language of the place they emigrated to when they arrived (including my English ancestors who arrived in North America in 1621), I can't really feel negatively toward people looking for opportunities. It is unfortunate for the Irish that their economic woes may have changed the situation.

I think the idea of day trips is a good one, and I would also highly recommend that you visit the National Museum of Ireland with your family when they go. It has an amazing collection and informational display of objects from the Neolithic and Iron Ages through the Celtic and Viking times, including a fabulous display of ancient gold objects. If you can, get a guide to take you through the museum. The overview of ancient Irish history you will get there will help put everything else you see in Ireland in context.

The literary and musical pub crawls were informative and entertaining when I went on them, and the history tour I went on given by a Trinity graduate student in history was excellent. Our guide was knowledgeable and engaging, but I suppose it might be luck of the draw.

There's also quite a good pub in the circle around the TIC that is in an old church. I can't remember the name offhand, but they had a good traditional food at reasonable prices and traditional music upstairs, but it was a bit less crowded than the Temple Bar pubs.

Hi Marie,

I took a couple of day trips out of Dublin when I stayed here last summer. The one I liked the most was a day trip out of Dublin that went to Powerscourt Gardens, Glendalough and through the Wicklow mountains. It was amazing scenery! It wasn't too expensive, and was a reasonable amount of time. I took it right through the bus eireann actually. Here is the link:
http://www.discoverireland.com/us/ireland-things-to-see-and-do/listings/product/?fid=FI_46650

I also took the train to Kildare for the day and went to the outlet mall there (rather expensive, so depends what kind of shopping you like) and also the National Stud, which sounds kind of strange but has a beautiful asian garden, and it was neat to see all the horses.

I also took a day trip to Newgrange, which I found very interesting and there are lots of shuttles that go there.

Hope that helps!

It seems a bit selfish to me to plan a day trip that the others in the party won't be able to experience. You could spend your day shopping if you don't want to see Dublin with them, or do something else that they wouldn't be interested in. Or just suck it up and make memories WITH your husband, even if you have seen some things before.

Thank you for all the advice of other things to do. I am not a shopper unless I can find things that are made in the country I am visiting. As for sightseeing, my husband is okay with me not doing everything with him. We have fun meeting for dinner and discussing the different things we experienced. For example, in the Falkland Islands - He did the Battlefield Tour and I did the Penguin Tour. We both very much enjoyed what we saw. As for speaking Polish, I have Polish ancestry myself.

I'm with you on the shopping, but I did buy a beautiful mohair blanket for my mother (made in Ireland, of course) at the Avoca store in Dublin (they will ship for you, which is nice). There's a cafe in the store, too.

And although I didn't think I would, I also enjoyed shopping at the Blarney Woolen Mill store we stopped at (not sure if there is one in Dublin, though there are several locations around the country) because I was finally able to find a handknit sweater that fit me (I'm a petite woman, so most sweaters I tried on were too long or had sleeves that hung to my knees!). The price was reasonable, too. They have many things made in Ireland there. They also will ship, and they automatically refund the VAT for you.

I didn't think much of Dublin the first time I went, but I fell hard for it when I wised up and stayed in the Temple Bar area the next time. My second experience was completely different from my first.

Must do: Listen to the music at Oliver St. Gogarty's (head upstairs, it is free)
Take a day tour to the Wicklow Mountains. I recommend Wild Wicklow.
Listen to more music. (Upstairs at the Quay's is good).

Have a wonderful trip. I am very jealous. :)

If you like to shop, go to Grafton Street. I liked the Guiness Tour and the hop on hop off bus is a great deal. We preferred the red bus and we actually used it for two days.

If you like gardens, you'd could take the bus to the National Botanical Gardens.

Also, check with local TI. They offer tours to Gardens of Powerscourt, or combine it with tour to the Glendalough monastic settlement.

If you like the sea and hiking, you'd could take the dart train to Howth (25 minutes). Either bring a lunch or buy in Howth, hike along the penisula.

These three ideas are briefer time and money wise.
Of course, the local TI, has lots of longer costly daytrips.