Worth getting out of bed for
Highlights the best Dublin has to offer, from art and culture to fun-packed activities; we've even found the most inspiring place to enjoy the views from.
- Viewpoint
- Head to the Guinness Storehouse; you’ll get the best vista of the city and surrounding countryside from the top of the factory (www.guinnessstorehouse.com).
- Arts and culture
- For inspiration, would-be scribes should visit the Dublin Writers Museum (www.writersmuseum.com) and the Book of Kells at Trinity College Library Dublin (www.tcd.ie). To get a visual dose of this country’s heritage in oils and watercolours, visit the National Gallery of Ireland (www.nationalgallery.ie); there’s also an impressive collection of international works, including pieces by Caravaggio and Picasso. The musically minded will enjoy a ‘rock and stroll’ guided tour-cum-pilgrimage around the city, from the site of U2’s first gigs to the café where Sinead O’Connor was once a waitress.
- Something for nothing
- On Saturday mornings, step back in time at Moore Street Market, Dublin’s oldest fruit and veg market. The banter of the barrowboys gives a real flavour of old Dublin; should you be tempted by anything, the prices are rock bottom. You can also download iWalks – self-guided, audio-enhanced tours of the city – for free from the podcasts page at www.visitdublin.com.
- Shopping
- Dublin shoppers usually kick off in Grafton Street, between Trinity College and St Stephen's Green. Here, among all the usual big-name stores, you’ll find Brown Thomas, the Harvey Nicks of Dublin, where you can snap up fashion from Dublin’s favourite designer sons, Paul Costelloe and John Rocha. O’Connell Street is less exclusive, but is home to arguably Dublin’s most famous store, Clery’s, where you’ll find everything from computers to clothes. Powerscourt Shopping Centre in South William Street was built in 1760 as a townhouse for Lord Powerscourt and has an original Georgian staircase.
- Daytripper
- If you fancy escaping the big smoke for the day, hop on the Dart to Howth, a sweet fishing village on a peninsula north of Dublin Bay, with long, breathtaking headland walks, a lively restaurant scene – though a bag of fish ’n’ chips will do nicely for a stroll along Howth Head – and a popular Sunday farmers’ market on the West Pier (www.howthismagic.com).
- Perfect Picnic
- Gather up some Irish farmhouse cheddar and oatcakes – or whatever tickles your fancy – at one of the city’s most established delis, Magill’s, on Clarendon Street (+353 (0)1 671 3830), then catch the number 10 bus to Phoenix Park. This enormous urban oasis – one of the largest parks in Europe – is just a few minutes’ ride from O’Connell Street, but full of pretty ponds and families of grazing deer.
- Walks
- If you want some fresh, salty air in your lungs, head out along Custom House Quay, past Pigeonhouse Fort – an electricity_generating station with candy_striped towers – into Dublin Bay. Its furthest point, Poolbeg Lighthouse, is famed for its bracing walks.
- Children
- Waterbabies of all ages will agree, there’s no place like H2O. On the outskirts of Dublin in Blanchardstown, the National Aquatic Centre – Europe’s largest indoor waterworld – offers thrilling slides, surf simulation, a pirate ship and a ‘bubble bay’, so you can make a splash whatever the weather (+353 (0)1 646 4300; www.nac.ie). Otherwise, give them the keys to their own mini set of wheels at Kylemore Karting (+353 (0)1 6261444; www.kylemore-karting.com).
- Activities
- Hire some pedal power from Cycleways Rent-A-Bike-Centre on Parnell Street (+353 (0)1 873 4748; www.cycleways.com) and coast around from sight to sight. Just outside the city in Malahide, you can have powerboating, windsurfing or sailing lessons with DMG Sailsports (+353 (0)1 845 6946; www.dmgsailsports.com). At the Calliaghstown Riding Centre in the picturesque foothills of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, you can go trail riding or spend a day brushing up your equestrian skills (+353 (0)1 458 8322, www.calliaghstownridingcentre.com).
- And...
- Get used to the salacious but affectionate nicknames that Dubliners give to the statues dotted around their city. Oscar Wilde’s is lampooned as ‘the Fag on the Crag’, James Joyce is ‘the Prick with the Stick’ – his statue on North Earl Street depicts him walking with a cane – while fictional fishmonger Molly Malone is known variously as ‘the Tart with the Cart’, ‘the Dolly with the Trolley’ or ‘the Trollop with the Scallops’.
Diary
17 March St Patrick’s Day, which means lots of drinking, singing, dancing, drinking, ‘Kiss me I’m Irish’ t-shirts and more drinking. 16 June Bloomsday Marks the day in 1904 on which all the action of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses takes place. Fans dress up and go out for the day, visiting the book’s locations and taking part in readings, walks and re-enactments.
