Visiting Dublin for the First Time? Here's What To See and Do

When you think of Dublin, you likely think of Guinness. The Guinness Storehouse is a popular stop for first-time visitors to the city who want to learn all about the history of the beer and get professional tips for how to pour a perfect pint. It’s true that Guinness tastes better in Ireland, where any pub that serves it is subject to regular inspections and strict guidelines. But a pint tastes best right at the source—particularly in the Gravity Bar, where the tour ends, which also offers a 360-degree view of the city’s skyline.

Eating your way around a city is always the best way to get right to its soul, and that’s especially true in Dublin. Take a food tour of the city, and you’ll get to sample all the best local foods from brown bread ice cream to proper fish and chips. If you’d rather have a more spirited experience, hit up one of Dublin’s whiskey tours, which will take you to the best spots for a snifter and offer samples of different styles of the spirit along the way.

It can be easy to forget how close Dublin is to the coast, but hop on the train and you can be at the seaside in less than 30 minutes. Head out to Howth, a pretty fishing village to the north of the city, and you can take a walk along the cliff path, head into a cozy pub for some craft beer and seafood, and watch the boats (and seals) bob around in the harbor. It’s an easy afternoon jaunt that will give you a dose of “vitamin sea” without requiring too much travel time.

The best way to introduce yourself to Dublin’s long and complex history is to take a walking tour that includes all the city’s historic locations. Most tours include stops at places like the pillars outside the General Post Office, which are still riddled with bullet holes from the Easter Rising, and the grounds of Trinity College, where Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett studied.

It’s safe to say that a trip to the pub is on many a Dublin visitor’s list, and the city’s pubs are every bit as cozy and charming as you might expect. The pubs in Temple Bar can get pretty raucous as the night goes on, but there are plenty of other spots around the city if you want a more serene pint. For an introduction to the scene, head out on a pub crawl or opt for a themed jaunt, like a literary pub crawl that will take you to the favored watering holes of some of Dublin’s most famous writers.

Dublin has more than its fair share of excellent museums, and most of them are free. They’re also fairly central, with many located on the streets around St. Stephen’s Green. The area boasts two outposts of the National Museum of Ireland—one dedicated to archaeology and one to natural history—and the National Gallery of Ireland. The excellent Hugh Lane Gallery is located over the river, on Parnell Square.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Dublin’s Liberties neighborhood—then known as the Golden Triangle—was the world’s epicenter of whiskey production. Recently, new distilleries have sprung up in Dublin, including Teeling and Pearse Lyons (which is set in an old church). Touring a whiskey distillery is always a good way to learn about the spirit. If you can’t choose just one, try visiting the Whiskey Museum for an overview (and complementary samples).

While Dublin is compact and easy to explore on foot, there are still a few places of note on the outskirts of town. If you want to travel outside the center without figuring out the public transportation system, opt for a hop on hop off bus tour. These buses stop at all the key spots in the city center but also visit more distant attractions, like Phoenix Park and Kilmainham Gaol.

Take a walk past the pubs that line Temple Bar, and you’ll likely hear the strains of traditional music emerging from within. Trad sessions (casual gatherings of musicians playing traditional music) kick off every afternoon, so it’s easy to catch live music here, whether it’s played by a lone ballad singer with a guitar or a full collective with a fiddle, tin whistle, and bodhran drum.