Must-sees in Dublin

Wes,

First of all, will you be travelling with a copy of the Ireland Guidebook? There are lots of suggestions in there for interesting sights in Dublin.

A few suggestions.....

A significant site in Irish history that I really enjoyed seeing was the Kilmainham Gaol. As I recall it was originally built as a debtor's prison and the conditions were horrible. In more recent history, it was the place where the leaders of the 1916 rebellion were executed. There also a couple of movies filmed there: the original of The Italian Job (Michael Caine) and also In The Name of the Father (Daniel Day Lewis).

Another interesting site is Dublin Castle, which I believe is the place where the British turned over power to the Irish when they departed (about 1923?)

Of course, the University (can't remember the name) where The Book of Kells is located.

Finally, Christchurch Cathedral is very impressive.

Unless you're really interested in the history, I wouldn't bother with the Guinness Storehouse. The visit is a bit pricey and there's often a LONG queue!

For lots of Irish music, the Temple Bar area is great in the evenings. Try Oliver St. John Gogarty's or the Arlington across the river (there's an area in the basement for performances as well).

You might check the Ireland book for local Guides in Dublin, as I find they make the visit so much more interesting.

Happy travels!

Trinity College is where the Book of Kells is.

I would suggest taking a hop on/hop off bus for your first day. It will take you to all the sites, and you can get on and off as you wish. If you miss something that day you will have more time to return another day. Temple Bar is great for the nightlife and music. You might also want to check out the Brazen Head Pub, reportedly the oldest pub in Ireland. We went there for live music and had a good time. Dublin is very easy to get around in. Have fun!

If you're interested in history, then I can't recommend the 1916 walking tour enough. I've done a lot of reading on the 1916 rising and went to Kilmainham on our trip 12 years ago, but taking the walking tour this summer was a real treat. It's run by 2 Trinity College history professors (they alternate days, you won't get both of them), as opposed to college kids who have memorized a script, as you'll get on most tours. They've published a book on the rising. The tour was eye-opening and inspiring.

You can find information on the tour on their website, www.1916rising.com.

I also loved the kilmainham gaol. The hop on hop off bus is really good in Dublin. I wouldn't suggest it in pretty much any other city in Ireland, but Dublin it was very helpful, especially because the gaol is not really in walking distance from the city centre (unless you like to spend a lot of your time walking).

If you have the opportunity do a traditional musical pub crawl. We did it on our last night there and loved it! The musicians were really knowledgeable and had great stories about the music. I have the name/meeting place of the pub crawl at home so if you are interested send me a message and I can dig it out.

We did see the Kilmainham Gaol, but after the 20 minutes I was bored, my husband really liked it.

Book of Kells was really cool and worth a visit. The best part about Guiness was the beer at the end! I want to say it was Grafton street where all the shops were and that was fun, but lots of people.

This last one was a bit dorky, but I dragged my husband to the bar in Dublin where they filmed a few scenes from PS I love You (good movie!) and although it looked nothing like what the movie showed it was still fun!

The Book of Kells and Guinness. What else could one need. I'm just not sure what order is better. We did the Book of Kells first, but it might have been fun to do the reverse.

Enjoy!

If you would like to do something different do a tour of St. Michans Church.

And if you do go to Kilmainham (and you should!), you can get there by regular city bus, too. You don't have to do the hop on/hop off bus to get there. If you have a decent guidebook (and you should, if you don't already), it should list the buses that will take you to each sight.

City bus daily passes in Dublin are 6 euro/person, you can get a family day pass for 10 euro. You can buy them at most shops, like Spar.

As musicians, you'll enjoy the musical pub crawl. It's fun and educational. The crowd is made up of tourists, but the performances and discussions of the music are not touristy at all.

Rick has a good discussion of pubs with trad Irish music in his guide. Temple Bar isn't necessarily the best place to hear it, though you can find it there at times. It's more geared towards college students and pop music.

I second Kilmainhaim and Trinity. If you have time for a day trip, Newgrange is a great place to go. It's an old religious site, built before the pyramids. We took the Mary Gibbons tour, which also included the Hill of Tara, and enjoyed it.

Yes Temple Bar may not be the best place for trad music in Dublin. the tour should set you up with the best of the Pubs http://www.discoverdublin.ie/musicalpubcrawl.html

Also a good day trip would be newgrange, its about an hour from Dublin city there is a shuttlebus tour twice a day from the city centre http://www.overthetoptours.com/newgrange/NEWGRANGE.html